POLITICO offers a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at the Hillary Clinton campaign's bungled handling of the scandal surrounding her secret use of a private email server as secretary of state. It's worth reading the whole thing, but the prominent themes include:
- Hillary doesn't trust her staffers, and frequently blames them for setbacks
- She hates the media and is convinced she is the victim of vast conspiracy
- She does not believe she did anything wrong
- Her team of high-paid consultants sill can't come up with a reason for why she should be president
One of the most astonishing revelations is the fact that none of Hillary's top supporters actually believe she is a good candidate for president:
Nearly every one of 50 advisers, donors, Democratic operatives and friends we interviewed for this story thought Clinton was a mediocre candidate who would make a good president, if given the chance. They painted a portrait of a politician who talked about learning from past mistakes while methodically repeating them—a far cry from the formidable shatterer of glass ceilings who had put such a scare into Obama late in the 2008 primaries.
In other words, she's "likable enough," as President Obama famously said during a 2008 primary debate. Thus far, the best campaign slogan she can come up with is no better than what she told Lena Dunham last month: "If you can't get excited, be pragmatic and do it anyway."