Hillary Clinton’s smart counterpunch on whether to call it ‘radical Islam’

Last edited Tue Nov 17, 2015, 08:36 AM - Edit history (1)

Hillary Clinton knows what happened in Paris is a potential political problem for her. But she appears to have found at least one effective strategy to shield herself from some Republican attacks — and even score some political points against her opponents.

Republicans accuse Clinton and her former boss, President Obama, of letting the Islamic State thrive under their watch. What's more, the same day Obama said the group is "contained," three groups with ties to the Islamic State killed at least 129 people in Paris. In Saturday's second Democratic debate, Clinton was forced to run away in no uncertain terms from Obama's "contained" comment.

Sensing her weakness, Republicans spent the weekend trying to engage in a war of words with Clinton. They're re-upping in increasingly fiery rhetoric the conservative argument that because she won't use the term "radical Islam" to describe those who make up the Islamic State, she's incapable of understanding how to defeat them. (It's an argument long used against Obama, who also eschews the phrase.)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/11/16/hillary-clintons-smart-counter-punch-on-whether-to-call-it-radical-islam/