Hillary and power

LARRY ANDERSON
Larry Anderson

Teddy Roosevelt was a popular and capable president, but when he termed out, the public was largely done with him politically speaking. When he later tried to mount a comeback via a third party candidacy, he failed. The country had moved on.

Justifiably, historians tend to rank Roosevelt as one of our best presidents, but once he was rejected by voters, he become a public icon, a man with sagacious influence but no political power. This tends to be true of many of our presidents.

That doesn’t seem to hold with Bill and Hillary Clinton. The pair have managed to keep their toes in the political waters despite Bill’s presidency ending 17 years ago and Hillary’s stinging defeat last year to Donald Trump. They still feel politically involved.

The duo can’t seem to let go of all that power. Indeed, we see and hear more about Hillary than Barack Obama who was president for eight years and revered by progressives. Such respect hasn’t been directed toward Hillary who still seems to be on a campaign path, trailing election detritus wherever she goes. Most of the debris comes in the form of denials.

Even when the Clintons are done, they don’t seem to know it, even though they haven’t gathered the affectionate respect Jimmy Carter has or the status of JFK. Nor will they. Esteem goes where it is deserved.

Hillary is a political goner even if she doesn‘t acknowledge it. As a two time loser, she will not get enough support from the DNC or the general public to garner a third attempt at the White House. She is more washed up than Al Gore.

However, if Clinton insists on clinging to that hope, she needs to get hold of Donna Brazile’s book laboriously entitled Hacks: The Inside Story of the Break-ins and Breakdowns That Put Donald Trump in the White House. The book, you see, is about HRC.

Hillary does not come off well; indeed the work confirms what many have suspected since day one of the Clinton campaign, which is Hillary was a corrupting autocrat who cared nothing about campaign ethics, the rights or feelings of her competitors, or democracy as it should be.

She did understand power and how to use it for the advantage of the one thing she really cared about…herself.

Here’s what Kurtis Lee of the L. A. Times concluded as described in Brazile’s book: the agreement…“Clinton’s campaign signed with the DNC …essentially kept the committee afloat and allowed her aides to control the party.”

This was early on. Candidates, including Clinton, had not yet committed to a run for the presidency; nevertheless, Hillary managed to get a strangle hold on the DNC. Understand, candidates should not control the party, especially long before they have won the nomination, but she pulled it off.

This is what Bernie Sanders was complaining about later in the campaign battle when he angrily said the nomination process was rigged against him. He was right. Brazile’s book confirms it.

Brazile, remember, succeeded Debbie Wasserman-Schultz as head of the DNC. Brazile was in a position to know what very few people knew specifically about Clinton, which is she came before anything else, including ethics.

Clinton took control of the DNC’s finances and super delegates. Bernie didn’t have a chance despite his resonance with several demographics. That was the objective, and why Hillary at times treated Bernie as a pest. She knew she had the nomination sewed up.

Wasserman-Schultz as the DNC chair gave Clinton free rein in fund raising and finances. All was in Clinton’s iron grip, and she ran it like the organization was hers exclusively. Debbie was a backer from within.

Debates between Clinton and Sanders were limited. Advantage: Clinton.

Wasserman-Schultz resigned after Wikileaks leaked emails that showed DNC staffers discussing strategies that could be used against Sanders. So much for democracy and forthright debate. Brazile took Debbie’s place.

Brazile later admitted she shared questions with Clinton prior to a town hall event hosted by CNN. Advantage: Clinton.

Quite the trio Clinton, Wasserman-Schultz, and Brazile. At least Brazile grew a conscience and fessed up at her own expense.

Rot defeated Hillary Clinton on election day. Anger lifted Donald Trump who by comparison looks better every day.

Larry W. Anderson is a retired educator, author and Bearcat.