Why is Hillary Clinton so big?

[Felpacino]

Cuz she's hot

[RickJamesLich]

I'm not a big Hillary fan but I won't be bias here and give you a lot of the reasons:

- Big name, people have known her for 25 years and her husband was pretty popular at the time. Worked with republicans too so and while he is not without controversy, Bill Clinton often is only criticized for his scandals, but not often his policies. She's pretty much synonymous with him for that reason.
- Has big ties to minorities by being a democrat, and (once again through association) Bill Clinton was considered the first black President. The guy was popular at the time among minorities and many haven't forgotten the Clintons. Of course she did lose to Obama, and while that was embarassing, her work as the secretary of state is kind of making her synonymous with Obama now too. It's pretty much a given that if you like Obama, you'll want to vote for Hillary because they will be very similar.
- Lots of experience related to being President. This will be redundant, but she's been directly involved with 2 Presidents, both serving 8 year terms, because of this, it's not a stretch that she probably has the greatest knowledge of this job that you can possibly have without actually being the President.

That being said, you also have to consider her competition. Trump and Cruz are pretty much both considered "the anti Christ" among left wingers, who think that if these guys get into power, the world is basically going to blow up. On the flip side, Bernie Sanders is a no name, his track record isn't bad but he's an old white guy and in this day and age, that is kind of an unpopular thing to be. A lot of democrat voters don't feel that old white guy's "understand" their struggle or that they only pretend to care. Before this election though, if you didn't closely follow politics, you probably never heard of the guy. Compare that to Hillary, who has been a house hold name for about 25 years.

[Felya]

Cuz she's hot

Is she in a warm state or something?

[Deleted]

It's a cult of personality. Personality politics. Her supporters worship her, not policies or ideals. That's why she's the one that gets built up and put on a pedestal. Not what she stands for, if there even is such a thing. Well, it's whatever is popular at any given moment, of course.

Maybe that's why they have to worship her, because she switches her positions and has no passions or ideals so there are none of those to praise.

[Felpacino]

Is she in a warm state or something?

She's in a state that can make me warm. *creeping intensifies*

[Independent voter]

There's a theory going around that Bernie knows he can't win but is staying in the race. This will hurt Hillary and the next president will be a Republican joining a Republican congress.

Looks like Trump is the next pres.

Thanks Bernie.

[The Stormbringer]

This, also it means defeating Trump. Trump would be a disaster for the US economy so it's definitely in America's best interests to elect Hilary instead.

Or, you know, Bernie.

There's a theory going around that Bernie knows he can't win but is staying in the race. This will hurt Hillary and the next president will be a Republican joining a Republican congress.

Looks like Trump is the next pres.

Thanks Bernie.

I'm fairly certain that if he doesn't get the nomination, he'll drop out. That said, I'd be much more willing to vote for Hillary if he was her VP, but I don't see that as being likely.

[Gulharum]

As a Swede, following the US election just a little bit, please explain to me why Hillary Clinton is so big. She strikes me as a liar, two-faced and dishonest, and I rarely read anything positive about her.

Could any Hillary Clinton voter elaborate and enlighten me?

She is portrayed that way by the media in part because it benefits literally every candidate except her, and the partisan media companies tend to favor certain candidates. My understanding is that Clinton is seen as the best candidate by the "establishment" democratic media, and Sanders is the frontrunner for the more liberal democratic media. So naturally, any non-establishment democratic media outlet is going to trash Clinton. Clinton does lie often, but welcome to politics. It's hard to be a politician and not lie, plain and simple. You won't be successful by telling the truth all the time unfortunately, and you have to lie to either position yourself well for donors (whose donations you use to get elected), or exaggerate issues in order to get legislation passed because they are still important, etc.. I feel that with Clinton's extensive political experience (not just in years, but in significant roles and impact in those roles), networks, and what she has shown about her policy preferences and her knowledge of public policy thus far, she is the most pragmatic and realistic candidate currently running. Just a side comment, I actually heard a conservative female say "Clinton should not be president because females shouldn't be president, males are better for positions with that level of responsibility". I never imagined that would happen. I do think that is a petty and baseless argument though.

About Sanders, I think it's really interesting that in the elections of 2008 and 2012, Obama was bashed for being a "socialist", and somehow that is no longer something the conservatives care to bring up in regards to Sanders (at least I haven't heard it). Also, Sanders wasn't a legitimate democrat before he decided to run for president, he joined the party because that was the only way to get the most funding and consequently, reach. I feel that Sanders is not the messiah politician that young people portray him to be. There is a very strong trend throughout recent history (~100-200 years, probably more but I'm unaware of anything past that) for young people to be more concerned about "social justice" than anything else, which is how I think he really resonates with young people. Young people don't seem to really understand politics. Some of the reforms that Sanders discusses and supports seem great on the outside, but they are very difficult to pull off with our current political situation (i.e., free college would be great, but it would be expensive and complicated to implement given our current gov't student loan system, not to mention the fact that our budget is currently at a deficit). People call Clinton a liar, but Sanders has lied plenty himself (although probably not as much as Clinton), it's not too hard to find articles that fact-check him. He also has demonstrated a lack of knowledge on a policy basis, and I think that Congress would probably make it very difficult for him to get anything impactful done. Our majority-GOP Congress would not cooperate with him.

I won't comment on the GOP candidates, as I don't see any realistic ones out there. It is interesting how Trump has mellowed and used a little more rationality lately though. I don't believe that it's sincere, but it's kind of intriguing.

[Deleted]

There's a theory going around that Bernie knows he can't win but is staying in the race. This will hurt Hillary and the next president will be a Republican joining a Republican congress.

Looks like Trump is the next pres.

Thanks Bernie.

Change the record. It doesn't matter in the slightest whether Trump or Hilary gets in, both are only loyal to the corporate kleptocracy that is impoverishing everyone else.

[Nillah]

Well, she's a woman. Wouldn't you also want to see the first woman president of USA?

Nope. Not if it's her. At this point if Bernie doesn't win I'm voting for Trump, who in my mind is the lesser of two evils. He's still an awful choice though.

[BrerBear]

About Sanders, I think it's really interesting that in the elections of 2008 and 2012, Obama was bashed for being a "socialist", and somehow that is no longer something the conservatives care to bring up in regards to Sanders (at least I haven't heard it).

Obama wasn't bashed for being a socialist until he secured the nomination.

The same goes for Sanders. The GOP won't bash him now because the stronger Sanders is, the better it is for their campaign b/c a strong Sanders hurts Clinton.Coincidentally, covered by the NYTimes just today.

For those claiming the socialism label is no big deal. Gallup, from just last year, disagrees with you.

[Gulharum]

Obama wasn't bashed for being a socialist until he secured the nomination.

The same goes for Sanders. The GOP won't bash him now because the stronger Sanders is, the better it is for their campaign b/c a strong Sanders hurts Clinton.Coincidentally, covered by the NYTimes just today.

For those claiming the socialism label is no big deal. Gallup, from just last year, disagrees with you.

Thank you, that is enlightening.

[kail]

Obama wasn't bashed for being a socialist until he secured the nomination.

The same goes for Sanders. The GOP won't bash him now because the stronger Sanders is, the better it is for their campaign b/c a strong Sanders hurts Clinton.Coincidentally, covered by the NYTimes just today.

For those claiming the socialism label is no big deal. Gallup, from just last year, disagrees with you.

I'm a bit suprised by the atheism hate.

[abel86silhouette]

Because the alternatives are batshit crazy