Posted on 03/11/2015 8:38:16 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Hillary Clinton still doesnt get it. Maybe she never will. And maybe thats just fine.
The former secretary of state and current 2016 frontrunner doesnt get why anyone but her right-wing enemies would think she did anything wrong when she mixed personal and professional email on a private account, stored on a private server, during her time at the State Department. She broke no laws, she turned over her professional email when asked to, and it will soon be displayed to the public in an unprecedented show of transparency, she said Tuesday.
Clintons ultimate reasoning that even if shed used two different accounts, she would still be the one who decided what were matters of state actually makes some sense.
But she also doesnt get that when she has to face down the media, in a real or a trumped-up scandal, she is expected to take questions patiently and without seeming rattled or aggrieved, while at least trying to pretend that she doesnt believe everyone in the room is hopelessly biased against her.
So Clintons Tuesday press conference, in which she was alternately proud and defensive, probably didnt convince anyone of anything they didnt already believe. If you think shes shady, then she surely looked shady to you, with her eyes too often cast down at her lectern, not at her audience. If you think shes the persecuted victim of a vast and metastasizing right wing conspiracy, she handled an untenable situation the best anyone could.
If youre basically sympathetic to Clinton but traumatized by two decades of Clinton drama, and unsure if you can face another six to 10 years of this feeling? Well, you probably still feel queasy. Leaving aside theatre-critiques of her performance, the episode shows the down side of her decision to delay the launch of her official campaign. She has all the scrutiny of a top-tier candidate, she faces an industry of Clinton haters, some of them in the media, and she doesnt appear to have an organization or strategy to match.
Effectively, Clinton just launched her campaign, and it wasnt what anyone was dreaming about.
On the specifics of Clintons defense: her initial plea of convenience felt lame, and the complaint that I didnt want to carry two devices was quickly and widely mocked. The news that she deleted many of her private emails, after deciding what to turn over the State Department, also fanned flames of suspicion, certainly among her detractors and maybe even among neutral observers (if such a species exists).
In the end, her most effective explanation was the simplest: Even when public officials have an official government email account, we trust them to decide what are personal matters that dont merit public scrutiny, and belong in their private email account. So demands that she turn over all of her personal email, or even the Clinton server, to some independent arbiter, now that questions have arisen, are comparable to demanding that Secretary of State John Kerry or Sen. Ted Cruz, for that matter turn over his private email communications so an outside person can decide whether any of it is of public interest.
Clinton clearly believes people will relate to her ultimate defense: that she deserves some privacy when it comes to planning Chelseas wedding, her mothers memorial or sharing her now-intriguing yoga routine. No one wants their personal emails made public. Most people understand that and respect that privacy, she told the gathered throng.
All of that makes sense. Yet from the beginning, the Clinton operation has been behind on this story, from its inadequate defense in the initial New York Times piece, which alleged she may have broken an unnamed law, to the planning of the press conference Tuesday. The disarray was symbolized by press aide Nick Merrill starting out as the one responsible for choosing questioners, then surrendering the job to Clinton; for a while no one seemed empowered to call on a reporter. Surreally, the 20-minute episode ended with a question from al-Jazeeras David Shuster, a longtime Clinton antagonist from their Little Rock days.
By all accounts, Clintons audience for the air-clearing wasnt the media, and it certainly wasnt Republicans. Voters havent even tuned in. The target was anxious Democrats, given voice by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who called on Clinton to offer a fuller explanation on Sunday. (For the record, Feinstein says shes satisfied.) But the likely 2016 candidate also has to reassure people that she wont repeat the mistakes of her 2008 campaign, including its mutual hostility with the media, and Tuesdays press conference probably didnt do that.
She needs an actual campaign. Clinton has been in woefully short supply of surrogates; I saw stalwart Ed Rendell, the former governor of Pennsylvania and a top 2008 defender, agree that Clinton probably needed to turn over her email server on MSNBC; nobody in Clintonland can be happy about that. But thats a sign that theres no official operation; if there were, Rendell surely would have had better talking points. Right now the campaign is a vast, formless enterprise, a rumor of sorts. It needs structure and leadership, asap.
The Clintons clearly believe they are subjected to a double standard and indeed, reporters dont seem to be tracking the email practices of other 2016 contenders, besides giving former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush credit for making his email public, even though much remains unavailable to scrutiny. Most of the coverage has centered not on what Clinton allegedly did wrong, but on the way the email story feeds the narrative of the Clintons being shady, of thinking rules dont apply to them which is a narrative the media, of course, creates and largely controls. The Clintons and their defenders think hostile reporters repeatedly gin up phony scandals and then judge Clinton by how she responds to them.
Theres an element of truth in that, and yet its the way our world works. Thats what shes taking on when she runs for president; she better get used to it.
But we speaking for anxious Democrats better get used to the fact that none of that is likely to change a whole lot, no matter how masterfully she runs her campaign. (The no-drama Obama folks whove gone to work for the campaign may find their job is much tougher when subjected to the Clinton rules.) The candidate will never be able to hide her distrust for most of the media. It will be up to voters to decide if they care.
Methinks the lady doth protest too much.
Her time in prison will be very structured.
[The Clintons and their defenders think hostile reporters repeatedly gin up phony scandals]
Now that was funny.
Lighten up Joanie. After 8 years of your Kenyan, Americans need a break. It’s about 50 years too soon for Slick Willie’s wife.
Joan, you ignorant, misguided hack. Maybe it's because she made a huge stink about members of President Bush's administration supposedly using secret email accounts.
What her campaign needs is a candidate that’s not so Hillary.
Our Constitution is being shredded by... secret White House email accounts
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DCwmYHr-_M
35 years old last month.
Thanks for the link.
That's right, Joan. (Huge sigh) She's quite the martyr, isn't she? They're all out to get her just because she's a woman.
Not even a nice try, Joan. She was an arrogant criminal with a gargantuan sense of entitlement in the third highest office in the land. People died. It's time to hold her accountable.
Buck up Joanie, the doormat is unfit for dog catcher.
That’s awful.
Nearly 20 years later, and Joan Walsh is still a spear-catcher for the Clintons.
No need to trump up a Clinton scandal, they are all real.
I happen to catch Dennis Miller on O'Reilly tonight commenting on Hillary's email problems. He said just look at Hildabeast. The closest thing she gets to any yoga stretches is stretching the truth.
Another zinger by Miller.
Hillary is seeking arguably the most visible public office in the world, and has chosen all along to pursue a very visible career path in politics. She has willingly sacrificed her private life, and can’t legitimately now hide behind her ‘right to privacy’ to avoid accountability.
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