Hillary Clinton: Democrats’ Dilemma

Even before an assumed announcement, Democrats — Americans — suffer from something columnist Charles Krauthammer named "early-onset Clinton fatigue."
Krauthammer: "[W]hat did [Hillary Clinton] achieve as Secretary of State? Nothing. What was her signature achievement as senator? I don’t remember. What did she achieve as first lady? Hillarycare…went down in flames.
"[Clinton’s] running on two things: gender and her name."

Hillary Clinton faces damaging new revelations: During her undistinguished tenure at the State Department, in classic Clintonian fashion, Hillary conducted all her official government business on an unsecured private email server; the Clinton Foundation accepted sizeable donations from foreign governments, including human-rights violating Middle Eastern states; and the Wall Street Journal revealed that at least sixty companies "contributed" more than $26 million to the Clinton Foundation while lobbying Hillary’s agency.

The Clintons’ tradition of tawdry surprises continues.

Nonetheless, the Daily Caller’s Roger Stone wrote: "More problematic is the Clintons’ past behavior.

"…[G]iven the Clintons’ narrow escape in a slew of ethical scandals during…Bill’s governorship, presidency and post-presidency…the Clintons are pressing their luck.

"More than half of registered voters have no memory or knowledge of the Clinton presidency. "Their education will commence when Hillary emerges from her bunker, announces her candidacy and faces serious questioning.

Young voters will learn, others reminded, of the mortifying tackiness of the Clintons’ ’80s, ’90s and post-presidency ethical transgressions.

Stanley Kurtz observed: "[P]oor judgment may…be Hillary’s deepest problem. A president, above all, is called upon to exercise good judgment. Hillary’s executive judgment has been chronically flawed – …exactly the same way — for decades."

Because she violated records and security regulations and may have broken criminal statutes, voters’ greatest concern may be that, if Hillary believes herself to be above the law and willfully disregards national security protocols, electing her is just too risky.

Barack Obama’s calamitous presidency has taught Americans that it’s easier to avoid problems than it is to fix them.

Many progressives dislike Hillary: she supported the Iraq war, is chummy with Wall Street, ran to Obama’s right and remains tainted by her husband’s political "triangulation."

Additionally, Hillary’s an imperfect spokesperson for Democratic "issues." Clinton embraces their "war on women" rhetoric, but was a central perpetrator of a vicious campaign against women involved with her husband. Hillary wasn’t a passive victim of the sex scandal preceding Bill Clinton’s impeachment for perjury and obstruction of justice.

Hillary advocates equal pay for women, but, using feminist metrics, Senator Hillary paid females only 72 cents for every dollar paid to male staffers.
Hillary isn’t likeable. She has lousy political instincts, unattractive senses of entitlement and privilege, is gratuitously combative, thin-skinned, famously vindictive, and her voice is grating.

Worse, she’s boring.

What’s next? Will her new scandals scotch Hillary’s presidential aspirations? Collecting $250,000-plus per prosaic speech, will Hillary’s greed trump her ambition? Fearing another humiliation, will Hillary withdraw citing health problems? Are panicked Democrats stuck with Hillary? Will they ease her out?

Democrats have no bench, so, either way, a plausible Republican will win the White House.