Hillary Clinton: just a sore loser?

Democrats, reveling in President Donald Trump’s plummeting popularity and the GOP’s civil wars, are looking forward to September. Except for the rollout of Hillary Clinton’s next book.

Ms. Clinton has promised to “let my guard down” in “What Happened,” as she explains her shocking loss to Mr. Trump in November. She already has offered several explanations, blaming Russian interference, former FBI director James Comey and misogyny, while acknowledging tactical errors.

Many Washington Democrats wish she’d “move on,” as Sen. Al Franken has put it. They fear her complaints will help Mr. Trump make his case that the controversies surrounding him flow from Democrats’ bitterness about their 2016 loss.

They prefer the approach taken by Al Gore after his equally controversial loss in 2000. Mr. Gore didn’t really criticize the administration of President George W. Bush for almost two years, even though he, like Ms. Clinton, won the popular vote while losing in the Electoral College. (Mr. Gore lost when the Supreme Court stopped a vote recount in Florida.) Mr. Gore went on to start a new career, winning a Nobel Prize for his work on climate change and an Oscar for his documentary film “An Inconvenient Truth.”

Associates hoped Ms. Clinton also would find new ways to contribute, perhaps as the president of a university or foundation. Ms. Clinton also could speak out selectively on important issues, drawing on her wealth of experience.

But she remains haunted by her defeat. The gist of her message next month, based on her public statements and accounts of private conversations from people who’ve talked to her, will be: I accept the blame for what happened, but the bigger problems were Russian meddling, Mr. Comey’s onagain, off-again handling of the FBI probe of her private email server, the Democratic Party and maybe some of her own staffers.

The Clintons, associates say, are convinced that the election was stolen. And they may be right, and we’ll know more once special counsel Robert Mueller and congressional committees complete their investigations.

But Ms. Clinton is the wrong messenger. She just comes across as a sore loser.