Will Hillary Clinton run for President? That’s what Jon Stewart wanted to find out from Ms. Rodham Clinton on Tuesday, when the two public figures took part in the taping of an upcoming edition of “The Daily Show”. Clinton kept quiet on the subject and didn’t so much allude to a possible candidacy for POTUS on her part. She did, however, acknowledge the fact that there’s plenty of speculation regarding her potential run for President. She even went as far as to call the respective rumor mill “a cottage industry”.
Popular comedian Jon Stewart didn’t let her get away without such an acknowledgment either. As Clinton walked out onto the studio stage, he introduced her with the words, “She’s here solely for one reason: to publicly and definitively declare her candidacy for president of the United States… I think.” Stewart thought wrong, though. During the taping of the show, they discussed several important issues, both from the national, as well as from the international scene.
All the issues in question are things Clinton has to deal with as a U.S. Secretary of State – and perhaps the most pressing of them all is the violence in the Gaza Strip and the violent outbreaks in which Israel and Palestine are involved once more, at the moment. Clinton described the situation as “a terrible dilemma”. She also made reference to the cease-fire offer, which saw Egypt act as arbiter between the two parties involved. Unfortunately, even though Israel had accepted the offer, the separatist group Hamas, who are ruling over the Gaza Strip, turned it down. Clinton explained, “part of what I see Hamas doing is, their identity comes from being the violent resistance.”
Though we still haven’t found out if we’ll see Hillary Clinton run for President, Jon Stewart did promote Clinton’s most recent book. Titled Hard Choices, the book was described by the TV show host as an “eyewitness view” to the state secretary’s four years at the helm of American diplomacy.
It’s not that Jon Stewart avoided the question. On one occasion he said, “I think I speak for everybody when I say, no one cares [about the book], they just want to know if you’re running for president.” He also asked Clinton whether she preferred an office that has corners, or one that doesn’t – such as the Oval Office, for instance. Clinton replied without flinching, “I’ve been amazed at what a cottage industry it is, and so, I kind of expect it would continue, so I’m not really paying a lot of attention.”
