Professor Glenn Antizzo Keeps Pulse on Politics

Glenn Antizzo

Democrat Hillary Clinton pushed for national unity, stepping up the fight against terrorists worldwide and launched attacks on Republican rival Donald Trump.

Mississippi College professor Glenn Antizzo quietly watched Clinton’s dramatic speech to close out 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.

While tens of millions of Americans saw the former U.S. Secretary of State deliver her nationally televised address, Antizzo jotted down a few notes. The MC political scientist was well-prepared as WAPT-16 anchor Megan West tossed questions for his post-convention analysis.

As Clinton aspires to become America’s first female president, the Mississippi College educator summed up her performance in a few sentences. The former New York senator, the MC professor said, presented the 4^th best speech at the lively four-day convention in the City of Brotherly Love.

At the Wells Fargo Center, First Lady Michelle Obama finished first in the speech-making department, Antizzo observed, followed by President Obama. Former President Bill Clinton delivered the third-best talk at the convention, with his wife, Hillary Clinton coming in 4^th, he added.

America faces “a moment of reckoning” over the state of the economy, terrorism, national unity and the campaign of Republican nominee Trump, Hillary Clinton said.

As of July 29, there were 102 days remaining on the calendar until the November presidential election. There’s little time to rest for White House candidates, party strategists, and professors like Antizzo. Voters will be inundated by a sea of campaign commercials, key presidential debates during the fall, and are likely to witness a few political missteps before Election Day.

On Friday, as Hillary Clinton and Vice Presidential nominee Tim Kaine embarked on a campaign bus tour through Pennsylvania, the MC political scientist aired his views live on STAR 93.5, the Christian radio station on the Clinton campus.

It’s been a busy July for Antizzo. The native New Yorker spent late nights watching the Republican convention in Cleveland and sizing up the Donald Trump-Mike Pence GOP ticket before shifting his focus to the Democrats in Philadelphia.

“National political conventions mark the true beginning of the presidential election season,” Antizzo said.

Both conventions provided dramatic moments to stir party faithful in Cleveland, Ohio and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and a chorus of boos at times.

“This dynamic was on full display during the Democratic convention as partisans of Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton clashed over areas such as free trade and foreign policy,” Antizzo noted.

In a major speech at the Democratic convention Monday night, Sanders urged his troops to support his former rival Clinton. Recent national polls showed a pretty tight race between the Clinton and Trump forces.

The intense race for the White House through the fall will make Mississippi College political science classes much more fun and more interesting for Antizzo’s students.

“The classroom provides an almost perfect venue,” says Antizzo, who received his bachelor’s degree from Cornell, a doctorate at LSU and authored a couple of books.

Discussions about the 2016 presidential campaign in his classes during the spring at the Baptist-affiliated university were “spirited, yet civil,” Antizzo said. “It is a reflection of the Christian character of a university like Mississippi College.”