Clinton calls for United States to ‘intensify’ fight against Daesh

“Madam Secretary, if the only way you can put together a moderate Syrian force is by having the United States cajole, bribe, arm and train it, we are then looking for this force to defeat ISIS, then defeat Assad, then defeat al- Nusra, then defeat other Al Qaida affiliates, keep at bay the Shiite militias and Hezbollah, take control of Damascus and establish a pluralistic democracy in Syria”. In her words, she would “defeat the organisation”. In her latest speech, she sought American leadership in the “fight” against the IS. She did, after all, serve in an administration that is now being accused of ignoring the building threat of ISIS, of allowing Syria to implode with the loss of more than 250,000 lives and of engineering a retreat from the world that let extremism prosper.

The United States now has 3,400 troops in Iraq and is sending more than 50 more who are special operations forces.

“I don’t think there could be more at stake in an election than this one we’ve got coming up”, Clinton said. “And regarding the campaign contributions, the breadth and depth of their support is a testament to the fact that they have both dedicated their lives to public service and fighting to make this country stronger”.

Clinton reiterated her support for a no-fly zone over the northern region of Syria – a step opposed by Obama – saying it would help with conditions inside the country and pressure Assad to reach a political settlement in peace talks being brokered by Secretary of State John Kerry.

But Sanders has tried to make foreign policy about judgment and frequently notes that unlike Clinton, he voted against the Iraq War and says that conflict opened the door to chaos in the region. In a few cases, companies connected to their donors hired the Clintons as paid speakers, helping them collect more than US$150 million on the lecture circuit in the past 15 years.

Clinton didn’t draw her number out of thin air: $250,000 is the same pledge she made in her 2008 campaign, and the level that President Obama has also used to define the middle class. As the NY Times explained in 2011, that demarcation probably came from Bill Clinton’s decision to set the highest income tax bracket at $250,000.

According to Slate staff writer Jim Newell, Clinton is “essentially red-baiting about Bernie Sanders’ Wacky Taxes in her dismissal of a policy that, on paper, draws plenty of support among Democratic voters”. “This is a worldwide fight, and America must lead it”.

“We have a president who refused to use the term the other day and of course, [Clinton] is concerned that if she angers the president she’s going to end up being indicted”, the Republican presidential hopeful told supporters in Spartanburg, S.C., Friday. “We can do that”. “I don’t see how you can be serious about raising working and middle class families’ incomes if you also want to slap new taxes on them-no matter what the taxes will pay for”, she said.

“Being the First Lady in 1992 is a very different position to wanting to be senator – when she was probably trying to define herself apart from her husband – which is a different position to wanting to be president”.

That also ties in with the third element of Clinton’s strategy – protecting the U.S. against homegrown as well as external threats.

Republicans countered that Clinton’s proposal “doubles down” on Obama’s policies. Even so, CBS doubled its typical viewership for that slot, proof that viewers were hungry to hear from presidential candidates in the wake of the Paris terrorist attacks. Sound familiar? Heck, run Donald Trump’s ISIS bluster through a policy translator, and “bomb the shit out of them” would become “increased airstrikes” and “tremendous safe zones” turns into Hillary’s “limited no-fly zones”.

But what’s unclear is for how long – much depends on whether there are more attacks against Western capitals. “I think that war should be the last resort”, he said, briefly addressing national security in remarks billed as defining his democratic socialist leanings. “We are better than that”, she said.

Ms Clinton’s aides are banking on that a year from now the economy will still be voters’ primary concern. First, it’s unnecessary. Sanders may be very competitive in New Hampshire, but Clinton is expected to win in places such as Iowa, Nevada, SC and Florida.