NEW YORK BOSTON |#Popular: Irish Celebrity Gossip Irish Pubs Irish Festivals Irish Roots Irish Entertainment Offbeat Irish

Home Page > Blogs > News blogs > Periscope > Why I think Hillary Clinton will run in 2016 -- Best qualified person in US to be President

Periscope by Niall O'Dowd

Why I think Hillary Clinton will run in 2016 -- Best qualified person in US to be President

Posted on Friday, December 14, 2012 at 07:31 AM

Larger Text

E-mail

5 Comments

RSS

Archives

Hillary Clinton meets Irish Foreign Minister Eamonn Gilmore in Dublin

DUBLIN -- Yes, Hillary Clinton will run for president in 2016. That is the only conclusion I can come to after spending two days in Northern Ireland with the former first lady, U.S. senator, and soon to be former Secretary of State.

She is the best-qualified person in America to be president given that resume. You would have to go back to the time of Jefferson to find anyone with such qualifications.

And there is still fire in her belly and steel in the heart.

Though she will be 69 when the next election comes around, Hillary looks as fit and as ready for the fight as I have ever seen her.

Sure she is tired -- after one million miles and 115 countries who would not be? -- and yes, that hairstyle in recent months, or lack of one, has drawn lots of comments.

But all that is temporary, the closing act on one part of her career.

Don’t doubt the ambition or the desire. There has never been such a fiercely competitive couple as Bill and Hillary Clinton and they still have unfinished business.

An illustration in The Sunday Business Post in Dublin said it best, with Hillary as Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz closing in on the White House seen at the end of the Yellow Brick Road, and Bill beside her as the Tin Man helping lead the way.

Last night in a small private dinner setting in a restaurant in Stephen’s Green in Dublin, surrounded by a dozen or so Irish Americans who have been with her on many campaigns, she made clear that the fire still burns.

She went around the table asking each of us for our memories from our Clinton campaign involvements.

I told her I remembered best that day in 1995 when she and her husband, as the president and first lady, came to Belfast for the Christmas tree lighting and to support the peace process, and the world in Northern Ireland was never the same afterwards.

When she spoke she remembered the Gerry Adams U.S. visa as the first major battle on Irish policy and how that was won. She remembered the many wonderful women who had inspired her in Northern Ireland, and how she has used the message of Northern Ireland to different groups learning to live together many times since in her job as secretary of state.

At the American Ireland Fund event in Belfast last Friday she made an astonishing offer to the group, essentially saying, put me to work on your behalf and on behalf of Ireland. It was a massive gesture and one that showed the depth of her commitment to Ireland.

One can only imagine how many offers she will get in the coming months to become involved in various causes. For her to choose and highlight the Irish one unbidden was a remarkable moment.

This Irish trip was not some one-day trip to Moneygall and a pleasant interlude as President Obama had in 2011, but another sign of the deep conviction and desire to help on Hillary’s part going all the way back to that first presidential trip to Ireland.

And yes, there were politics included. At one point she referred to her “current job.” We can surely guess what she wants her next job to be.

Four years is a lifetime in politics and much can happen in between.

But leaving Dublin I was in no doubt what Hillary wants to do come 2014 or so – and that is to announce she is running for president of the United States.

E-mail

5 Comments

See all comments

wizardofoz | Jan 25, 2013, 06:37 PM EST

"She is the best-qualified person in America to be president" She most certainly is. Like her husband, Billary has ALL the qualifications to be the next president of that criminal, Zionist hell-hole USA. Of course it all depends on how well she kisses Jewish ass. So far she has proved first-class at brown nosing the Jews. So maybe, for once, you are correct.

Report abuse

angrypaddy | Dec 16, 2012, 01:05 AM EST

And Naill you should know you are so full of it

Report abuse

Towngate | Dec 15, 2012, 03:20 AM EST

Let us hope not! There is nothing more sad than a spent candle furiously flickering for life when it has run out of fuel,when there are plenty of promising Beacons waiting to be lit and shine their light on the world. Niall,for goodness sake,try and go easy on the syrupy fawning. ... the poor woman can hardly sit down!

Report abuse

Madeliene | Dec 14, 2012, 04:31 PM EST

Listen liberals, you have practically destroyed Our Nation with your vrap, and we intend to put a stop to it! WE the PEOPLE the CONSERVATIVES , as the ones who BEGAN this Nation, not the ones who are tryng to desroy HER!

Report abuse

Madeliene | Dec 14, 2012, 04:26 PM EST

O Dowd if you were any more LEFT wing you would lsying on your ear!

Report abuse

McNamara31 | Dec 14, 2012, 01:14 PM EST

I hope if Hillary does run she will stand up to the NRA in this country. As of this writing there are as many as 20 children (and 8 adults) dead in a Connecticut elementary school because of another madman with a gun.The GOP has been shielding this greedy NRA lobby for far to long and people of sanity have to push back with legislation.

Report abuse