After a week or so of unforced errors from Hillary Clinton as she rolls out her book, one has to wonder if she is up to the rigors of running again for president. Think about it. First, Hillary decided that she would paint herself as one of the common people, so she claimed that she and Bill were "dead broke" and struggling when Bill left office. Hillary overlooked the fact that she and Bill had income of roughly twelve million dollars in the next twelve months. Broke? Struggling? Second, Hillary then claimed that the five terrorist leaders of the Taliban who were released from Guantanamo to swap for Bowe Bergdahl were not a threat to the USA. Yesterday, we learned that one of the five was in command of one major part of al Qaeda's plans for the 9-11 attacks. Government officials have also told Congress that the likelihood is very high that most of the five will rejoin the fight against the USA. Not a threat? Third, Hillary got angry at a questioner from NPR who had the temerity to ask Hillary about her change from being anti-gay marriage to being pro-gay marriage. Hillary wouldn't respond if that change was due to "evolving views" or to "political calculations". Hillary getting angry at questions from NPR is the rough equivalent of president Obama getting annoyed at questions posed by MSNBC.
All of the unforced errors come in addition to the real questions being raised by the unannounced candidacy of Mrs. Clinton. What actually happened with regard to Benghazi? It now appears that Hillary is the first public source of the phony story that the attack was the result of a youtube video. How can she explain that? Why didn't Hillary agree to increased security for the Benghazi mission when the ambassador made urgent requests for it? Whose idea was the "reset" with Russia that has failed so spectacularly? If Clinton has proven so inept at dealing with simple questions like her views on gay marriage, will she be able to respond well to the real questions?
The net effect of all of this is that Hillary's popularity continues to sag. Her ratings by the public are still net positive, but the trend is ominously lower and lower. She still runs ahead of the potential Republican opponents in polling, but she no longer gets anywhere near the numbers that she received just a year ago. None of the match ups give her more than 50% of the vote. Given Hillary's much greater name recognition, that too is an ominous sign.
If the trend continues, we may actually see Hillary Clinton decide not to run. Without a doubt, Hillary wants to be president, but she also does not want to run and lose a second time. It will be extremely interesting to see how well (or how poorly) Mrs. Clinton does in the rest of her book tour. This week she will be giving a whole series of interviews. If there are more flubs like last week, this could turn into a farewell tour as well as a book tour.
All of the unforced errors come in addition to the real questions being raised by the unannounced candidacy of Mrs. Clinton. What actually happened with regard to Benghazi? It now appears that Hillary is the first public source of the phony story that the attack was the result of a youtube video. How can she explain that? Why didn't Hillary agree to increased security for the Benghazi mission when the ambassador made urgent requests for it? Whose idea was the "reset" with Russia that has failed so spectacularly? If Clinton has proven so inept at dealing with simple questions like her views on gay marriage, will she be able to respond well to the real questions?
The net effect of all of this is that Hillary's popularity continues to sag. Her ratings by the public are still net positive, but the trend is ominously lower and lower. She still runs ahead of the potential Republican opponents in polling, but she no longer gets anywhere near the numbers that she received just a year ago. None of the match ups give her more than 50% of the vote. Given Hillary's much greater name recognition, that too is an ominous sign.
If the trend continues, we may actually see Hillary Clinton decide not to run. Without a doubt, Hillary wants to be president, but she also does not want to run and lose a second time. It will be extremely interesting to see how well (or how poorly) Mrs. Clinton does in the rest of her book tour. This week she will be giving a whole series of interviews. If there are more flubs like last week, this could turn into a farewell tour as well as a book tour.
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