Anyone but Hillary for President

Caroline Appleby, Staff Writer

Hillary Clinton is a divisive figure running for President in 2016. She provokes strong reactions both positive and negative, and while some people are excited about her running, others are dreading the prospect of her being elected President. 

So, Hillary Clinton is a well–known name, but having your name known isn’t always a positive on a presidential campaign. Hillary has been in politics for most of her adult life, including her time as Senator from New York, Secretary of State, and First Lady. You would think that after all that time she understands the ins and outs of being an elected official, but, judging from the scandals that surround her, that’s not true at all.

One of her most recent scandals is her unethical covering up of emails during her time as Secretary of State. During her tenure as Secretary of State she used a personal email server instead of a government server. When Congress requested all of her emails, she deleted many of them and only handed over the ones she thought were relevant.

Now, the emails she didn’t hand over very well may have been irrelevant to the case, but the fact that she set up a separate email system, effectively hiding from government subpoenas, is indicative of her untrustworthiness in public office.

And this leads us nicely to the biggest Hillary scandal of all: Benghazi. Back a couple of years ago, Hillary failed in her job of safeguarding American diplomats abroad: the American ambassador to Libya was killed by Islamist militias and nothing was done to help them during the actual attack. Regardless of the extent of her failure, her actions in response to Benghazi showcase her inability to act decisively, something a president needs to do.

Perhaps one of the most significant issues facing Hillary is her  struggle to connect with ordinary Americans, and she comes off as awkward and uncomfortable. She is often paid over $200,000 for speeches, roughly four times more than the average American makes in a year, yet she campaigns as the “champion” for everyday Americans. She is simply not representative of the everyday American.

However, Hillary is a strong candidate, she has tons of money, and she’ll put up a good fight during the election. But in the end the American people should not vote for her as she is not the right candidate for President.