President Hillary? Fil-Ams weigh in on her candidacy

NEW YORK, USA – “I’m getting ready for something too.” This is how Hillary Clinton tied her US presidential campaign announcement on Sunday, April 12, with personal stories from Americans talking about new beginnings.  

The 138-second video released by the Clinton campaign early Monday, April 13 (Manila time) featured several citizens getting ready to start something new, including a mother getting her daughter ready for kindergarten; an older woman looking forward to retirement; and a college graduate preparing for a new job.

“She’s been doing a great job,” said Ludi de Asis Hughes, Bergen County NJ District 38 chair and a Clinton supporter. “I’m sure she will do a good job as president, and I’m sure she will appoint some Filipinos once in office.”

Hughes, who helped in Clinton’s presidential bid in 2008, says one of the reasons she likes Clinton is because she believes she is pro-women and pro-diversity. 

Hughes said she had the opportunity to ask Clinton during the 2008 presidential campaign about one of the biggest issues that matters to Filipinos. “I think one of the ways to get our community’s support is if she supports immigration reform, and she said she does.”

But supporting an issue is not enough to win elections.

Arvind Swamy, who served as the Asian-American outreach coordinator for the late United States Senator Frank Lautenberg and a managing partner for a public affairs and consulting firm City Strategy Group, believes candidates must have a clear message so voters understand their campaign. 

Being female ‘always good’

Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign was about change. In Clinton’s video, the majority of Americans profiled are women signaling that she plans to make gender inequality issues key to her campaign. 

“Being a female candidate, that’s always good,” Swamy told Rappler. 

In the 2008 presidential election, 65.7% of women voted while 61.5% of men voted. At least 10 million more women cast their ballots in the 2008 presidential election. “People don’t want their votes to be taken for granted.”

Although Clinton is well known and has been involved in national politics since the early 1990s as First Lady, a Senator of New York, a presidential candidate and most recently as Secretary of State, Swamy said it won’t be a walk in the park for her. “It’s going to be tough, but it will only make her a better candidate.” 

Phillip Peredo, a stand-up comic based in Las Vegas, Nevada, believes Clinton has a strong female fan base. Traveling across the country doing comedy, Peredo has done a sort of informal survey and finds that women want Clinton to be the first female US president.

Jokes aside, Peredo knows American politics well.  He served in the White House under former President Bill Clinton and studied politics at Harvard University and University of Maryland. Peredo was one of the youngest candidates to run for the State Assembly.  

“The devoutly Christian or Catholic Filipino-American women will not vote for her,” said Peredo. “However, most of the younger women will.”

Hughes believes Clinton, 67, has a great chance of winning the presidency. “Because if you look at the polls,” said Hughes, “she beat all the Republicans.”

Clinton is the first to enter the Democratic presidential field. There are other Democrats who are eyeing to challenge her including Vice President Joe Biden and former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley.

For the Republican party, Texas Senator Ted Cruz announced on March 23 that he is running. Two weeks later, Kentucky Senator Rand Paul announced that he will also run for president.

Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, brother of former President George W. Bush, tops the possible field for the Republican Party’s nomination race, but he has not said anything final about his plans.

Still undecided

According to a CNN/ORC poll done on March 13-15, Clinton holds a nearly 50-point lead over Biden as the Democratic candidate. Against a Republican candidate, 54% chose Clinton, Rand Paul with 43%.  Against Bush, 55% chose Clinton compared to 40% for Bush. 

And then there are those who are still undecided.

New York resident Marivir Montebon recently got her US citizenship. She plans to vote but is still unsure on her bet.

“I want a political leader who has integrity,” she told Rappler. “Pro-woman, anti-war, and the Democrats and Republicans are somehow not different on this.” 

Twenty-year-old Christiaan Pfeifer, a college student at Sarah Lawrence College in New York, told Rappler that he doesn’t know if he will vote on November 8, 2016, date of the US presidential election.  

“I don’t want to cast a vote for someone who I don’t believe in entirely,” Pfeifer said. 

“I’m not sure entirely how effective Hillary Clinton will be as a president if she were elected. I think that she is very in line with policies that only work to benefit the growth of the middle class, while leaving those at the bottom rungs of society without comprehensive reform,” he said.

“She used to be quite progressive, but now that she’s in the run for president, it seems that she has become more mainstream in order to appeal to swing voters and such. But she’s certainly the lesser of two evils in contrast to Rand Paul,” he added.

Meanwhile, Hughes asserted that all Asian Americans, not just Filipino Americans should vote for Clinton because she supports issues that matter to the community besides immigration reform. She pointed out the need to raise the minimum wage, universal healthcare, especially for senior citizens, and marriage equality. 

“Republicans voted against the WWII Veterans Bill,” said Hughes. “Filipinos will always remember this, especially the families of the veterans.” – Rappler.com