Hillary Clinton has a resume that is impressive by any standard: first lady of Arkansas, where she developed her emphasis on education and families; first lady of the United States where she took those skills and enlarged them onto a world stage, developing a reputation as hard-working, capable and even tough, but where she also came into her own; weathered the political storms of her zeal to reform health care, and handle with grace the Lewinsky scandal that threatened not only her marriage, and image, but also the presidency.
Next came her run as a candidate for the presidency, and where many assumed that she would win - we even heard comments, such as “Well, she was really the president anyway,” or “She knows how to get things done, because she already did them.” The unexpected upset came from a junior senator from Illinois, Barack Obama. The defeat was notable, where she commanded the podium, when accepting defeat, and the reality that the numbers were just not there to make her the nominee.
Then the glorious coda as Secretary of State, in the Obama administration, where she re-defined shuttle diplomacy and was warmly greeted, and seen as an international celebrity,one that had “Made in America,” stamped all over her, but who also was able to transcend geographic boundaries. And, now she runs again, rebranded as the defender of the middle class, (she tends to love crusades) and a populist hero with images almost re-cast from “Our Town,” and with entourage in tow, she traverses Middle America, as easily as she did the borders of Western Europe.
And, then, the recent poll drop after it was revealed that she had a private email server, installed in her New York state home. from 2009 to 2013, that she used, not only for private matters, such as the planning of her daughter’s wedding, but where she also, on occasion, used it for communication as US Secretary of State. When this was revealed, her critics, not all of them Republicans, had a field day, questioning her judgement. This has continued unabated.
Clinton at first denied that there was anything untoward and even said, “I did not send classified material,” but later she would be forced to release copies of emails, under a federal court order, that State, then later her staff, agreed to turn over the server itself for examination, totalling 60,000; of which some 305 might be considered to contain classified information. The results have been mixed, with some saying that there were confidential exchanges that should have been on the government account that she was given, and not her own. And, recent reports indicate that the server was maintained by a relative startup, in a laidback office in Denver, Colorado.
For many the question of judgment crops up again, and while no one wants to recall the lengthy and expensive Whitewater investigation, of yesteryear, there seems to be no evidence of malfeasance, just bad judgement, pure and simple. But, considering that unrehearsed move, maybe unresearched, might well damage her standings in the polls, and her path to the Oval Office, that many have seen as inevitable.
Some have wondered whether this was a case of overkill, from a woman that has been battered and bruised by the media, who were relentless in the pursuit and attack of a vulnerable woman, but fortunately did not end tragically like that of her friend, the late Princess Diana. It also speaks reams to the way the world reacts to powerful and symbolic women, like she and Diana. But, that is another discussion.
For Clinton, the dichotomy is that of a whip smart woman, educated at our best schools, and universities, nourished in the Christian tradition, whose heart seems to be built on that resulting faith, but whose Achilles heel seems to be that she doesn’t always think things through, or at the least, seek the advice of others, with the result that she has to later waste precious time on damage control, and detract from her message. Much like her Whitewater investments - which in hindsight can be blamed on a simple desire to make some money and help out old friends, all quite innocent. But, without stepping back to assess the consequences before that decision was made.
Can this be blamed on a baby boomer’s undernourished understanding of technology, or is it the developed paranoia of a woman who had been, too long, on the receiving end of attack journalism. Whatever the case, questions remain, even this early out, if this lack of forethought could have an adverse effect on the newly minted President Clinton, in her own administration.
Lately her staff has stepped up the control efforts to contain the damage, but as one of them was observed as saying, in brief, at least, this is better handled in August of 2015, than in August 2016.
The message for Hillary is to stand back and see what might be the laws of unintended consequences, for her actions, now and later, so that when “Hail to the Chief” is played in January 2017, it ain’t Donald Trump wearing the pantsuit.
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