With the publication date of May 28, 2016, “The Economist” magazine has posted on its web site an article entitled, “Already Indicted”:
COULD Hillary Clinton’s bid for the presidency be undone by her unusual e-mail arrangements as secretary of state? A report by an internal watchdog of the State Department, the inspector-general, into her use of a private e-mail account for official business, suggests it could be.
Some filler:
Ever since Mrs Clinton’s e-mail server became a matter of public debate last year, she has said she broke no rules. To the contrary, the State Department report says she was under an “obligation” to seek clearance for her e-mail system, did not, and it would have been denied if she had done, due to “security risks”.
Her e-mail rig was not a secret, exactly. The report notes “some awareness” of it among senior diplomats. It points instead to the impunity with which Mrs Clinton’s affairs were handled. When two IT whizzes expressed fears that her e-mails might not be preserved, their boss “instructed the staff never to speak of the secretary’s personal e-mail system again.”
But, the article concludes with the following:
Yet if it may be possible to take a tolerant view of how this started, there is no excusing the mess Mrs Clinton has made of it. A more agile politician would immediately have recognised the scandal’s potential to exacerbate the poor trust ratings that are her biggest weakness. She would then have taken urgent measures to confess her carelessness, express remorse and make a fulsome display of handing over whatever materials the investigators required. Instead Mrs Clinton obfuscated, denied and watched the scandal grow. The most significant indictment to arise from it may well concern her skills as a politician.
So, it’s not just Sanders supporters. It’s really not. In fact, I’m not aware of any Sanders supporter ever criticizing Hillary Clinton’s skill as a politician. But aren’t the stakes just a tad high at this juncture to take such risks?