Hillary still doesn’t get it

May 5, 2017

OPINION by T. KEITH GURNEE

After reading accounts of Hillary Clinton’s latest interview on why she lost the 2016 election, she’s unbelievably still in denial. Blaming the FBI Director and WikiLeaks for her defeat on the brink of what she called her “imminent victory” could not be further from the truth.

Here are the real reasons why she lost:

1.       She failed to realize that WikiLeaks simply told the truth about how she and her party were behind-the-scenes manipulating the election to defeat Bernie Sanders in the primaries. It was that truth that hurt her, and if anything, WikiLeaks provided voters with a much-needed service.

2.       In what was the biggest anti-establishment race in history, her 25 years in the public eye made her the big face of the establishment. The nation concluded that it had suffered too long from Hillary and Obama fatigue.

3.       Rather than appealing to working people, she devoted her energy to courting Hollywood plutocrats and limousine liberals, and that cost her the Rust Belt.

4.       Bernie Sanders captured the imagination of anti-establishment liberals. Hillary captured none.

5.       Despite all his faults, her maverick opponent successfully tapped into public sentiment that the pendulum had swung too far to the left and that big government, big taxes, and overregulation were no longer the answer.

6.       Rather than running for president and making her case for why she should be elected, she ran a nasty full court press against her opponent, drawing ever more attention to the man who beat her.

7.       Last but not least, her arrogance didn’t help.

During her campaign, this former Democrat and my former Democrat wife developed a visceral negative reaction whenever she appeared or spoke on TV. Until Hillary and her party stop deluding themselves and get honest with what really happened to them–and until the Dems decide to become positive contributors to our evolving national government– they will continue their sad slide towards oblivion.