It is still a long way to go to forecast who is going to enter the White House. There are many factors involved to cross the hurdles to reach the White House through presidential election in November of 2016. Neither Donald Trump of the Republican Party nor Hillary Clinton of the Democratic Party is on the right track to win the election.
As for Hillary Clinton, she is confronted with serious problem of trustworthiness in America. During the presidential election in 2008, turnout of young voters turned the table in favour of Barack Obama. A similar situation has already been reflected in the caucuses of the Democratic Party in Iowa and New Hampshire. Senator Bernie Sanders of the Democratic Party scored a resounding victory in New Hampshire while he lost narrowly in Iowa caucus. In New Hampshire, Sanders secured 60 per cent of the votes compared with Hillary's 38 per cent, sweeping every age group. He won 65 and above plus 80 per cent of young voters belonging to 30 and less. Another interesting development is that Sanders held 11 per cent advantage among women voters in New Hampshire being a man. He was jubilant by saying: "Together we have sent a message that will echo from Wall Street to Washington, from Maine to California."
In New Hampshire caucus, the Democrats cast votes in favour of honesty. A similar picture is expected to emerge in other caucuses in Nevada and South Carolina. In recent campaigns, two women have caused serious problems among women voters in the Democratic Party. They are feminist icon Gloria Steinem who suggested they are only flocking to Sanders to meet boys while former Secretary of State under President Clinton Madeleine Albright warned of a special place in hell for women who do not help each other. Therefore, both young and old women became angry and went against Hillary Clinton.
As of now, Hillary could not succeed to clarify her position with regard to accepting donations from Wall Street banks amounting to around $ 21.4 million apart from accepting fees $675,000 for giving three speeches to Goldman Sachs, an institution more 'demonised on the left' than anything on this side of the Koch brothers, billionaires who are contributing to the candidates of the Republican Party. As of now, Hillary Clinton has refused to release the transcripts of the speeches she made at Goldman for which she was paid.
Hillary Clinton is having another serious problem with regard to using official e-mail on her personal servers while she was working as Secretary of State. Working as a government functionary, she violated office decorum. As of now, some of e-mails turned out to be official secrets. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is looking into the nature of e-mails for bringing a case against her.
Donald Trump, on the other hand, won victory in New Hampshire caucus beating Senator Ted Cruz who was the winner in Iowa caucus. Trump, a billionaire real estate mogul with his anti-immigrant stunt, anti-Muslim rhetoric and crude language, could pose a disaster to the Republican Party in the presidential and congressional elections as well in next November. In last weekend's debate, Trump even promised to re-institute Waterboarding of suspected terrorists. During debate conducted by CBS TV network on February 13, he also made surprising comments on former President George W.Bush who knew attack on Iraq was wrong. These comments go against the Republican Party.
There is no doubt that the Republicans will have no other option but to nominate Trump if no other formidable candidate emerges until Super Tuesday election on the first of March. As of now, slowly Governor John Kasich of Ohio has emerged as second in New Hampshire caucus who has administrative acumen as two-time governor plus experiences in the Congress as well as the House of Representatives. It is better to wait and see which way winds blow in the presidential election in America.
The writer is a retired Bangladeshi diplomat
amjad.21@gmail.com
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The scenario of US polls
Mohammad Amjad Hossain | Published: February 19, 2016 23:00:51 | Updated: October 19, 2017 14:32:52
The scenario of US polls
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