Hillary Clinton announces candidacy for President on Youtube

Former U.S. Senator and First Lady Hillary Clinton announced her candidacy for president of the United States in a Youtube Video that promotes the challenges facing everyday Americans.

By Ray Hanania

Official portrait of Secretary of State Hillar...

Official portrait of Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Saying “deck is still stacked in favor of those at the top,” Hillary Clinton announced Sunday April 12, 2015 that she will run for the office of President of the United States in the November 8, 2016 General election.

Clinton will begin campaigning, saying that Americans need a champion for their needs “and emphasizing, “I want to be that champion.”

The video is short but very upbeat and the stories presented of everyday Americans from all walks of life were inspiring and moving.

The wife of the popular former President William Jefferson “Bill” Clinton, Hillary Clinton is expected to face a much more strident political environment than her husband faced in the 1992 campaign. Bill Clinton served from January 1993 until January 2001.

Mrs. Clinton, who served as Secretary of State under President Barack Obama, did not outline any specific programs she plans to pursue, but the Youtube announcement was unique and unusual and offered short stories from everyday Americans who capsulized the challenges they face and hope to overcome.

Two Republicans so far have thrown their hats into the ring, both from the extreme right, U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (-Texas) and U.S. Congressman Rand Paul (R-Kentucky). Several others are expected to enter the Republican race, while some believe U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) will also throw her hat in the race in what many believe will be the first time a woman has a strong odds of becoming president. Warren is originally from Oklahoma and Clinton is originally from the suburban Chicagoland area in Illinois.

In 1984, U.S. Rep. Geraldine Ferraro ran as the vice presidential running mate with U.S. Senator Walter Mondale, but the team lost to President Ronald Reagan who won office for a second term. Ferraro was the first woman to run for a national public office.

Mrs. Clinton is expected to face criticism over the killing of U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens when terrorists attacked the American Diplomatic Compound while she was U.S. Secretary of State, and more recently, over her handling of her official emails through a private account. In recent years, Monica Lewinski has resurfaced as a news story. Lewinsky had a highly publicized affair with Mrs. Clinton’s husband, President Clinton, while she was a White House intern in 1995 and 1996.

The Lewinsky-Clinton scandal resulted in a declaration of Impeachment in December 1998, but the Impeachment measure and trial failed to win a two-thirds majority of the House.

Despite her husband’s controversy, Clinton is considered one of the most popular presidents next to President Ronald Reagan. And much of the criticism has been wrapped in the hyperbole of longtime rightwing Republican critics and the polarized American political system.

Here is the Hillary Clinton candidacy announcement video:

Ray Hanania

Ray Hanania

Blogger, Columnist at Illinois News Network Online
Ray Hanania is senior blogger for the Illinois News Network news site. He is an award winning former Chicago City Hall political reporter and columnist who covered the beat from 1976 through 1992 (From Mayor Daley to Mayor Daley). And, Hanania is a stubborn and loud critic of the biased mainstream American news media.

Hanania Chicago political beats and Chicago City Hall at the Daily Southtown Newspapers (1976-1985) and the Chicago Sun-Times (1985-1992). He published the The Villager Community Newspapers covering 12 Southwest suburban regions (1993-1997). Hanania also hosted live political news radio talkshows on WLS AM (1980 - 1991), and also on WBBM FM, WLUP FM, WSBC AM in Chicago, and WNZK AM in Detroit.

Hanania is the recipient of four (4) Chicago Headline Club “Peter Lisagor Awards” for Column writing. In November 2006, he was named “Best Ethnic American Columnist” by the New American Media;In 2009, he received the prestigious Sigma Delta Chi Award for Writing from the Society of Professional Journalists. Hanania has also received two (2) Chicago Stick-o-Type awards from the Chicago Newspaper Guild, and in 1990 was nominated by the Chicago Sun-Times for a Pulitzer Prize for his four-part series on the Palestinian Intifada.

Hanania’s writings have been published in newspapers around the world. He currently is syndicated through Creators Syndicate. He has written for the Jerusalem Post, YNetNews.com, Newsday in New York, the Orlando Sentinel, the Houston Chronicle, The Daily Star of Lebanon, the News of the World in London, the Daily Yomimuri in Tokyo, Chicago Magazine, the Arlington Heights Daily Herald, The Saudi Gazette, the Arab News in Jeddah, and Aramco Magazine.

Hanania's Chicagoland columns are published in the Southwest News-Herald, the Des Plaines Valley News, the Regional News and the Palos Reporter newspapers.

He is President/CEO of Urban Strategies Group media and public affairs consulting which has clients in Illinois, Florida, Michigan and Washington D.C.

His personal website is www.TheMediaOasis.com. Email him at: [email protected].
Ray Hanania

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