It isn’t news when people say that they want to see and hear
less from Hillary Clinton. On the other hand, if those people are prominent
Democrats, then Hillary fatigue is newsworthy. According a report from The
Hill, many prominent Democrats are saying that Hillary’s recent remarks are
damaging to the Democratic Party, the country as a whole and her personal
brand.
“Good God, what is she doing?” a veteran Democratic aide
said of Hillary’s blame-everyone-but-me tour. “She's apparently still really,
really angry. I mean, we all are. The election was stolen from her, and that's
how she feels. But to go out there publicly again and again and talk about it?
And then blame the DNC? It's not helpful to Democrats. It's not helpful to the
country, and I don't think it's helpful to her.”
“If she is trying to come across as the leader of the angry
movement of what happened in 2016, then she's achieving it,” a former senior
aide to President Obama said. “But part of the problem she had was she didn't
have a vision for the Democratic Party, and she needs to now take a break and
let others come to the forefront.”
The Clintons have a talent for sucking the oxygen out of the
room and Democrat operatives are concerned that with Hillary hogging the
limelight it will be difficult for Democrat candidates to position themselves
for 2020. This may be by design.
There is already speculation that Hillary is gearing up for
a third presidential campaign. In Hillary’s previous runs for president, she
has used the Clinton influence in the Democrat Party and the DNC to discourage
other Democrats from challenging her as the presumptive nominee. She
nevertheless lost to the relatively unknown Barack Obama in 2008 and was
heavily damaged by the insurgent candidacy of Democrat-in-name-only, Bernie
Sanders, in 2016.
If Hillary does decide to run for president a third time in
2020, she would be the oldest president ever to take office if elected. At 73,
she would be three years older than Donald Trump, currently the oldest
president ever to be elected, who was 70 when he was inaugurated. A third
failure would put Hillary in the company of such perennial losers as William
Jennings Bryan (1896, 1900, 1908) and Ron Paul (1988, 2008, 2012) who ran
national campaigns three times but never won. Richard Nixon was the last
candidate to lose
as a party nominee and then come back to win both a second nomination and
the presidency.
After two unsuccessful presidential campaigns, there are
signs that the patience of Democrats is wearing thin. “Some people I know are
just frustrated that it's happening,” said. “She is a national hero and a great
public servant and has the right to be upset,” Jamal Simmons, a Democratic
strategist. “It would be nice to hear a little more about the things she did
wrong, which I believe mattered more than what she has discussed.”
Others suspect that Hillary is just seeking publicity for
her upcoming book. “I'm not sure there is a political strategy here,” said
Democratic strategist Brad Bannon. “It sounds to me like more of a personal strategy.
Complaining about an outcome and blaming everyone else is not a good political
strategy.”
After two high profile losses, Hillary would seem to be an
expert on poor political strategies. The loss to Donald Trump was particularly humiliating
given Trump’s
record-high negatives, numerous scandals and erratic behavior.
Americans have spoken firmly against a Hillary Clinton
presidency. If Democrats want to have a chance against Donald Trump in 2020,
which at this point looks like a slam dunk with any candidate other than
Hillary, they would be wise to give someone else a chance.
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