Okay, say Hillary wins the nomination: she survives all of the different scandals and accusations which have hounded her during the primaries, and she becomes the Democratic Party’s nominee. While Sanders supporters (including myself) would be naturally distraught, the party has it’s official standard bearer. The worst is over.
Well, wouldn’t that be a little short-sighted? Wouldn’t the kind of scrutiny she had received from her fellow Democrats really just pale in comparison to what she will then have to face in a grueling, head-to-head battle with the Republican establishment? Particularly now that conservatives will have a very real possibility of controlling all three branches of government? Will they stop at absolutely nothing?
Even now, many are saying that Hillary is “a disaster waiting to happen.” The real tragedy would, of course, be if the “real disaster” happens during the general election. Then there would be no going back and finding someone else. And “the real disaster” could be brought into being by merely firing, on all cylinders, at HRC’s boatload of baggage. Perhaps no new revelations would even be necessary.
The “Atlantic Magazine” recently ran an article entitled “From Whitewater to Benghazi: A Clinton Scandal Primer in which they say:
With Hillary Clinton leading the field for the Democratic nomination for president, every Clinton scandal—from Whitewater to the State Department emails—will be under the microscope. (No other American politicians—even ones as corrupt as Richard Nixon, or as hated by partisans as George W. Bush—have fostered the creation of a permanent multimillion-dollar cottage industry devoted to attacking them.) Keeping track of each controversy, where it came from, and how serious it is, is no small task,
They then list each one with a short summary of the specifics. Here’s the list:
The State Department Emails
Benghazi
Conflict of Interest at Foggy Bottom
Clinton’s Private Email Server
Sidney Blumenthal
The Speeches (the millions made from them)
The Clinton Foundation
The Bad Old Days (Whitewater. Troopergate. Paula Jones. Monica Lewinsky. Vince Foster)
Even if one can just shrug off some (or most) of them as empty or “resolved”, issues such as this can be no less harmful to a Presidential candidate. Need we look any further than John Kerry’s critical encounter with the “Swift Boaters”, to really appreciate how even a baseless accusation can torpedo a campaign?
HRC’s vulnerabilities are legion. And, I simply think that they should be taken into consideration, more than they currently are. Particularly when judging the risks of her candidacy, after the very distinct possibility of her becoming the Democratic nominee.