Clintons past hints at her possible future as President

Hillary Clinton has been a part of the U.S. political world for decades.

If she is the person chosen to step into the Oval Office next January, she will be able to draw on her often difficult years as first lady during her husband’s presidency in the 1990s; the political skill that made her a popular and respected lawmaker among her Republican colleagues in the Senate, and the lessons learned running the U.S. State Department for President Obama.

The ways she chooses to learn from those experiences, say analysts and journalists who covered her during those years, will shape the direction of her presidency.

“If, as president, Clinton is more like she was as first lady, it’s going to be problematic for her. If she’s more like she was as senator, she’ll find much more success,” said John Hudak, senior fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution.

Unusual election cycle

In an election marked by the unexpected success of populist candidates Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders, Clinton’s position in the race as a known quantity is often seen as a detraction. She comes into the race with a long history of dealing with the media and public scandal, but she has also learned from her varied roles and faced down countless challenges.

“There’s always been that side of Hillary Clinton who has looked with suspicion towards the news media and has been quite combative and that sometimes contrasts with the public image that Clinton likes to present,” said Michael Isikoff, a journalist who first uncovered the news of President Bill Clinton’s affair with Monica Lewinsky.

Isikoff said Hillary Clinton was a fierce defender of her husband during the battles of his presidency, a position that puts her on her guard with the press even now.

“While she gives TV interviews,” Isikoff said, “she doesn’t give press conferences where reporters can ask anything they want and are likely to badger her with questions she doesn’t want to spend a lot of time answering.”

That reluctance to speak with media – combined with self-acknowledged weaknesses as a politician – can make her look like a weak candidate.

But when it comes to Hillary Clinton, the important thing to remember is that campaigning is not the same as governing, said Indira Lakshmanan, a contributor to Politico, who covered Clinton’s 2008 presidential run and her time as secretary of state.

“She’s much better when she’s actually in office, and you see it even in just her body language and her behavior,” Lakshmanan said. “She was much more relaxed around her own staff, around the press, just more relaxed and comfortable when she actually was in office.”

A third term?

If she is elected as the first female president of the United States, Clinton will do much to continue the work of her predecessor, the first African-American president.

“We know that she has more hawkish tendencies. She is more of a traditional Cold War, realist Democrat. I think in some ways it would be a continuation of the Obama administration – sort of a third term,” said Lakshmanan.

“But I think she would double-down on health care and she would perhaps try to do more interventionist – for humanitarian reasons – foreign policy than the Obama administration has been willing to do.”

A key difference between Clinton and Obama could come in their approaches to Congress.

Obama was not known for his ability to build bridges with lawmakers on Capitol Hill, but Clinton’s experience on that front could be incredibly valuable as she builds a policy agenda for her first 100 days.

“If it’s controlled by Republicans, she’s going to have to veto an Obamacare repeal. She’s going to have to deal with all of the things President Obama has had to deal with coming from Congress,” Hudak said.

Clinton could draw on her pragmatic side to deal with that challenge and “think about the types of things she can really work with Congress on and extend an olive branch and say listen – I’m not going to try to pass dramatic tax reform or an extension of Obamacare or something I know you’re going to hate. I want to get things done and I want you to help me,” he said.

Bitterly partisan atmosphere

The continuation of Obama administration policies and Clinton’s own embattled public image will alienate Republican lawmakers in an already bitterly partisan political atmosphere on Capitol Hill.

Lakshmanan said she would do well to recall her time as a U.S. senator when “she was expected to come in and say I’m the star and try to dominate things but she was actually working hard in a wonkish fashion behind the scenes and working on bi-partisan legislation.”