OPINION:
Hillary Clinton, in a speech before the New York Democratic Convention, decried how “they’ve been coming after me again lately” — alluding to the “they” as Donald Trump, Donald Trump supporters, as no doubt those old basketfuls of deplorable.
Decried? More like cried.
If Clinton is poised to reenter politics — if she is on the cusp of announcing a rerun for the White House — she might want to lose the victim card.
It’s a very unpresidential look. More to truth, it’s a very un-American look, too.
“By the way,” she said, as The Hill reported, “they’ve been coming after me again lately, in case you might have noticed. It’s funny, the more trouble Trump gets into, the wilder the charges and conspiracy theories about me seem to get.”
There’s that old vast “right-wing conspiracy” clause Clinton bandied about so frequently in the late 1990s, to sum up any of her husband, Bill’s, accusers. Bill the adulterer? It’s a vast right-wing conspiracy. Bill the sexual predator? It’s a vast right-wing conspiracy. Bill the liar? It’s a vast right-wing conspiracy — until it’s not, of course. Until it’s revealed and admitted and acknowledged that the definition of the word “is” truly is “is,” and that with that admission comes additional admissions about blue dresses and White House interns and so on and so forth and so on and so forth.
Is this really what the whispered 2024 White House candidate wants to drum as images in the voters’ minds?
Hillary the poor trod-upon female.
Hillary the poor beleaguered wife.
Hillary the victim.
“So now,” she said, just this past week, turning attention again to that dastardly Trump, “his accountants have fired him and investigations draw closer to him and right on cue the noise machine gets turned up, doesn’t it?”
So now, she went on, just this past week, segueing nicely into a rant about the dastardly dastards in the media, “Fox leads the charge with accusations against me, counting on their audience to fall for it again. And as an aside, they’re getting awfully close to actual malice in their attacks.”
I am Clinton, hear me roar?
No. I am Clinton, hear my woe.
The problem with Hillary Clinton as a candidate for the presidency — if, in fact, that is the game plan — is that she’s a whiner. A real Wendy Whiner. And America doesn’t need a whiner as commander-in-chief.
“What Happened: The long list of who Hillary Clinton blames,” the BBC wrote in September of 2017.
“16 things Hillary Clinton blames for her election loss,” Axios wrote that same month.
“A Brief List of People Clinton Blames for Her Election Loss,” Vanity Fair wrote, also in September, 2017.
“Hillary Clinton blames everyone but herself for her 2016 loss,” Vox wrote in May, 2017.
And then, of course, this one: “What Hillary Clinton Drank to Get Over Losing to Trump,” Thrillist wrote in May, 2017.
See the theme?
True leaders take responsibility for both wins and losses.
Hillary Clinton just can’t seem to get that through her head. From fault-finding while her husband was president, to fault-finding as her presidential campaign went down in flames to Trump, to fault-finding for this current John Durham special counsel investigation hot spot she finds herself in — it’s all the same.
Just as a leopard can’t change spots, Clinton can’t seem to lose her habit of blaming others.
And that makes her weak, untrustworthy, arrogant and elite — none of which are characteristics befitting the office of the president of the United States. But most of all, that makes her uninspiring. And in politics, that’s the bigger sin. That’s the sin that cannot win.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley. Listen to her podcast “Bold and Blunt” by clicking HERE. And never miss her column; subscribe to her newsletter by clicking HERE. Her latest book, “Socialists Don’t Sleep: Christians Must Rise Or America Will Fall,” is available by clicking HERE.
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