Hillary Clinton Presidential bid Swot analysis

The race for the White house has intensified as Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton faced the Republican Presidential candidate in a debate. The debate has been received with a mixed bag of feelings. Far from being a festival of cross- pollination of policy issues the debate degenerated into personal attacks against one another. The debate was replete with ad-hominem attacks against one another.

As the Election day approaches it's necessary to come up with some form of SWOT analysis for the two Presidential contenders. Donald Trump has been excoriated by many for being temperamental and undiplomatic in his utterances. He has also been accused of having a well-documented history of racism and misogyny of which the United States of America is a cosmopolitan society.

Hillary Clinton is expected to capitalise on the disunity within the Republican Camp over the candidature of Donald Trump. She is likely to take advantage of the protest voters from the Republican Camp. Her bid for the White House is also likely to be boosted by apathy from the Republican Camp.

Lack of coherence and dilly-dallying on the part of Donald Trump is likely to work in Hillary Clinton' favour. Having written previously about Donald Trump this instalment will dwell much more on Hillary Clinton bid for the White House.

Anecdotal evidence suggest that many voters want a change, a change of direction that can only be availed by a change of leadership. This militates against Hillary Clinton in the sense that she is viewed by many as an extension of the establishment, the status quo. Hillary Clinton is unfairly looked upon almost like an incumbent President and a natural extension of the current administration. Years of economic uncertainty have put voters in an anti-establishment mood. Pundits also wonder whether Hillary Clinton will be able to break the sacrilegious glass ceiling. He stamina to defy and dismantle the odds of phallocracy and misogyny is under microscopic examination. If Hillary Clinton manages to win the Presidency, she will be the first woman to win the US Presidency, the Clintons will also be the first couple to both occupy the prestigious White House.

It's also important to note that Hillary Clinton presidential bid has been a daunting task owing to her "abominable" past. She is judged on the basis of the decisions she took as Secretary of State. Her use of the private email server while serving as secretary of state has been Donald Trump's trump card, but in a stroke of a genius the former Secretary of State accepted the mistake she made and accepted the responsibility. That is the crisis we have in Africa. Our leaders do not accept their mistakes, come what may they will find a scapegoat. Hillary Clinton's support for "regime change" in countries like Iraq, Libya, Syria and Honduras is seldom recalled when comparing her foreign policy to Donald Trump.

In these instances she is depicted as war-like although she argued that US foreign policy entails combating the scourge of terrorism by any means. The argument by Clinton is that the military interventions in the above countries were predicated on the" Responsibility to Protect Doctrine" which some describe as a disguised and sugar-coated form of imperialism whose geo-economic and geo-political agenda leaves a lot to be desired. Her experience might also work in her favour in the elections but according to Donald Trump hers is "bad experience" which cannot take the US forward.

The Benghazi issue is often recalled to buttress how tarnished Hillary Clinton political career is. There is need of a lot of damage control to offset the negative impression portrayed by the Benghazi debacle. Critics argue that she has a history of lying and double standards hence unfit to occupy the White House. She has been described as a congenital liar by her critics. They argue that she lied about the nature of attacks in Benghazi while privately telling the truth to her daughter via email.

Hillary Clinton has been subjected to ghastly caricatures and her opponent Donald Trump has described her as a Crooked Hillary although this is more of the proverbial pot calling the kettle black since he(Donald Trump) is viewed by many as a bombastic megalomaniac. However the million dollar question remains as to why Hillary Clinton appears to be the most unpopular and polarising Democratic presidential candidate in recent history.

There is a perception among the US voters that Hillary Clinton's election will inevitably result in a third term of office for Bill Clinton of which the Americans abhor dynasties. Such perceptions can work against her favour if her opponents manage to capitalise on that. The George Bush Administration is an eye opener in this regard. When Bush rose to power he appeared to had ulterior motives to accomplish the project and mission of his father regardless of sentiments from the public opinion.

The infamous Iraq war which Tony Blair said was premised on wrong intelligence was seen as retaliation by George Bush against the political wounds inflicted on his father by Saddam Hussein during the Persian-Gulf War although Iraq incurred huge losses during the war. So a bad precedence was set by George W Bush and it's likely to work against Hillary Clinton's presidential bid.

In light of economic turbulence the US voters are against a presidential candidate who is perceived to be pro-military foreign escapades which gobble unnecessary expenses. It is also important to examine the implications of the Brexit vote in light of the coming elections in the United States.

The face value impression is that Brexit vote resonates with what Donald Trump stands for. One of the motivations of the Leave vote was the issue immigration which is also high on the agenda of Donald Trump election campaign.

The Brexit vote was a stunning repudiation of the ruling establishment and Donald is keeping his fingers crossed anticipating the same in the US. With its merits and demerits the Brexit was a clear manifestation of surge of nationalistic fervour in the disunited Kingdom.

It is also this nationalistic fervour that Donald Trump is trying to inflame.

The tragedy with protest voters is that they can do anything to prove a point, they can vote for anything, anyone whose meaning and implication they are not even sure of just to protest.

The is a general feeling that the Leave voters in the United Kingdom voted to leave without knowledge of the leaving economic and political consequence. It was a vote against the establishment and not necessarily against the European Union.

They voted against Prime Minister David Cameroon Remain stance just to send un unambiguous message of disenchantment with his administration. So the Brexit vote is not something to celebrate for Hillary Clinton. It's more of a bad omen, a wakeup call to be precise.

However by attacking the immigrants and the Muslims Donald Trump unwittingly galvanised some voters against him, something to celebrate for Hillary Clinton.

The US electorate is 31% non-white including Asia, Hispanic, African American and other minorities who felt offended by Donald Trump unwarranted attacks against them.

On the contrary the tumbling of the UK's economy after the Brexit can influence the US voters to exercise caution and avoid voting for things they are not sure of.

The die is cast, needless to say Donald Trump is an epitome of clash of civilisations. With her flaws Hillary Clinton has weathered the political storms. She still stands a chance to break the glass ceiling and make history.