It has become increasingly clear to me that HRC’s pursuit of the White House has less to do with the welfare of American Society and everything to do with one person’s relentless desire to obtain high office. Examination of Clinton’s past shows a long, arduous, and single-minded struggle to rise in politics. From serving on WalMart’s board, to tolerating her husband’s infidelities, to trading government favors for Clinton Foundation donations, her rise has been marked by Machiavellian maneuvers. This is not unusual in American political culture. Our system attracts ruthless power seekers because the public mistakenly considers their ferocious determination a mark of leadership and because vested interests see the pathologically ambitious as more easily manipulable tools. This is the system that allows ugly creatures like Ted Cruz to emerge as national political figures.
The problem with Clinton’s ambition is that it is blind to the circumstances of the current election. She refuses to accept that the times have changed and that the old rules no longer apply. The Democratic party establishment, whose machinery she worked so masterfully, is out of touch with the economic and political realities of the voting base it purports to represent. The Davos set that the Clintons managed to join (and now effectively represent) is detested by the electorate. Her tone-deaf acceptance of millions from vested interests would not have raised objections before 2008, but now is an embarrassment. Yet she presses on like a bulldozer, confident that she can win the Presidency by sheer force of will.
I believe that Clinton’s blind ambition would cause her to risk a high chance of defeat in the national election rather than abandon her last chance at the White House. She should withdraw from the race and allow Sanders or Elizabeth Warren to be the nominee. This would be her greatest gift to the nation that she repeatedly promises to serve: avoiding a ruinous Republican presidency.