Skip to footer

When Hillary Clinton says 'I am confident that...,' does she mean it?

'I am confident that...' is one of those terms with some 'wiggle room.' It is also often used to subtly express exasperation and seize the political high ground. But it stops short of absolute certainty.

|
Charlie Neibergall/AP
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks about her renewable energy plan on Monday at the Des Moines Area Rapid Transit Central Station in Des Moines, Iowa.
  • By Chuck McCutcheon Voices contributor
  • David Mark Voices contributor

“I am confident that ...” A qualified assertion that deliberately stops short of being an expression of absolute certainty.

In one of her latest comments on the controversy about whether she used a private server to send classified e-mails, Hillary Clinton told reporters: “I am confident that I never sent nor received any information that was classified at the time it was sent or received.” That led Ron Fournier of National Journal to observe on Twitter: “ ‘I am confident that’ has more wiggle room than ‘is.’ ”

Former President George W. Bush used the term a few weeks earlier, in discussing Clinton’s possible face-off with his brother Jeb and the potential that matchup has for rising above the expected partisan mudslinging. “I know Jeb, and I am confident that Secretary Hillary will elevate the discourse,” Bush said.

“I am confident that” is often used to subtly express exasperation and seize the political high ground. These days, it’s most often surfaced in the context of the controversial nuclear weapons deal with Iran. When Secretary of State John Kerry recently defended the agreement in the face of extremely skeptical questioning from Sen. Marco Rubio (R) of Florida, Kerry said: “I’m confident that the next president of the United States will have enough common sense that if this is being applied properly, if it’s being implemented fully, they’re not going to just arbitrarily end it.”

President Obama also used it in a similar way in April to upbraid Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R), who has said he would rescind any deal with Iran. “I am confident that any president who gets elected,” Obama told NPR, “will be knowledgeable enough about foreign policy and knowledgeable enough about the traditions and precedents of presidential power that they won’t start calling [into] question the capacity of the executive branch of the United States to enter into agreements with other countries.”

Obama has made it clear for a while that he has virtually no confidence in the GOP-controlled Congress. But when the BBC recently asked Obama about Iran, he replied: “In Congress, I’m confident that we’re going to be able to make sure that the deal sticks.”

Chuck McCutcheon and David Mark write their "Speaking Politics" blog exclusively for Politics Voices.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to When Hillary Clinton says 'I am confident that...,' does she mean it?
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/Politics-Voices/2015/0727/When-Hillary-Clinton-says-I-am-confident-that-does-she-mean-it
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe