Trustworthy Hillary
Hillary Clinton鈥檚 6-point lead over Donald Trump in last month鈥檚 CBS News poll has now evaporated. As of mid-July (even before Trump enjoys a predictable post-convention bump in the polls) she is聽with him. 聽Each garners the support of聽聽of voters.聽
This is astounding, given that Trump鈥檚 campaign is in shambles while hers is a well-oiled machine; that he鈥檚 done almost no advertising while she began the month spending聽聽on ads;聽and that Republican leaders are deserting him while Democrats are lining up behind her.
The near tie is particularly astonishing given that Trump has no experience and offers no coherent set of policies or practical ideas but only venomous bigotry and mindless xenophobia, while Hillary Clinton has a boatload of experience, a storehouse of carefully-crafted policies, and a deep understanding of what the nation must do in order to come together and lead the world.
What happened? Apparently the FBI鈥檚 recent report on Clinton鈥檚 email heightened what already were public concerns about her honesty and trustworthiness. Last month, on that same CBS poll, 62 percent of voters said she鈥檚 not honest and trustworthy; now聽of voters have that view.
So as the Republican convention prepares to nominate the least qualified and most divisive candidate in American history, the Democrats are about to nominate among the most qualified and yet also most distrusted.
What explains this underlying distrust?
I鈥檝e known Hillary Clinton since she was 19 years old. For twenty-five years I鈥檝e watched as she and her husband became quarries of the media 鈥� especially, but not solely, the rightwing media.
I was there in 1992 when she defended her husband against Jennifer Flower鈥檚 charges of infidelity. I was in the cabinet when she was accused of fraudulent dealings in Whitewater, and then accused of wrongdoing in the serial rumor mills of 鈥淭ravelgate鈥� and 鈥淭roopergate,鈥� followed by withering criticism of her role as chair of Bill Clinton鈥檚 healthcare task force.
I saw her be accused of conspiracy in the tragic suicide of Vince Foster, her friend and former colleague, who, not incidentally,聽聽shortly before his death that 鈥渉ere [in Washington] ruining people is considered sport.鈥�
Rush Limbaugh聽聽that 鈥淰ince Foster was murdered in an apartment owned by Hillary Clinton,鈥� and the聽New York Post聽聽that administration officials 鈥渇rantically scrambled鈥� to remove from Foster鈥檚 office safe a previously unreported set of files, some of them related to Whitewater.
I saw Kennth Starr鈥檚 Whitewater investigation metastasize into the soap opera of Bill Clinton鈥檚 second term, featuring Monica Lewinsky, Paula Jones, and Juanita Broaddrick, among others 鈥� culminating in Bill Clinton鈥檚 impeachment and Hillary鈥檚 very public (and, presumably, intensely private) humiliation.
Then, more recently, came the storm over Benghazi, which led to inquiries about her email server, followed by the questions about whether or how the Clinton Foundation charitable work and the Clintons鈥� own for-profit speeches might have intersected with her work at the State Department.
It is worth noting that despite all the stories, allegations, accusations, insinuations, and investigations spread over a quarter century 鈥� there has never been any finding that Hillary Clinton engaged in illegal behavior.
But it鈥檚 understandable why someone who has been under such relentless attack for a large portion of her adult life might be reluctant to expose every minor error or misstep that could be blown up into another 鈥渟candal,鈥� another media circus, another interminable set of investigations generating half-baked conspiracy theories and seemingly endless implications of wrongdoing.
Given this history, any sane person might reflexively seek to minimize small oversights, play down innocent acts of carelessness, or not fully disclose mistakes of no apparent consequence, for fear of cutting loose the next attack dogs. Such a person might even be reluctant to let their guard down and engage in impromptu news conferences or veer too far off script.
Yet that reflexive impulse can itself generate distrust when such responses eventually come to light, as they often do 鈥� as when, for example, Hillary was shown to be less than forthright over her emails. The cumulative effect can create the impression of someone who, at worst, is guilty of serial cover-ups, or, at best, shades the truth.
So while Hillary Clinton鈥檚 impulse is understandable, it is also self-defeating, as now evidenced by the growing portion of the public that doesn鈥檛 trust her.
It is critically important that she recognizes this, that she fight her understandable impulse to keep potential attackers at bay, and that from here on she makes herself far more open and accessible 鈥� and clearly and fearlessly tells聽all. 聽
This story originally appeared on .
