Let Hillary Go
Free America from its toxic Clinton mania
THOUGH it’s been three months since Donald Trump won the presidential election, it’s not unusual to see handmade “I’m still with her” signs displayed in windows of multimilliondollar brownstones in Park Slope, “H” arrow buttons (the Clinton campaign logo) on lapels around major cities and Hillary Clinton’s campaign avatar used in social-media profile pictures. Please, just let it go. It’s not only the left I’m speaking to here. At CPAC, the yearly conservative conference in Washington, DC, several attendees were still wearing “Hillary for Prison” shirts and the “Sheriff Clarke for Senate” booth had a picture of a Hillary Clinton bobblehead doll in prison stripes.
Why does Hillary Clinton continue to so capture the public imagination? Were there Republicans who couldn’t let go of John McCain or Mitt Romney after their respective losses? Or Democrats who still viewed them as a threat? Hillary is different, for many reasons, but it’s long past time we let go of her — and the Clinton family in general — and that she lets us.
Perhaps paradoxically, Hillary has loomed so large in American politics because, unlike her husband Bill, she was forever on the ascendancy. “What is Hillary going to do next?” is a question asked again and again for over 20 years, since before her husband’s presidency even ended. After so long, it’s hard to stop asking that.
The Clintons certainly encourage the question. When rumors surfaced that Hillary might run for mayor of New York, there was no attempt from the Clinton camp to swat them down. Their silence lent credibility to the speculation. Was Hillary Clinton, after having been US senator, secretary of state and (twice) Democratic presidential nominee, really going to primary fellow Democrat Bill de Blasio for the mayoralty of New York City? That’s the thing with the Clintons, though, you just can’t ever seem to rule anything out.
“But we need Hillary Clinton!” scream her adoring acolytes. Do you? For what? To tweet snarky quips at Trump? There are plenty of others who tweet sick burns at him, and do it far better. After Elizabeth Warren was reprimanded by the Senate for her personal attacks on Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Hillary tweeted: “‘She was warned, she was given an explanation, still she persisted.’ So must we all.” Wow, really makes you think. But Hillary doesn’t need to be just another “pussyhat” wearing resister. She isn’t leading the opposition; she didn’t even attend the Women’s March on Washington during Trump’s inauguration — though she did attend the inauguration. Twitter lets Hillary stay in the public eye even when she’s not doing much. A critical tweet fired off every few days gets her just enough publicity so that no one forgets her.
It’s possible she has goals other than her own fame and fortune. There have been hints that Chelsea Clinton is being groomed for political office. Soft-focus articles have been appearing about her political awakening since the election. But this continued presence of Team Clinton in the public sphere isn’t good for anyone except the Clintons.
For Republicans, Hillary occupying a spotlight means all intraparty criticism of Donald Trump is countered with “would you rather have Hillary?”
And it’s certainly not healthy for Democrats. The placeholder of “Hillary Clinton, president” has to eventually be filled by someone else.
I understand that, especially for activists and feminists on the identity-policy-obsessed left, it’s difficult let go of the idea that Hillary is destined to be the first female president. But it’s precisely that presumption of entitlement and inevitability that has helped doom her two presidential campaigns.
It’s a lesson that should have been learned in 2008 but wasn’t, and so the Democrats, thinking they had a moneymagnet juggernaut as a candidate, had to deal with an unexpectedly fierce primary challenge to Clinton by a 74-yearold socialist — after which she lost to Donald J. Trump.
If Hillary Clinton cares about the future of her party, and of her country, she’ll take a step back now and let the country stop thinking about her for a moment. It’s time for the nation and the Clintons to go their separate ways. It’s time to, in the favorite words of the Clinton clan’s longtime defenders, move on.