A new video from a Republican political action committee seeks to tie Hillary Clinton to what many perceive as the failing foreign policy of the Obama administration.
America Rising’s two-minute ad, “Leading from Behind,” highlighted the contradictions between President Obama’s public statements about the Islamic State, including his description of the terror group as “contained” hours before last month’s Paris attack, and the reality of the Islamic State’s rise internationally.
The clip also highlighted Clinton’s continued support of Obama’s policies, such as an instance in which she gave his administration an “A” grade and another in which she said she “would have advised him to do exactly as I believe he is now doing” in Iraq.
“The point we are trying to make is that President Obama and Secretary Clinton are inextricably linked on their foreign policy and national security failures,” Colin Reed, executive director of America Rising, said of the ad his group released Wednesday. “It was telling that Secretary Clinton didn’t put out any public statements to the president’s widely-criticized Oval Office address until two days later: His policies are indistinguishable from her policies, and they have failed.”
Clinton has recently attempted to distance herself from the president, striking a tougher tone than Obama on Syria and Russia while stopping short of calling for ground troops or an escalation of hostility in dealing with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Instead, Clinton attempted Wednesday to characterize Republican approaches to the Islamic State as “extreme,” tying all GOP candidates to Donald Trump’s widely-condemned proposal to ban all Muslims from entering the country on a temporary basis.
Clinton’s role as the administration’s top diplomat has provided Republican candidates with plenty of fodder, from her support of military intervention in Libya to her ineffective “reset” with Russia.
Her campaign, on the other hand, has framed her State Department service as an asset that underscores Clinton’s qualifications to be president.
