There is no need to drag this out.
Boston Globe Editorial: Clinton Foundation should stop accepting funds
ALTHOUGH THE CHARITY founded by former President Bill Clinton has done admirable work over the last 15 years, the Clinton Foundation is also clearly a liability for Hillary Clinton as she seeks the presidency. The once-and-maybe-future first family will have plenty to keep them busy next year if Hillary Clinton defeats Donald Trump in November. The foundation should remove a political — and actual — distraction and stop accepting funding. If Clinton is elected, the foundation should be shut down.
Huffington Post:
Now Donald Trump, Breitbart and other enemies are all cynically calling for the Foundation to be shut down.
They have a point.
The Clinton Foundation is a visible example of the corruption that Bernie Sanders’ movement railed against. It is the rich buying influence with the Clintons by pretending to be good.
It is the quintessential democratic version of political corruption. The fact that the end goal is laudable is used to build up a network of favors and obligations between politicians and the corporate one percent — including in this case, foreign dictators and monarchs.
Only normal individual Americans give money out of the goodness of their hearts to support what they care about. Corporations, Dictators, Foreign Governments and Billionaires give money to further their purposes; not simply for charitable works. Anyone in business knows this to be true.
To pretend that this class of donors has the same motivations as ordinary Americans is a total fraud.
The biggest danger to Hillary Clinton is the revulsion the American people feel so strongly after the Wall St. Bailout and the total failure of ordinary people to recover from the financial collapse. They see that the 1%, the Goldman Sachs, the US banks, all were made whole 100% and are thriving, while the person on Main st. still is struggling with loans, with stagnant wages, and with the attitude that no one will help them. This revulsion can lead people to act out their anger.
When Clinton says we are ‘Stronger Together’, the Foundation and the experience of K street lobbyists directly counteracts that sentiment. The drug lobbyists, the oil countries, the military contractors are not “stronger together”. They are stronger only insofar as they can maintain their legal and illegal hold on politicians.
What brought the massive influx of young democrats into the primary was a primal scream against corruption in Washington and the desire for a leader who will fight corruption. Hillary Clinton, despite her past, can be such a leader if she were to seize the moment.
But hanging on to the Foundation will not work. Any PR flack knows that damage control 101 is to kill a negative story as quickly as possible.
By refusing to simply announce that the foundation’s good work will continue through a merger of the Clinton Foundation with some genuinely non-political philanthropy, Clinton will keep this story alive through election day.
The worst part is this self-inflicted damage is not necessary. I don’t want to see Chelsea Clinton in the White House, nor Bill Clinton. But I especially don’t want to see the Clinton’s acting like selling influence is no big deal. It is a big deal, and it makes Americans furious.
Finally, despite the unfathomable corruption of Donald Trump, and the fact that Russian Oligarch’s likely control his business empire and stand to benefit from his campaign, the continuing issue of the Clinton Foundation puts Hillary in the same box.
Even yesterday, Robbie Mook said when asked about the Foundation, said well look at Trump’s ties to Russia. That is not a tenable response. Hillary does not have to embrace corruption.
Democrats must demand a clean break, and the sooner it happens the less damage it is going to do.
I hope the campaign will quickly wake up and smell the coffee, or our hoped for victory on all fronts will be significantly diminished.
I am a lifelong democrat, a strong progressive, and a full supporter of Hillary. We need to make a change of course.