I thought I would highlight some of the interesting aspects of each of the three presidential hopefuls. We’ll go in alphabetical order to avoid any bias.
Hilary Clinton was born October 26, 1947 and is a United States Senator from New York. She is probably most well known as the wife of Bill Clinton and she was both praised and criticized after her decision to remain with Bill Clinton after the Monica Lewinski incident.
However, HIlary first came into the news in 1969 when she became the student to give commencement remarks at Wellesley College. The speech garnered a standing ovation which lasted seven minuted. She then went on to serve a few years as congressional legal counsel. She wrote an article entitled ” Children Under the Law” and it was published in the Harvard Law Review. The article was important in the children’s rights movement and argued that children should not be presumed incompetant rather it should be decided on a case by case basis and the article became a widely cited article in the academic field. In 1979, she became the first female legal partner of the prestigious Rose Law Firm. and was also twice named to the top 100 most influential lawyers in America.
Clinton was also very hesitant about marrying Bill Clnton . She declined to accept his numerous offers of marriage until she finally had failed the Washington DC bar exam and Bill was moving to Arkansas, where she finally chose to go with Bill instead of remaining in DC. Her biggest concern was that her seperate identity would be shadowed in face of Bill’s own personal accomplishments.
When Bill Clinton won the presidential election in 1992 Hillary drew criticism for her active role in trying to advocate public policy. Hillary gained even more influence after her husband appointed her to head the Task Force on National Healthcare. Hillary was involved both in the Watergate scandals, as well as what was known as Travelgate, which involved the firings of numerous white house travel office employees, however she was finally cleared by the Independent Counsel in 2000.
Hilary is often considered a Polarized candidate, which means more or less that people are either very favorable towards her, or very against her. Time ran an issue which had Hillary on the front cover with two boxes, one marked love her, one marked hate her.
John McCain has lived a little more of an interesting life. McCain was born August 29th, 1936, and his age is a widely criticized topic in his presidential bid. McCain is probably most well known for his time in the military. In 1967 during the vietnam war his plan was shot down, he was captured, and kept as a prisoner of war for 5 and a half years, and was tortured.
McCain has been a member of the senate for several terms and he also was involved in a heated presidential race against George Bush in 2000.
McCain’s father and grandfather were both naval admirals, and McCain followed their footsteps. McCain made many friends at the academy often standing up for those who were being bullid by others. However this often led to conflicts with authority and he was often disiplined to obey the rules. Because of this he finished with a final class rank of 894/899.
When he was captured during by the vietnamese McCain was badly injured but the captors refused to treat the injuries, and instead beat him and interrogating him to get more information. When the captors learned that his father was a top admiral they finally gave him care and announced his capture, which made the front pages of the New York Times and The Washington Post. While in the hospital for six months, McCain lost a total of 50 lbs and his hair had turned white. He was then placed in a cell with two other Americans who both stated they did not think he would live a week. A few months later McCain was then removed from the cell and placed in solitary confinement where he would remain for two additional years.
McCain was offerd a chance to leave the camp, stating that he would only leave if every other man there would also been released which was of course denied. McCain may not have mad ethe best decision as in August 1968 the vietnamese began a torture program on McCain. McCain was repeatedly beaten and bound with rope while he also was suffering from dysentery. As a result of McCain’s injuries he is permanently unable to raise his arms above his head.
During McCain’s two senate terms his views were mostly in accord with President Reagan, and he was actively involved in Indian affairs. During the 2000 presidential election McCain initially had the upper hand on George Bush and it came to a boiling point where South Carolina served as the battleground. The campainging by both parties in this state was viewed as one of the most brutal and dirtiest in history. McCain lost and would never fully recover in the presidential race.
In public McCain acknowledges his wounds and age and has been quoted as saying “I am older than dirt and have more scars than frankenstein”. He is also admittedly tempermental and will shout and use profanity.
Barack Obama was born August 4th, 1961. He is the first African American to advance this far in a presidential race. His father was from Kenya and his mother was a white american woman and grew up in Honolulu, Hawaii. Obama graduated from Columbia University and then Harvard law school and served as a member of the Illinois State Senate from 1997 – 2004. Before serving on the senate he worked as a part time law associate and also taught constitutional law part time at the University of Chicago Law School. He then was elected to the United States Senate in 2004. Obama is a advocate of ending the war in Iraq.
During Obama’s presidential campaign he has broken records for numerous fundraising records, and cites ending the war on iraq, increasing energy independence, and providing universal healthcare as his top three priorities. In March 2008 Obama was criticized for his 20 year relationship with former pastor Jerimiah Wright. Wright has been discovered to be very politically charged and racially charged comments. Obama responsed by ending his relationship with the pastor and also denounced some of his remarks.
Obama is estimated to have a networth of around 1.3 million dollars, although the 2007 household tax return showed an income of 4.7 million dollars, mostly from his book sales. Obama likes to play basketball and before announcing his presidency it was well publicized he was attempting to stop smoking. When asked about an alternate career choice Obama responded Architect, while also claiming to be a “pretty good poker player.”
After a brief review of these three hopefuls, it seems to me that McCain has led the most interesting and unusual life to date. 5 and a half years of torture seems like an unfathomable ordeal, and although Clinton has endured several scandals and succeeded as a pioneer among many fronts for a woman, and likewise for Obama for a racial minority, they do not seem to surpass McCain’s life experiences. Keep in mind this is only discussing their lives, not their political ideas at all. Leave some comments
Posted by focopo 
Unusual People 