Student panel talks 2016 election
The Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics continued its Students Talk Back series in the Ronald Tutor Campus Center on Wednesday afternoon. The discussion titled, “How the Present Affects the Future: The 2016 Presidential Election,” focused on the implications of the country’s current political climate on next year’s presidential election.
The panel featured Professor Bob Shrum, political consultant and Dornsife Carmen H. and Louis Warschaw Chair in Practical Politics, and Matt Klink, owner and president of Klink Campaigns.
Co-moderators included Dan Schnur, executive director of the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics, and Nathaniel Haas, a columnist for the Daily Trojan.
Schnur and Haas kicked off the conversation by addressing how Hillary Clinton might face a potentially weak cast of competitors in the Democratic primaries. They asked what potential benefits or drawbacks a lack of competition could produce for Clinton’s campaign.
Shrum saw Clinton’s clear road through the primaries as a good thing.
“I don’t think she’ll face a difficult primary,” Shrum said. “I think she basically is at this point the nominee. At this point the only one who could defeat Hilary Clinton is Hillary Clinton.”
Klink discussed how there are positive and negative results that correspond with a weak set of competitors in the Democratic primaries.
“I could argue both [benefits or drawbacks] pretty convincingly.” Klink said. “But I think any candidate going through the rough and tumble, debating other candidates openly and in public has to make sure that you get your head knocked in a couple of times early so you don’t do that late.”
The debate then shifted to the Republican primary when Haas asked whether or not the Republican Party was coalescing around Jeb Bush.
Klink disagreed but explained that he was not impressed with the candidates from either party.
“As an observation in general, I’m kind of disappointed that in a nation of 330 million people that America can’t do better than a Clinton and a Bush to run for president in 2016.” Klink said. “It doesn’t inspire me for the future.”
The topic later shifted to issues of foreign policy. Schnur and Haas asked how these issues could have the potential to be major talking points for the 2016 election, in light of recent high profile events, such as ISIS as well as challenges in the Ukraine and the Pacific Rim.
Klink was skeptical that Clinton would be able to distance herself from her experience as Obama’s secretary of state.
“It’s a mess,” Klink said. “ISIS, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Libya, Egypt, Syria, Turkey, Ukraine, Russia, Europe in general. All of these things are all up in the air, the world is more unstable than it was eight years ago and it doesn’t seem like it will be settling down anytime soon.”
The final question asked by the co-moderators shed light on the concerns of each panelist for the upcoming election.
Shrum began by saying that he was worried that Jeb Bush, who he considered most likely to be the Republican nominee, would be a formidable opponent for the Democratic Party.
”If he can somehow give the sense that he has some ideas that kind of seem mainstream to people, I think he can be a very formidable candidate,” Shrum said.
Klink took a different viewpoint and explained that he is concerned about the issue of finding a well-liked candidate for his party who has the ability to garner attention upon party members.
“The biggest single concern that I have is the pull between nominating a candidate that motivates the base to turn out and nominating a candidate who can win in November,” Klink said. “And the challenge in that, is if Jeb Bush can do it, can Jeb motivate the conservative base to get energized and turned out”.
Schnur summed up the contrasting viewpoints.
“The Democrat’s greatest concern is that the Republicans nominate a relative centrist, and the Republican’s greatest concern is that they don’t.”