OPINION:
It took eight years for Bill Clinton to rebuild the Democratic Party — and it took his wife and President Obama the exact amount of time to undo it. Hillary Clinton’s only opportunity to be elected president was 2008, when her abrasiveness was her main obstacle.
At that time Hillary could still be handled and packaged, and her complete inexperience ignored. (After all, she had gained some experience while in Bobby Kennedy’s Senate seat.) When that didn’t work because the upstart junior senator from Illinois won the nomination, she hunkered down, enhanced her resume with some on-the-job training and became secretary of state.
She tried that for four years, but it didn’t work out so well. When she exercised “smart power” and had Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi assassinated, she really believed the entire world would stand in awe and sing hosannas in her name. Instead, all hell broke loose; the Islamic State emerged because Gadhafi was no longer alive to keep them at bay.
After taking responsibility for the ensuing fiasco, she quit her day job to run full-time for president. With a field clear of competitors, except a virtually unknown socialist from Vermont, she captured the Democratic nomination. Even though Bernie Sanders eschewed the opportunity to assail her on her incompetence and ineptitude, these characteristics were undeniably obvious. Hillary’s Machiavellian machinations were so apparent that she was an embarrassing spectacle to witness. All that is left of the Democratic Party now are ashes.
JOHN GALL
Arlington
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