Autopsy II, Likability and Trustworthiness

Continuing the trend of trustworthiness and likability. Clinton has battled these issues most of her career. Little half truths followed by “misstatements” or lies. Trying to hide the truth of things that happened, or comments made ultimately harmed her potential presidency more than anything else. 


People would have likely been more forgiving of her statements to Wall Street banks, had she just came out with the transcripts during the primary, rather than having them leaked weeks before the general. Yes, I am sure some of what we have heard about in the last year are nothing more than the current scandal of the week politics we have had over the course of thirty years. 

That said, it also brings up issues with judgment. When I have someone standing over my shoulder, looking at any little thing I do, I make sure to cross every t, dot every I. Clinton, knowing that the GOP had a massive grudge against her, knowing that she was not liked or trusted, did nothing to stop the fires from spreading. Yeah, they would have gone after any little thing, but on another level, when someone is out to get you, you don't do things to give them more ammunition to use against you. These scandals of the week, debunked, a ploy to get her, or a legitimate damning of her character, all damaged her brand. They damaged her credibility, and the ability of those to trust her. Leaked comments about having public and private policy opinions, while a normal fact of life for most people, hurt in an environment where people need to trust that their best interests are at heart.  Referencing your former opponents supporters as basement dwellers, regardless of the intent, only further agitated potential voters.  Having your celebrity surrogates telling people they are being ridiculous after they feel they have been wronged, helps nobody.  Yeah, I'm sure these celebrities, those who came off as mocking, were making off the cuff remarks, at least I would hope so.

Oh hey, you know something else, Clinton isn't really good off script.  If the event is unscripted Clinton never can seem to keep her foot out of her mouth.  Granted politicians like her often try to avoid such events, but in this world, with technology being what it is, good luck with that.  Clinton is old school, she likes to have control over the situations she finds herself in.  However, today things are not nearly as controllable as they once were.  Comments like being dead broke, or understanding what its like to make $20,000 a year (in the late sixties or early seventies) come off as being out of touch.

Then you have the whole pneumonia incident, which her supports screamed was nobodies business.  The fact is, she fainted, had to be placed in a vehicle, and taken to her daughters apartment.  Later after emerging and claiming to be perfectly okay, we learn that she was sick.  Not just a cold, but pneumonia, something that is still very lethal, even today, with every ounce of modern medicine we have.


The truth of the matter is, Clinton presented herself to a large enough segment of the population to be untrustworthy. She give the appearance of being all that is wrong with our political system, in a cycle where being part of the establishment, the corrupt and cruel powers that be, those that seek to destroy everything except its profit was considered a bad thing. Much of this could be because of the notion that business as usual is killing. Again, Clinton and her advisers failed to get in front of this. She wore her experience, her personality, and more of the same as armor. Few people wanted it, and when she expressed the opinions people wanted to hear, they did not believe her, as she did little to try and reform her image. It would have been difficult to do, but Clinton is a very competent politician, and there have been candidates with far worse reputations, with more well known facts who have managed to pull of elections.