Hillary Clinton Can Become the Real Candidate of Change

Hillary Clinton Can Become the Real Candidate of Change

Hillary Clinton Can Become the Real Candidate of Change

Clinton needs to go bold: using her experience and competence as the basis for laying out a big agenda for change that can help build enthusiasm and turnout. 

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Hillary Clinton will accept her party’s presidential nomination on Thursday night, entering and departing the stage as the prohibitive favorite to win the presidency. Forget the polls showing the race neck and neck, the breathless commentators saying that Donald Trump is “moving” on security issues. Americans are not lining up to elect the egregious Trump, the most unpopular candidate in the modern history of presidential politics, to the presidency.

But just because the race is Clinton’s to lose doesn’t mean it can’t be lost. Campaigns may not matter much, but in a deeply divided nation, they matter enough. And, at a time when two-thirds of Americans still think the country is on the wrong track, there is one critical question in this campaign: Who is the credible candidate of change? The challenge for Clinton on Thursday night is to make herself that candidate.

This isn’t exactly conventional wisdom. After Trump’s Republican convention and his rambling, apocalyptic one hour and 15-minute acceptance diatribe, Democrats hoped to “grab the center.” The selection of Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine as vice-presidential nominee followed. The Democratic convention and easy slogans—inclusive, socially liberal, “stronger together,” “building bridges, not walls,” advertising competence and experience—contrast naturally with the Republican gathering.

Read the full text of Katrina’s column here.

Become a Sustaining Donor This September

Between the reemergence of right-wing red-baiting and Donald Trump’s use of the chilling National Security Presidential Memorandum–7 to criminalize left political organizing, we’re seeing McCarthyism reborn before our eyes.

This assault on democracy cannot be ignored or wished away. Resisting it requires bravery in the face of threats and repression, a steadfast commitment to the truth, and the unwavering belief that we can—and will—overcome this darkness.

We must have an independent media that sets the record straight, unearths corruption and abuses of power, and advances a politics of justice and dignity for all if we’re to win this fight.

That’s why I’m writing to you today. This September, The Nation needs to add 100 monthly donors to sustain our progressive journalism. Your contribution makes the next investigative report, the next truth-speaking column, and the next pathbreaking essay all possible. 

I hope you’ll support our work with a recurring donation today. If you donate $10 or more a month, we’ll send you a brand new “Hands Off the Free Press!” sticker to recognise your commitment to our cause. Please, donate today. 

Onward,

Katrina vanden Heuvel
Editor and Publisher, The Nation

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