Hillary Clinton: I Couldn't Run A Real Change Campaign Because Of Obama

A part of me wants this lady to go away, another wants her to continue to give the Democratic Party migraines; she’s also great for boosting the GOP’s enthusiasm. Hillary Clinton just continues to make her way into the spotlight. With the latest accusations of sexual misconduct against Sen. Al Franken (D-MN), Alabama Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore, and Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), Hillary decided to give her two-cents on Rita Cosby’s radio show last week, noting that accountability has to be exacted regarding these allegations. I bet you can guess what happened next? Cosby asked about the allegations surrounding her husband. It was an appalling lack of self-awareness because we all know the Left gave Bill a pass on his alleged sexual abuse. Why? Well, he’s a Democrat, of course.

On Hugh Hewitt’s radio show this morning, the former first lady circled back to the 2016 election. Hewitt was conducting an interview about her book, What Happened. And she once again plays the blame game, noting that the Obama presidency made it hard for her to run a real campaign with a message. She does take some responsibility for not being able to articulate a coherent campaign message, but blames other factors. We’re back to this, albeit in a much lower intensity situation. Clinton was careful not to be too harsh on her former boss, but it’s quite clear that she blames the former president for soaking up the hope and change atmosphere that animated the Democratic Party base, which she could not, not even on her best day [emphasis mine]:

HILLARY CLINTON: … I have high regard for the campaign that we put together, and all of the people who were working in it so hard. But I think it is fair to say that it was hard to break through. Maybe some of that is on my shoulders, and perhaps some because of the campaign as well. But I think a lot of it, Hugh, is that it was really hard in the environment in which this 2016 campaign played out to break through in a lot of ways. You know, I have, I’ve said a few times that this was the first reality TV campaign. My opponent was the first reality TV candidate, and I was, for better or worse, the candidate of reality. And I think it was a shortcoming of the campaign that the work that I’ve done my entire life. The passion I feel for helping people, the record that I have of doing just that never really could break through.
HUGH HEWITT: You write in What Happened about navigating “the tension between continuity and change,” and that’s about not disrespecting President Obama or disparaging his accomplishments, while at the same time saying there’s a very dangerous world out there. Do you feel like the former Obama aides may have urged you to tend to caution and thus favor the continuity argument to protect President Obama as opposed to making the case that we’ve got some huge challenges here that have not been addressed?
CLINTON: Well, again, I think that’s a very astute question on your part. And I think two things. One, I was proud to serve in the Obama administration. I did not agree with everything that President Obama decided, but on balance, I really think he did what had to be done to rescue the economy, which as we all remember, was in desperate straits. He did chart a course in the world that favored diplomacy and negotiation, something that I think is important. But it is true that when you run to succeed a two-term president of your own party, you have a historical headwind blowing against you. And I refer to that in the book, because it’s not just this campaign can be set apart from everything that’s ever happened in our politics. It is a challenge. If you are both the candidate defending a lot of the areas of agreement, but also putting forth an agenda for change, which is what I tried to do, it is often difficult to get the second part of that message through. So I do think it was a problem.

Maybe that’s because people didn’t trust you, Hillary. We’re glossing over where this messaging pitch might have been successful if you didn’t have an unauthorized and unsecured email server—and then get caught in a series of falsehoods and trip-ups explaining it. A nearly yearlong stay in the bunker, avoiding press conferences unlike your opponent, followed after this email fiasco was first reported in the press. This issue is what characterized you as untrustworthy, inauthentic, and rehashed all of the negative attitudes that were attached to you (and Bill) in the 1990s. Second, your opponents within the party, and there were a lot of them—the Sanders supporters—didn’t trust you, felt the whole primary was rigged, and lo and behold they turned out to be right. First the leaked Democratic National Committee emails on the eve of the party’s 2016 convention that showed DNC staffers plotting ways to screw over Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Clinton’s hard left primary challenger at the time, to confirmation by Donna Brazile, the interim DNC chair, who has now written about it in her book. Third, and this is the most obvious, you didn’t have an economic agenda. You were banking on the Access Hollywood tape putting you over the top, along other attack ads taking swipes at Trump’s personal behavior. They didn’t work. They still don’t.

For argument’s sake, the agenda Clinton had on her website, that she rarely discussed on the stump, was pretty much a carbon copy of Obama’s. It may not be a pod person clone, but it was pretty much the same. There is no doubt that Obama could have won a third term. For Clinton, it failed. Maybe it wasn’t so much the messaging, as people not liking the messenger. Clinton may find solace with supporters greeting her in the most liberal corners of America, but overall—she’s not liked. Never has been. And the more she stays in the spotlight, the higher her unfavorable rise. Some people are just not meant to be president. Clinton is one of them. And this notion of facing historic headwinds because your campaign is at the back of a two-term president of the same party isn’t true either. George H.W. Bush won the 1988 election after the tremendous presidency of Ronald Reagan.

Now, this is only Hillary. Despite his many flaws, Bill is a talented communicator and a shrewd politician. Lady Macbeth doesn’t have a shred of that. And defeating Rep. Rick Lazio (R-NY) in the 2000 Senate race isn’t a demonstration of political skill either.

Hillary Clinton: I Couldn't Run A Real Change Campaign Because Of Obama

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