Hillary Clinton has closer ties to the military than any president in decades

Clinton has closer ties to military than any other candidate.

(Image credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

published 21 April 2016

If Hillary Clinton takes office next year, she will do so as the president with more experience and the longest record on national security than any of her recent predecessors, including her husband, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama. That same record, however, has also earned her the label of being a hawk — meaning she was the one who said go when her former boss, Obama, had wanted to hold back.

"I'm convinced this president, no matter what the circumstances, will never put any boots on the ground to do anything, even when it's compelling," Iraq surge architect Jack Keane told New York Times Magazine. "One of the problems the president has, which weakens his diplomatic efforts, is that leaders don't believe he would use military power. That's an issue that would separate the president from Hillary Clinton rather dramatically. She would look at military force as another realistic option, but only where there is no other option."

As one aide further explained, "[Clinton] likes the nail-eaters — [Stanley] McChrystal, [David] Petraeus, Keane. Real military guys, not these retired three-stars who go into civilian jobs."

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Strangely enough, that puts her at odds with the Republicans in the race — meaning the general election might "present voters with an unfamiliar choice: a Democratic hawk versus a Republican reluctant warrior," The New York Times writes.

There are many ways to examine [Clinton's] record, but one of the most revealing is to explore her decades-long cultivation of the military — not just civilian leaders like [Bob] Gates, but also its high-ranking commanders, the men with the medals. Her affinity for the armed forces is rooted in a lifelong belief that the calculated use of military power is vital to defending national interests, that American intervention does more good than harm and that the writ of the United States properly reaches, as Bush once put it, into "any dark corner of the world." Unexpectedly, in the bombastic, testosterone-fueled presidential election of 2016, Hillary Clinton is the last true hawk left in the race. [New York Times Magazine]

For more on how Clinton became the military-minded leader she is today, read on in The New York Times Magazine.

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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.