Republican swipes begin with Clinton in firing line

If Hillary Clinton's chances of winning the 2016 US presidential election are to be judged on the strength of Republican attacks on her, then the Democrat is a shoo-in to succeed Barack Obama.

There was quite a fight in the gladiatorial arena that is American politics this week when comments from the "brain" behind George W Bush's two presidential election wins spawned the New York Post headline: "Karl Rove: Hillary Clinton may have Brain Damage."

Rove was referring to the former secretary of state’s health scare in 2012 when, ill with a virus, she fell at home, suffering a concussion.

"Thirty days in the hospital?" Rove told a conference, according to the Post's report. "And when she reappears, she's wearing glasses that are only for people who have traumatic brain injury? We need to know what's up with that."

Double vision
Rove let opinion get in the way of facts, ignoring the famous dictum of New York senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan that US political commentators should be made recite daily: "Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts."

Hillary, in fact, spent three days in hospital, not 30, and briefly wore corrective glasses afterwards to help deal with the double vision that came from the fall.

The former Republican election strategist, now a contributor to the Fox News Channel, later clarified his comments. “I didn’t say she had brain damage, she had a serious health episode,” he told Fox. He spoke in greater detail about Hillary’s concussion episode, noting that it was fair game to ask about the health of a potential presidential candidate.

Rove has a point. Given the rigours and stresses of the job, the wellbeing of any politician considering a run for the White House will be scrutinised. Hillary will be examined more than most given that she would, at 69, be the second-oldest person to be elected president. The former first lady would be only slightly younger than Ronald Reagan was when he was first elected in 1980.

Age issue
Reagan himself knew that age was an issue and turned it to his advantage in brilliant fashion during his 1984 re-election bid when, at 73, in a debate with challenger Walter Mondale, then a sprightly 56, he said: "I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent's youth and inexperience."

Rove's comments drew a predicable reaction from Bill Clinton, who regularly comes out of Clinton corner swinging for Hillary. CNN described him as "responder-in-chief" this week.

"I've got to give him credit," Bill said at an event in Washington, referring to Rove. "That embodies that old saying that consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds. First they said she faked her concussion. And now they say she's auditioning for a part on The Walking Dead."

Bill Clinton, who has had his own share of health scares, defended his wife, saying that she is “in better shape than I am” and “certainly seems to have more stamina now”.

One of his more revealing comments suggests the long-term intentions of a woman who hasn’t even declared whether she is going to run for the presidency again. “It is just the beginning,” said Bill, of the Republicans attacks. “They’ll get better at it.”

Scrutiny
Rove and other Republicans are "scared of what she has achieved and what she has to offer", said Hillary's spokesman Nick Merrill.

"Brain-ghazi" is how comic Jon Stewart referred to the renewed Republican interest in Hillary's health on the Comedy Channel's The Daily Show, mixing it with the party's long-term scrutiny of the September 2012 attacks in the American diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya that left four Americans dead at a time when Hillary was in charge at the US state department.

The “will-she-or-won’t-she- run” Hillary-watching has turned into something of a media parlour game. Hillary has shown remarkable skill at speaking about it but saying little. In six months she has gone from saying, “I want to think seriously about it” (October 2013) to “I am thinking about it” (April 2014) and slight variations in between. Commentators happily fill the vacuum created by the uncertainty.

Things may be cranking up. On Thursday Hillary attended her first political event of the year, fundraising for Marjorie Margolies, mother-in-law of daughter Chelsea, as she tries to win back a House of Representatives seat in Pennsylvania (in a race against Brendan Boyle, son of a Co Donegal man).

Next month Hillary begins a cross-country tour to promote a new book about her time at the state department when she should expect plenty more Republican darts to fly.