On the big issues of the day, the hard ones at any rate, one does wonder how Hillary Clinton would respond to tough questioning of the sort mere mortals who seek the White House might be expected to do. Her silence is all the more puzzling given that she was such a central figure in the policies we now see play out. One suspects she’s trying out her excuses on a focus group or letting aides bat around some ideas. (“We could say she opposed Russian reset but was being a good sport!”)
Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton delivers remarks to the National Automobile Dealers Association meeting in New Orleans, Monday, Jan. 27, 2014. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
There is a long list of problematic policies she might — we can hope — eventually need to answer in second quest for the White House:
Was Russian reset a mistake?
Did we make an error in pulling out missile defenses from Poland and the Czech Republic?
Should we have let Russia into the WTO with no conditions?
Was it an error for the State Department to object for as long as it did on passage of the Magnitsky Act?
In retrospect was it a mistake to repeatedly go to the United Nations (only to be rebuffed by Russia) to help out on Syria? Did our failure to fully back rebel forces suggest we had a lack of commitment to the Syrian people? Should we have acted more forcefully in concert with our allies in the region?
Did you understand it to be U.S. policy that Ukraine should be an independent nation, not subject to Russian domination?
On Obamacare, had you known all the problems with the law would you have urged the president to redraft the legislation and/or delay its implementation? Why didn’t you?
Is it a plus for upward mobility and economic growth when we discourage work?
Did we back the wrong side in Honduras’s revolution?
Was it an error to relax sanctions on Cuba? Did its human rights policies worsen after we did?
Were human rights in China worse or better by the end of your tenure?
Are settlements the root of the problem in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? Was it a mistake to ignore PA governance and West Bank economic growth?
What changes to Obamacare are needed?
If a hike in the minimum wage costs half a million jobs, would you still be in favor of it?
Did the delay in the XL Pipeline serve any scientific purpose or was this about domestic politics?
Is the shale revolution a good thing for the U.S. economy and if so should we open up more federal lands to energy exploration and extraction?
How much money have foreign governments given to the Clinton Foundation? What about oil companies, banks and insurance companies?
Should we break up the big banks?
From whom did you receive speaking fees after leaving the White House? Did it ever concern you there might be the appearance of a conflict of interest and /or cronyism?
I look forward to hearing her responses — I sure hope she’s working on good ones.
