US Opinion and Commentary

“VOA will present the policies of the United States clearly and effectively, and will also present responsible discussion and opinion on these policies.” — VOA Charter

Showing Archived Posts

Hillary Clinton: Pro & Con

Posted November 7th, 2016 at 4:12 pm (UTC-4)
Comments are closed

Hillary Clinton has been called the most qualified person to be president of the United States by the current president, Barack Obama, the Libertarian vice presidential candidate, William Weld, among others.

Clinton promises to make the “biggest investment” in jobs since World War II, propose immigration reform with a pathway for citizenship and establish a no-fly zone in Syria to “save lives and hasten the end of the conflict.”

Donald Trump, among others, calls her “the most corrupt candidate” to ever run for president.

She has been cleared, again, by the FBI Director regarding her private email server while secretary of state. Can Clinton dispel the doubts about her trustworthiness to become the first woman president of the United States?

Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , Posted in This Week in Opinion

The Foundational Criticism of Hillary Clinton

Posted August 31st, 2016 at 12:09 pm (UTC-4)
Comments are closed

The controversy over the connection between then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the Clinton Foundation continues to hound her as she runs for president.
E-mails surfaced this month indicating some donors to the foundation asked for — and were granted — meetings with Secretary Clinton.
Donald Trump called it “pay for play” and says the Clinton Foundation ought to be shut down with a special prosecutor appointed to investigate.
There’s been no evidence, so far, to support the “pay for play” charge. Clinton dismissed the criticism, telling CNN “there’s a lot of smoke and no fire.”
An open letter on the foundation’s website from former president Bill Clinton outlines steps that would be taken to limit donations and separate himself and his wife from the foundation if Mrs. Clinton wins the election.
Large donors usually have loud voices when it comes to political campaigns. Is this corrupt practice or politics as usual?

Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: , , , , , Posted in This Week in Opinion

Conventional Clinton Takes on Trump

Posted July 29th, 2016 at 5:23 pm (UTC-4)
Comments are closed

Americans have been fed a steady diet of political rhetoric over the past two weeks, trying to convince them that two people they have known for decades — and generally do not like — should be their next president.

Hillary Clinton finished off this week’s Democratic National Convention with a speech in which she had to walk a fine line to mollify Bernie Sanders’ supporters while reaching out to independents and Republicans who are looking for change, but are wary of Donald Trump.

Polls conducted in the days ahead will show us how the Democrats’ message has been digested. Meantime, reviews and comparisons of the two conventions are coming in. And the acceptance speeches of Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton can be found below, a way to pass the 102 days still to come before Election Day.

Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: , , , , , , , Posted in This Week in Opinion

The Makeover of Hillary Clinton

Posted July 27th, 2016 at 4:25 pm (UTC-4)
Comments are closed

When you’ve been in the public eye for 25 years and your unfavorable ratings are an average of 17 percentage points higher than your favorable ratings, what do you to try to change things?

Hillary Clinton’s re-branding effort reached its peak Tuesday night with a lineup of speakers who shared personal stories about her impact in their lives.

The most personal came from her husband, former president Bill Clinton. By reflecting on their courtship, parenthood and her commitment to public service, Clinton the former president did his best to humanize Clinton the wannabe president.

While accentuating the positive, he left out the negative challenges the couple faced, which wasn’t lost on the Republican presidential nominee, Donald Trump.

Trump has his own 17-percentage point deficit in favorability ratings. Who did a better job to close the gap will be played out over the next few weeks.

Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: , , , , , , Posted in This Week in Opinion

Trump & Clinton: Holiday on the Hustings

Posted July 1st, 2016 at 3:02 pm (UTC-4)
Comments are closed

Heading into the 4th of July weekend, the U.S. presidential race is still relatively close. The Real Clear Politics average of political polls puts Hillary Clinton 4.8 percentage points ahead of Donald Trump.

While it’s still too early to put much stock in polls, it’s notable that a Fox News poll shows a majority of Republicans would prefer someone other than Trump as their party’s nominee.

Trump spent the week blasting the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, taking on the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, usually a reliable backer of Republican policies. He also said his former Republican presidential rivals should “never be allowed to run for public office again” because they are breaking a pledge to back the party’s nominee. Ted Cruz, John Kasich and Jeb Bush have yet to endorse Trump.

Clinton spent the week fending off two issues that claw at her credibility. Wednesday’s report from a special House of Representative committee investigating the terrorist attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya and a meeting between Bill Clinton and Attorney General Loretta Lynch as an FBI investigation into Hillary Clinton’s email server is still pending.

With party conventions scheduled for the last two weeks of July, Trump and Clinton are vetting possible running mates and trying to turn around what are still the highest disapproval ratings for any presidential candidate.

Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , Posted in This Week in Opinion

The Shame of Srebrenica

Posted July 10th, 2015 at 11:13 am (UTC-4)
Comments are closed

Like the failure to act in order to prevent the Rwandan genocide the year before in 1994, Srebrenica was a stain on America’s power and reputation … But it galvanized the United States to intervene in Bosnia, launching airstrikes and negotiations that led to the 1995 Dayton Accords.

Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: , , , , , Posted in Recent Opinion and Commentary