The Battle of 2016 Begins
Published in Le Figaro
(France) on 2 March 2014
by Jean-Sebastien Stehli (link to original)
The 2016 presidential campaign could well break records — not only financial records, but also [in terms] of ferociousness. Presidential campaigns are never joyous affairs, but the one coming up next year is bearing a nastiness never seen before. Explanations:
2016 has started off very strong. There was the George Washington Bridge scandal, where several lanes of this New Jersey-Manhattan link were closed as a means of retaliation against a mayor who did not support New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. Suddenly, he — who appeared to be one of the prime Republican candidates for the White House — had everyone laughing ... except himself.
Republican Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin, also in the running for the future Republican primaries, finds himself in a delicate situation after discovering 27,000 emails sent by his employee who coordinated the governor's political activities during work hours, which is forbidden by law.
The Republicans are trying to bring up some pseudo-scandals from the time when Bill Clinton was elected — 1992! — in the hopes of slowing Hillary down. Never mind their attempt to make the Benghazi bombing, in which an American ambassador was killed, a millstone around the neck for the ex-secretary of state.
Politics were never child's play, but they've become a bona-fide war, with two deplorable consequences: Candidates must start their campaigns earlier and earlier, in lieu of sharpening their program, to meet voters without being under fire from the media and their opponents. And thus they must raise greater and greater funds at the same time as campaigning, to have the means to respond to personal attacks. One should avoid Mitt Romney's error; he let the Democrats define who he was and didn't get to change this image of a capitalist dismembering businesses and hiding his money in fiscal paradise.
The 2016 battle has only begun.
2016 has started off very strong. There was the George Washington Bridge scandal, where several lanes of this New Jersey-Manhattan link were closed as a means of retaliation against a mayor who did not support New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. Suddenly, he — who appeared to be one of the prime Republican candidates for the White House — had everyone laughing ... except himself.
Republican Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin, also in the running for the future Republican primaries, finds himself in a delicate situation after discovering 27,000 emails sent by his employee who coordinated the governor's political activities during work hours, which is forbidden by law.
The Republicans are trying to bring up some pseudo-scandals from the time when Bill Clinton was elected — 1992! — in the hopes of slowing Hillary down. Never mind their attempt to make the Benghazi bombing, in which an American ambassador was killed, a millstone around the neck for the ex-secretary of state.
Politics were never child's play, but they've become a bona-fide war, with two deplorable consequences: Candidates must start their campaigns earlier and earlier, in lieu of sharpening their program, to meet voters without being under fire from the media and their opponents. And thus they must raise greater and greater funds at the same time as campaigning, to have the means to respond to personal attacks. One should avoid Mitt Romney's error; he let the Democrats define who he was and didn't get to change this image of a capitalist dismembering businesses and hiding his money in fiscal paradise.
The 2016 battle has only begun.
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