OPINION: Three lessons Hillary Clinton needs to learn to be President

As Hillary Clinton officially announces her candidacy for President of the United States, DMU’s Clodagh Harrington offers some advice…



For this 2016 renaissance, there are three lessons Hillary Clinton must learn from her first attempt:

Don’t make assumptions. In 2008, even the most casual observers were betting on Hillary to be the Democratic nominee. That the role would be snatched by a contender who barely anyone had heard of was almost unthinkable.

So this time round, the logic must be to take nothing, not least the voting public, for granted – even if Paddy Power is currently offering 11/10 odds on her winning the election.

Try not to appear too regal. It’s difficult when, like Madonna, one is clearly the queen. But as Hillary has learned, it is surprisingly easy to be beaten to the throne. There is no-one to trump her now on brand recognition, experience, and capacity to raise staggering amounts of money.

All of which are fantastic assets for a candidate – but not everyone is clamouring for another Clinton. There was a Bush or a Clinton in the White House continuously from 1980 to 2008, and 2016 could well be a Hillary-Jeb race. So grace and humility will go a long way with an electorate weary of stagnancy and stalemate.

Run as a woman. In the 2008 primary, Hillary did not make much of her gender, clearly fearful of being perceived as “angry”. But thought there has been much progress in the US since Clinton became the first female partner at the Arkansas Rose Law Firm in 1979, there is still much to be done to achieve real gender equality.

Remember that the US is still the only western nation that offers no guarantee of formal monetary compensation for maternity leave.

But Hillary is in a paradoxically liberating position; at 67, this really is her last shot at the presidency. Now is the time for her "Sisterhood of the Travelling Pantsuits“ to top the 18 million cracks of 2008 and shatter the highest, hardest glass ceiling at last.

* Clodagh Harrington is senior politics lecturer in DMU’s Department of Politics and Public Policy. She is also chair of the American Politics Group, the leading forum in Europe for the study of US politics.