Despite her decades in the public eye, Hillary Clinton continues to struggle explaining her rationale for running for president, leading the former Democratic frontrunner to appear inauthentic, MSNBC's Morning Joe panel said Monday.
"Isn't that crazy she's been in this business this long and still hasn't found her voice?" host Joe Scarborough said of Clinton’s inability to deliver a reason why she wants to be president.
Co-host Mika Brzezinski expressed disappointment with a candidate she admits she wants to support, but has major hesitations now with her email scandal and her incapacity to relate with everyday Americans.
"You started out by saying the clarity of her message is still sort of lacking, she's never had one," Brzezinski said. "We've been asking this question for a year."
The panel compared Clinton’s genuineness with fellow candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) and potential challengers Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.). Compared with her rivals, Clinton does not have a coherent message for her purpose in politics, they said.
"Why is she running for president? This goes back to the question in 1980. Why do you want to be president?" Scarborough asked. The MSNBC anchor also asked "What does she stand for? What does she believe?"
John Heilemann mocked the Clinton campaign’s authenticity reset as part of the problem. The new strategy to make the candidate more spontaneous has been lambasted by pundits and the public alike. Scarborough noted her apology felt insincere because it was forced and focus group driven.
"No one has any doubt about who Bernie Sanders is. "I know who that guy is. This guy is who he is. If you watched Joe Biden last week on Colbert, people look at that and say I know that guy, that's the real deal," Heilemann said. "At the same time, you got stories in the paper about how Hillary Clinton's campaign has decided they need to project authenticity and learned that by talking to focus groups."
Scarborough placed the responsibility of the flailing campaign squarely on Clinton’s shoulders.
"She has the same mistake in '16 that she had in '08," Scarborough said. "She's the one allowing herself to be over managed. She's the one that is surrounding herself with a small group of yes men. She's the one that brought in John [Podesta] and other people to make sure it wasn't like 2008. She's the one who is still conducting it like it was 2008."