A look at Hillary Clinton’s “What happened” book….

I haven’t read Hillary Clinton’s book, “What Happened” but the reviews I’ve seen said that in that book she blames everyone but herself for the result of the 2016 general election. The Buck Stopped Somewhere Else.

Her chief mistakes in my eyes seem to have been (1) curtailing active polling of the whole electorate in favour of “analytics” that proved misleading, and (2) running through money so fast (just as in 2008) that she forwent rallying an eager Democratic base in those first few weeks of solidarity after the convention in favour of going out of sight to beg money from rich donors at small, closed events around the county (a group of stockbrokers in New York, a bunch of Hollywood and Silicon Valley executives in California). [Not to mention (3) her disastrous handling — aided by James Comey — of her e-mail records, deleting 30,000 messages that she says were entirely personal without any way of proving it.]

Bernie Sanders did his best for the general election campaign, but he was sent to college campuses, and not to the working-class audiences he’d won over in the Blue Wall states around the Great Lakes.

¶ And Clinton misunderstands what a movement politician can do; Sanders’ base would not have stood for his early withdrawal from the race before contesting (as did Clinton & Obama in 2008) every state and territory. They would have given up on Sanders and turned sour on the Democratic presidential campaign before he could try to rally them again for the Democratic nominee.

¶ Almost all democratic socialists in the U.S. have worked since the 1950’s have worked within rather than outside the Democratic Party, so I among others wonder why James keeps harping on what is essentially a technicality. Sanders does not officially caucus with the Democrats (chiefly out of concern for the difficulties it might cause Democratic candidates in red & purple swing states), but he acts like a Democrat, walks like a Democrat and talks like a Democrat, even getting his share of committee assignments and chairmanships.

Keith did raise an entirely valid point: that Sanders’ third-party campaign might have denied the governorship of Vermont to Madeleine Kunin, who was no machine moderate, but very much part of the Movement herself.

But Sanders now seems to have reached a mutual understanding with the orthodox Democrats of Vermont to stand aside for candidates with the better chance of winning. The Democrats don’t oppose Bernie Sanders, and his allies don’t run against Rep. Peter Welch (D)….

DSD @ Politicaldog101….

What Happened (Clinton book) ….(2017)

Wiki…

image…Wiki