Hillary Clinton, the Not So Inevitable

Although she should be next in line for the Democratic nomination, Hillary is most definitely not knocking this White House run out of the park. She’s no Obama. In fact, she’s no Clinton. She exudes none of the charm that her husband did (does?), and her cold, calculating demeanor makes her pioneering, first-female, proud-grandmother act seem incredibly strained. The 2008 + 2012 “warmth” from Obama has cooled, and we’re met with something even icier. Hillary Clinton. With her lack of personality, lack of achievement, and the added criminal element, she’s a nightmare of a candidate for those who despise her, and increasingly, turning off those who had been her biggest fans.

Hillary’s largest crowd to date was at her official June announcement, which totaled around 5,500. Her Democratic rival, popular Bernie Sanders, would call that a slow afternoon. But she’s inevitable, or something, so the mediocrity is excused. When what is supposed to be great actually isn’t, and excuses are made, it all becomes very “wah wah”. This is what we’re seeing.

As Mary Dejevsky, a Hillary fan, wrote in The Guardian on Monday:

…I just hope that there are those, somewhere in her entourage, who are even now begging her not to do it, and to bow out while there is still time to do so with grace.

That is from a female journalist and a Clinton supporter, so why is she saying this? Because…

Clinton’s chief liability, though, is the baggage she carries of her own. This includes the matter of that private email account she is claimed to have used professionally while secretary of state, and her handling of the murder of the US ambassador in Libya. The latter suggests a reluctance to accept ultimate responsibility, which is not a good recommendation for a president. The former suggests confusion about where to draw the line between the personal and the professional – a line more clearly drawn in US politics than here. Her explanations – most recently to reporters in Iowa, where she talked about “convenience” that turned out “to be not so convenient” – remain unsatisfactory and high-handed.

Ouch. It’s quite obvious that the huge trunk-o-problems Hillary drags around with her everywhere is crippling the campaign.

Most likely, this is Hillary’s last race. She’s been First Lady, Senator, and Secretary of State. Remember, she waited patiently for her turn while a fresh-faced, ~~teleprompter supported~~ articulate novice was crowned Prom King. This should all point to a popular inevitability, but it’s just not there. Hillary’s favorability rating from recent polling was 41.5%. So even if she is the nominee, she can’t say a wave of excitement propelled her. And this is in a country which in 2008 figured that ethnicity was an ultimate qualification, and voted in the very unqualified Barack Obama, but felt good as it did it, because of race. One would think that liberal feminism might even help to promote the lone Democratic female way out in front of the pack, but that’s not even doing much. How very uneffective her gender is. Did she learn nothing from Barack about tapping into the superficial and making it something?

From David Horsey’s early August piece at the L.A. Times:

Too often, she sounds like an earnest high school principal, not a charismatic campaigner. Hillary’s campaign is set to spend $2 million on ads in Iowa and New Hampshire that will reintroduce her to voters. Is that smart politics or a sign of trouble? Why does the most famous woman in the world need a new introduction?

The thing is, our first impression of Hillary was from 1992. The history surrounding her cannot be ignored. Reintroducing Hillary to voters won’t work, because we know her. She can’t be molded into what Obama was. He was barely a blip on the screen even in 2004, and was crafted to be the flavor of the 2008 election cycle. Hillary, on the other hand, has run out of “newness”.

The forced inevitability surrounding Hillary won’t go away, even with falling poll numbers and surprisingly popular challengers like Bernie Sanders. If the FBI were investigating me, I’d have a difficult time finding a job and going about my daily life. Some just run for president. And that apathetic attitude is the Hillary we’ve always known.