As Hillary mulls Prez run, critics pan her record

Washington, May 18: She sounds increasingly like a presidential contender, but as Hillary Clinton mulls a run, Republicans are taking aim at her record in a bid to smother the momentum building around her prospective campaign.

With critics dragging her into the political fray before she has announced 2016 plans, her team is pushing back against Republican storylines that she may not be fit for another gruelling White House race, and that she was an ineffectual secretary of state crafting her own political future instead of advancing US interests.

Ms Clinton, hawking a new memoir, insisted she adeptly handled an “endless set of tough calls” as the top US diplomat, prodding Iran into nuclear talks and nudging the West Asian peace process forward.

Republicans see it differently.

“History will judge” her record, Senator Bob Corker, top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told AFP.

Below are issues that could be Ms Clinton’s Achilles’ heels, and the defense she is building against them.

Ms Clinton would be 69 should she win in 2016, younger only than President Ronald Reagan when he first took office.

Republicans tiptoed around the subject — until strategist Karl Rove attacked Ms Clinton’s health head on last week, suggesting she suffered traumatic brain from a 2012 fall.

Her husband, former President Bill Clinton, insisted she works out regularly and is in “better shape” than him. And while he said there was nothing to Rove’s charge, the ex- President acknowledged a candidate’s health is fair game in national campaigns.

The terrorist attack in Libya that killed four Americans on September 11, 2012 occurred on Ms Clinton’s watch.

While she has deemed it her darkest hour and taken responsibility, Republicans latched on like pit bulls, stressing that President Barack Obama’s administration bungled consular security and misled Americans about what triggered the attack.

“What difference does it make?” Ms Clinton told legislators when pressed about whether the assault was planned or spontaneous.

Vowing to get to the “truth,” the GOP set up a select committee on Benghazi, expecting Ms Clinton to be the chief witness. — AFP

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