Faint praise from Politico as Hillary’s poll numbers soar.
With an approval rating some 24% higher than Barack Obama’s, you’d think that Hillary Clinton would get some credit for the great job she has done as U.S. Secretary of State.
Not gonna happen. At least not from Politico.
To read Politico’s report on the new poll, you’d think the only reason that a high percentage of voters approve of her is that she’s been hiding away in Chappaqua, New York. The reason Hillary is more popular than the president, says Politico, is that the president has been in the limelight tackling the tough issues while Hillary has been sequestered from the public eye.
Somehow that ignores that fact that the Secretary has traveled some 200,000 miles on behalf of the Administration. With one or two minor exceptions, observers agree that her performance abroad has been exceptional. Indeed, during the past year Americans have come to appreciate her unflappable work ethic and the realpolitik that informs her behavior on the world stage.
It’s also the case that Obama, try as he might, has had few victories either at home or abroad. That certainly will change, but for now the low approval rating correlates with his poor performance as president (the B+ grade he gave himself on the Oprah Winfrey special must have been based on a very generous curve).
According to the poll of self-avowed news hounds, Hillary’s favorability rating is at 75%, compared to 51% for her boss. Given her more balanced perspective on world events, a high percentage of Republicans — some 57% — also expressed approval of Hillary. The percentage of independents showing support was 65%.
The poll of 800 self-identified “news watchers” was conducted by the nonpartisan Clarus Research Group from December 7th to the 12th. An earlier poll conducted in October also showed Hillary with a higher approval rating than Obama’s.
Judge releases man who stormed Hillary’s New Hampshire campaign headquarters.
Leeland Eisenberg, the man who stormed Hillary Clinton’s campaign headquarters in Dover, New Hampshire, has been released on bail after being re-arrested shortly before Thanksgiving for violating his parole.
Eisenberg took several hostages during the November 2007 attack using fake explosives. It triggered an hours-long standoff that ended peacefully when he gave up.
According to the Union Leader, on December 11 a judge ordered his release pending a hearing about allegations he violated his probation after getting out of state prison last month. He is accused of failing to charge a GPS tracker he was required to wear, making it hard for probation officials to know where he was.
Public defender Randy Hawkes, Eisenberg’s attorney, said in court this morning that his client was arrested again simply because of who he is. He asked he be released on personal recognizance bail.
“I really believe had it been anyone other than Mr. Eisenberg, he wouldn’t have been held,” he said.
The county attorney general argued unsuccessfully that Eisenberg was “calculating” and should be held on cash bail. The judge disagreed and released Eisenberg on personal recognizance pending a hearing.
The hearing date has not yet been scheduled.
Hillary Clinton’s high school yearbook photos.
Hillary Clinton's High School Yearbook
Friends and foes of Hillary Clinton have a fascination with the young Hillary, in particular her life as a high school student. In a past issue of the Hillary Clinton Quarterly, we ran a great story by Doug Kelley focusing on Hillary’s yearbook. The original story included all of Hillary’s pictures from the yearbook.
To order your own copies of HCQ back issues, including the famous high school yearbook issue, click here.
Here’s what Doug had to write –
Ever since 1965, when Hillary Rodham graduated from a brand-new high school in suburban Park Ridge, Illinois, the school’s first yearbook has provided advance clues about the First Lady. For anyone who scanned the book’s eight appealing photos documenting her trail of tireless activities, it should be no surprise she’s now a White House public affairs activist in the tradition of Eleanor Roosevelt.
After three years in Park Ridge’s “Maine Township East High,” Hillary was redistricted into newly-built Maine South High, for her 1964-65 senior year. During that year her combination of socially-conscious youth activities at First United Methodist Church, earning A’s in a high quality academic program, and the plethora of extra-curricular activities reported here must have produced a weekly schedule as tight as a political campaigner’s. But in the fall of 1964 she also found time to go door-to-door for Barry Goldwater—the last Republican Presidential contender she was to support (followed in 1968 first by Eugene McCarthy and then by Hubert Humphrey).
Turning the pages of the handsome black-and-gold-bound yearbook, entitled Eyrie (meaning the lofty dwelling of a large bird), you find a blonde, confidently smiling Hillary on numerous pages.
