Enough already, Hillary
It wasn’t only a catchy tune; it was a winning message for Bill (and Hillary) Clinton in 1992: “Don’t Stop (Thinking About Tomorrow).” Hillary ought to put the oldie but goodie back in her Spotify rotation, because her obsession with finding scapegoats for the 2016 election is dragging Democrats down.
In recent months, Clinton has made clear her belief that she blames for her loss, in no particular order: FBI Director James Comey’s eleventhhour release of a letter seeming to reopen the investigation into her email server; Russian hacking, and the WikiLeaks dissemination of the fruits of that hacking; treatment of her as the first major female candidate for President; and more.
While rhetorically taking responsibility as the candidate — and as one who spent no time in or attention on, say, Wisconsin, or articulating a compelling affirmative vision for the country — she has comparatively downplayed her own role.
Wednesday night, she added more whipping boys and girls to the list, in this case the Democratic National Committee’s data operation, which she called “mediocre to poor, nonexistent, wrong.” Never mind that the DNC was led by a close Clinton ally who was openly pro-Hillary and anti-Bernie Sanders throughout the primary campaign.
(The former director of data science at the DNC called the Clinton claim “f------ bull---.”)
The focus now for those disheartened or downright disgusted by the Trump presidency ought to be rallying the nation, especially the districts and states in previously safe Democratic territory lost in 2016, to organize for the 2018 midterms.
There are special elections to wage in the here and now. Money to raise. Candidates to recruit. Strategy to develop. A message to hone.
All of which is tougher to do when the party’s last standard-bearer is, like the President, seemingly obsessed with self-exonerating recriminations.
With Trump’s approval in the high 30th percentile, it might seem that a mere finger snap can convert the fury and frustration about the man in charge into votes. Not so. Voters need something to vote for, not merely someone to vote against.
We don’t have to relitigate the 2016 election to remember that one resounding message.