Full Disclaimer — I was a Bernie Sanders campaigner and convention delegate...but I am under no illusion that he would be the Party’s choice, even if Mrs. Clinton had to withdraw for some reason. I am also committed to the Party’s electoral success and, frankly, I’m hoping that she wins by a historic margin, because I want to deliver a stake in the heart for Trumpism, even though the momentum all seems the other way right now. I’d even want to get some lowly position in an agency in the new Administration, so I should probably just keep my opinions to myself. But, I’m worried about bigger things, so here goes….
The events this morning really point up that the Clinton campaign has a serious problem, and it’s not the emails or her health. Those stories are symptomatic of something broader that really could sink her campaign. or weaken her Presidency, if we get there.
This morning, I watched Kossacks go through all sorts of mental gymnastics to dismiss a simple fact — that there was obviously more to the health story than the campaign was saying about simply being over-heated. People were sifting through her history to offer up their own diagnoses, or to put it better, to offer up explanations based on a past diagnosis of a condition that keeps her from sweating. Except, the campaign didn’t mention this.
This felt really familiar to me, on multiple levels. I won’t equate the circumstances, but I remember how much effort Kossacks put into trying to prove that Anthony Weiner’s account could have been hacked...even though it was clear to folks less invested in him and defending Democratic politicians that he was dissembling and at not being fully open about a truth he didn’t want to disclose.
In fact, I wasn’t immune. I was belittling the speculation about her coughing fit, and suggestions that her health was really in doubt. I feel kinda stupid now, because those right-wingnuts were not completely wrong. But, this morning, even I could see that there was something out of the ordinary here — that she suffered more than just the heat. So, why couldn’t the campaign quickly answer the questions that the episode created? Why couldn’t they just simply say that she had pneumonia and had tried to tough it out for the 9/11 event?
I know about this. I know it when I see it. My uncle is a compulsive liar. He can’t help embellishing, twisting, and mangling the truth, even when there’s no good reason to lie — even when his dissembling is readily apparent. I have some of that, too. When I’m asked an innocuous question, I embellish or even invent, when there’s no good reason to do so. I did it in a college interview 35 years ago, lying about skiing, which tripped me up when the follow-up question came about WHERE I skied. I knew the names of some ski resorts, but I know I wasn’t convincing. I was even told in a letter that I should probably take a year post-grad to mature a little.
It’s a horrible habit that undermines me a lot. I’m working on it, though.
It’s almost natural for all politicians to lie some. We all say and believe they all lie — until it comes time to defend one of our champions. Then, we buy into their shadings. Politicians take positions on issues that they don’t really believe in but believe are politically expedient. That’s usually a bad choice over the long-term, and it really does point up why honesty is the best policy.
With respect to the Clintons, there’s actually a pretty long litany of things that were patently clear to those who were willing and able to put some distance and look dispassionately and objectively at what the Clintons were saying themselves and about what was being said on their behalf. It’s certainly true about Bill Clinton, who has lied about his behavior on a countless number of times. I’ll get flamed for this, but it’s also true about Sec’y Clinton.
Sometimes, the truth really is horribly embarrassing, especially if one has behaved badly. That’s the case with the former President. I’m not saying it’s true of Hillary. What I am saying is that the Clintons have developed a habit of obfuscating, dissembling, deceiving and even outright lying — sometimes about what the’ve done, and sometimes why they’ve done it. In the moment, it probably feels like the shading of the truth or the outright obfuscation helps avoid facing more and tougher questions.
Events have a nasty way of exposing the lack of transparency and/or candidness. Trying to game things out and decide what to say based on how it will play ends up being a sure way to get egg on your face.
The thing about not being honest and upfront is that it becomes habit and eventually almost instinct. Trump is a habitual falsifier — an exaggerator and a liar. That’s one of many reasons not to vote for him.
The pneumonia episode points up just how instinctual this lack of candidness has become for everyone around the Clintons, and also how stupid and pointless it is. They were dealing with days of speculation about her health. Instead of facing up to a problem, they allowed so many of us — myself included — to defend her and ridicule what seemed to us like baseless rumor-mongering. And, this morning’s performance — when the family and presumably a number of aides knew about the pneumonia diagnosis — should not be easily forgotten or forgiven.
It is my hope that the Clintons and those around her will learn an important lesson from this affair: that is to be upfront and candid. Whatever one thinks they will gain from some careful obfuscation is really just self-deception. The truth will out, eventually. Trying to hide it just makes one look dishonest. This episode will just reinforce a bad impression that too many voters have of the Clintons. The issue isn’t her health and physical fitness. It’s her honesty and ethical fitness. Given the negative views that so many voters say they have of the Clintons in this regard, the Clinton team should always err on the side of sharing too much and being perfectly forthright.
That’s why I’m writing this -- as a habitual fib-teller trying to warn others before it becomes so ingrained they won’t be able to stop. In fact, it wouldn’t hurt to be honest about why they weren’t being upfront in the first place. The truth will set you free.
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