Why the Clintons Don’t Fear the Coming Armageddon with Donald Trump
Hillary Clinton’s ultimate trump card will not be her gender but her relative humanity.
By Joe Klein
On the night that Donald Trump effectively won the Republican nomination for President, Hillary Clinton observed radio silence. She had lost Indiana to Bernie Sanders, a small embarrassment in a year of galling humiliations. Indiana was a stubborn reminder of her weaknesses after a series of powerful victories in the Northeast–the sort of victories that Bill Clinton never won in 1992 until the general election. By contrast, his New York primary victory in ’92 over Jerry Brown was Pyrrhic, even though it pretty much clinched the nomination for him; he was battered by the tabloids, he seemed exhausted, his unfavorable were stratospheric.
He had larger problems than an email server: he had recently been found out as a Vietnam draft dodger and a womanizer. People called him Slick Willie. Within weeks, he would be in a deeper, darker hole than Hillary has experienced this year–he would be running third, behind George H.W. Bush and the independent Ross Perot. By June, only 13% of the public thought him trustworthy. He was toast.
This is old news, but it’s living history for the Clintons. It is what keeps Hillary buoyant, even as the most glamorous Democratic constituencies–celebrities, idealistic college kids–have flocked to Bernie Sanders. More than any other politicians I’ve covered, the Clintons have a perfect sense of chronology. They know that politics moves more slowly than the daily media frenzy, that new story lines – comebacks, especially – are catnip to cable networks. They know that polls can change, that Trump will have his day, that the general election will be Armageddon. But they are confident she’ll win.
Bill Clinton had help in his 1992 comeback. Perot proved to be something of a loony: he dropped out of the race in July and then dropped back in for the debates that fall. Bush was uninspiring throughout. But Clinton also made his own luck. His choice of Al Gore as Vice President was unconventional: Gore seemed a Clinton clone, young and moderate and Southern, rather than the usual ticket balancer–and his campaign team’s sense of tactics was refreshing. When Clinton and Gore took off on a celebratory bus tour through America right after the Democratic convention, the election was all but over. (Clinton’s domination in the fall debates sealed the deal.)
Available in: . Access on: may 2016.
Read the information below and check the CORRECT information according to the text.
