http://nypost.com/2015/08/15/hillary-clinton-needs-a-miracle/Hillary Clinton needs a miracle to save her
By Michael Goodwin
August 15, 2015 | 10:19pm
Back in 1992, as a bimbo eruption threatened Bill Clinton’s first presidential campaign, he and Hillary rolled the dice with a “60 Minutes” interview. Looking tense and wearing a trademark headband, she supported him even as she insisted with a Southern twang, “I’m not sittin’ here like some little woman, standing by my man like Tammy Wynette.”
Yet that’s exactly what she was doing — and it saved the day. Hubby went on to finish second in the New Hampshire primary, and in his “victory” speech, declared himself “The Comeback Kid.”
Nearly a quarter-century later, it’s Hillary’s turn on the razor’s edge. The Clintons aren’t kids anymore, but if they’ve got a comeback strategy for her, they better use it fast. Her doomsday clock is ticking.
Hardly a day goes by without more developments in her e-mail scandal and the damage is reaching red-alert levels. The words “criminal probe” that she fought so hard against when The New York Times broke the investigation story are now routine, as are mentions of the FBI and the “home brew” server at the center of it all.
The drip-drip-drip of new details, combined with the chance that there will be a bombshell revelation, are taking a toll on supporters. There is open talk about Democrats abandoning ship and the hunt for substitutes is picking up steam. One sign of desperation is that an Al Gore trial balloon was floated until he quickly, and wisely, shot it down.
The problem for Hillary is that she’s got three problems. They are enormous together, and each alone has the potential to be fatal.
The first problem is the Obama White House. It can tell the Justice Department to back off, or play it straight with the probe of how she handled classified information. The president can deliver a message of support for her, or help push Vice President Joe Biden into the race against her. He can unleash Valerie Jarrett, or muzzle her.
In any event, there is little or nothing Clinton can do. The choice is Obama’s.
Hillary’s second problem is the media. There’s a small sob-sister cohort trying to protect her, but mostly there’s a feeding frenzy and leaks from various government agencies are showing up in reports across the country.
Clinton’s sense of entitlement, reflected in the decision to use a private server and delete e-mails of her choosing, along with her frosty relationships with the intelligence community, are coming back to haunt her. Again, she’s got little power to stop the death by a thousand cuts.
Her third problem is character. That 1992 interview where she lied to protect her husband was one of many where she demonstrated a willingness to say whatever was politically expedient. The habit has become so ingrained that she appears addicted to deceit.
Polls showing that about 60 percent of Americans, and even more in some swing states, find her dishonest and untrustworthy mean she has a mountain to climb to get to the Oval Office. It’s hard to figure out how she gets people to vote for her who’ve already decided they don’t trust her.
If there is a way for Clinton to survive the brutal gauntlet of these problems, I don’t see it. Even if the Justice Department backs off and Obama gives her a boost, the leaks from others in government won’t necessarily stop. Even if the leaks stop and the story peters out, she still needs to change millions of voters’ minds about her integrity.
The odds of all three situations breaking her way are slim. Then she still would have to be error and scandal free for the next 15 months. Comebacks are one thing, miracles another.
There is a final irony in her predicament. Clinton set up the private server to have total control over her communications, and she succeeded, temporarily.
But now the bill must be paid, and she has almost no control over the price. She forgot the warning to be careful what you wish for — and that the devil always takes his due.
