Eclectic presidential candidates leave much to be wanted
As a high school student, I know a persona when I see one, and the 2016 presidential bid is one giant cafeteria of stereotyped personalities that would put the Breakfast Club to shame.
First, fresh off the inter webs, Waka Flocka Flame has entered the race. Mr. Flame is the burnout who smokes pot in the bathroom stall instead of going to class but still wins over a sizable crowd. The closest we have to a John Bender. But even crazier than Waka Flocka Flame, Ted Cruz announced he’s running.
Ah, Ted Cruz. The superstar showman who brought unloaded guns to a senate hearing as a means of demonstrating his Second Amendment rights. He’s the kid in your English class who really makes his presence known; he does voices when reading Shakespeare and he’ll take the opposite side of a debate on “To Kill a Mockingbird” just to seem important. Annoying, yet ever-so eloquent.
Finally, we get to Hillary Clinton. Now, one may be quick to label her several things– “the know it all,” the President of the Feminist Club that asks why you’re persecuting her but you tell her, “Please just let me eat my lunch.” Yes, she’s pinpointed as, potentially, America’s first woman president, but how does that play to her strengths as a public servant? It does no more than it would to say that a person’s prostate makes them more qualified to lead the nation. In an article from February, MSNBC reported that “a Gallup poll from March of last year found that respondents picked the fact that Clinton would be the first woman president to be the most positive thing about her. Only 18 percent chose the option, but it easily beat out other options, like her foreign policy experience.” The fact is, though, she does have foreign policy qualifications. As Secretary of State, she played a key role in negotiating the Israel-Hamas ceasefire of 2012and developed the Global Hunger and Food Security Initiative with President Barack Obama in 2009,which has contributed to the gradual decline of world hunger over the past decade, according to the Huffington Post. Now, that by no way means she’s the perfect candidate. In fact, the other candidates have qualifications, too. But why aren’t these qualifications at the forefront of her run? The message that seems to be getting to us is she’s a strong woman with a penchant for pantsuits, not that she is an active public servant who has, at the very least, a compelling resume for us to interpret and decide if she’s right for the job.
So, see past the popularity contest because there’s no reason to vote for the next president like a senior superlative.
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On any given day, Michael Mathis, Staples senior and Inklings’ Web Opinions Editor, is campaigning for governors, in the Inklings room editing stories,...