Reflections on Shattered Hillarys failed presidential campaign/caption
You know as well as I do that plenty of people playing this game they dont think that way. Theyre willing to sell their souls crawl through sewers lie to people divide them play on their worst fears for nothing! Just for the prize to become a U.S. president." Jack Stanton (a.k.a. Bill Clinton") played by John Travolta from Primary Colors" (1998)
In light of the other option the clear-minded are thrilled that Donald Trump is president. Deliciously he finds himself ensconced in Oval Office while Hillary trolled the woods of Chappaqua New York; a relegated political has-been too briefly put out to pasture. (Ah if only she had stayed in the thicket. Without a hint of the grace demonstrated by defeated French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen Mrs. Clinton has re-emerged to absurdly join the Trump resistance". With the power of the office behind him its utter lunacy for her to assume shell be more successful now.) In hindsight she ran on sheer superficiality: name recognition her gender and an unstated message of entitlement. Given her (and Obamas) non-existent record of accomplishments she could not run on issues or vision as Mr. Trump successfully did. So she took Jack Stantons low road described above political polarization:
You know to just be grossly generalistic you could put half of Trumps supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables. Right? The racist sexist homophobic xenophobic Islamaphobicyou name it. And unfortunately there are people like that. And he has lifted them up." Hillary Clinton at a New York City fundraiser on September 9 2016
Her hollow narrative and divisive strategy were not nearly enough. The Electoral College results made this plain. Speaking of being grossly generalistic the Clintons have always been about themselves. Thats precisely the unintended message Hillarys campaign loudly proclaimed. Didnt her ego-centered gender-specific slogan Im with her" say everything? Contrast that with President Trumps Reaganesque Make America Great Again".
Beyond his obvious love of countryas transparent as Hillarys is absentone logically suspects Mr. Trump initially ran for the presidency on a lark. Hes pleasantly surprised (as his supporters) to find himself in the job: Hey Im president! Can you believe it?" While he naturally wanted the gig unlike Hillary he didnt need it. Herein is another important difference between the two.
A new political tell-all Shattered: Inside Hillary Clintons Doomed Campaign" by Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes is making the rounds. Like Marleys ghost to Richard Cohens Scrooge this expos has compelled this Washington Post columnist to write his own shallow Hillary postmortem called The reason Clinton lost." As shell-shocked as her most ardent supporters this partisan begrudgingly acknowledges that it was supposed to be her turn". He can articulate no other rationale for her candidacy: As a mental exercise I tried to come up with a message myself: Hillary Clintonbecause shes not Trump" is the best I could do. As it turned out she could do no better." Thats because there was nothing else. In the final analysis Mrs. Clinton ran for the highest office in the land simply because she felt she deserved it.
The skin-deep analysis of this award-winning investigative reporterand four-time Pulitzer Prize finalist for commentaryis little more than pro-Clinton gossamer and anti-Trump spit. What of Cohens sanitized description of Hillary as a cold and somewhat distant Midwestern archetype" and a politician with no gift for politics"? For real-life context would anyone hire an auto mechanic with no innate ability to fix cars?
Along these lines he insults the reputation of Walter Mondale by comparing her to him. Yet Hillary has none of the former vice presidents decency or warmth. Moreover she lacks his governmental competence (read: As Secretary of State Hillarys department lost 6 billion dollars) or the gravitas of an elder statesman (read: Hillarys Russian reset": her humiliating plastic red button stunt). In fact their only relevant connection is the shared stain of two Democrats who failed to attain the White House.
Inconvenient truths regarding Hillary are barely mentioned by Cohen or ignored entirely by him. For example he minimizes Server-gate"a Nixonian scandal on steroidsas a historically trivial matter". So Mrs. Clintons illegal use of private email serversthat likely put American operative lives at risk by exposing national security secrets to foreign powers and/or bad actorsis no big deal? Beyond that what of her ever-changing inconsistencies that amounted to boldfaced lies to the American people? Furthermore what of Charity-gate" the influence-peddling of the now defunct Clinton Foundation? Kool-Aid drinker Cohen doesnt even bring it up.
He bases his missive on a few personal moments spent with her finding Hillary fresh irreverent and funny". Well cant anyone be snowed with a false impression during a brief interaction? Behind the scenes via day-to-day experience its well known that potty-mouthed Hillarys personality is cruel: a shrew in the extreme. Hers is the Secret Services punishment detail: the worst assignment to be had. But when one wears Mr. Cohens rose colored glasses one sees what he wants to right?
On that basis Columnist Cohen contends But Hillary Clintons great failing the booknot to mention the election itselfmakes clear was her inability to fashion a message." What a coy cloying criticism for such an obviously fundamentally flawed candidate! Likewise his juvenile conclusion that She lost and a fool won" is equally petulant and misleading. Candidate Trumpa first-timer in the political spherewas just lucky" to best 16 traditional Republican candidates plus Hillary in the general election? By any fair measure thats more than the randomness that luck implies thats genius.
Salt of the earth swing state voters in the economically depressed Rust Belt (that she basically ignored during her campaign) got unlikable Hillarys coal miner" message all right: they didnt matter to her so she didnt matter to them. Thus in their wisdom they made the better choice: Donald Trump. Richard Cohen should respect that despite his raw disdain for this president. It turns out this political dinosaur doesnt get the message". Neither does Hillary an amoral person unworthy of sycophant Cohens empty rationalizations.
David L. Hunter is an Associate Editor at Capitol Hill Outsider and a Newsmax contributor. Hes on Twitter and blogs at davidlhunter.blogspot.com. He is published in The Washington Post The Washington Times FrontPage Mag and extensively in Patriot Post Canada Free Press and American Thinker.