Hillary: The Race Begins

The recent scandal involving the Clinton’s may be the final straw that could end Hillary’s quest for the White House. For nearly a quarter of century, the Clinton’s have been Teflon in surviving scandals that would have destroyed most candidates and certainly would have ended any Republican career, but the recent scandal over the Clinton Foundation and the possible influence peddling, including helping the Russians corner our uranium market, may be one bridge too far for any voter to overlook and even Democrats have to be asking, “Why are we tying our fate to the Clinton’s?”

For many Democrats, to challenge Hillary on her quest to be first Queen of America, I mean, the first woman President, appeared to be suicidal. Not just because of the apparent strength of the Clinton’s machine but its ruthlessness. For any Democrat to challenge the Queen and lose, it could be the end of their own career and the only political machine who has shown to be equally as ruthlessness has been the Obama’s machine, which is why Obama was elected President and Hillary had to settle being his Secretary of State.

The past week has changed the political calculations for the Democrats, as they now may be rethinking their options while there is time to reconsider. In the past, the Clinton’s machine, along with their willing accomplices in the media, would circle the wagon and merely assume that any attack on the Clinton’s was part of the right wing conspiracy and certainly, with the exception of Fox, Obama has been a beneficiary of the attack machine and compliant media. Peter Schweizer, author of Clinton Cash, has provided the Clinton’s and their allies what they consider an easy target; a conservative writer attacking poor Hillary. However this time, the liberal New York Times and Washington Post are now covering the story. Mr. Schweizer was smart enough to include the flagship of liberal journalism with excerpts of his book and they have taken an interest in covering the story. It was a New York Times reporter who caught the Clinton’s in a lie. When they denied that a meeting with Kazakh nuclear officials had ever taken place, the reporter released photo evidence of the nuclear officials meeting with former President Clinton. Oops. The Liberal group Common Cause has now called for an audit of the Clinton Foundation. More recently, stories are coming out that the Clinton Foundation may have only spent 15% of their resources on projects, leaving one to imagine, “What did they spend their donations on?”

There is one thing that is different from past Clinton scandals and that is that there are many within the left and Democratic Party who don’t really care to see Hillary Clinton as their standard bearer. While there are no immediate options, we are early enough in the election cycle for a Democrat to raise money and garner the kind of support needed to win the nomination and prepare competitive race against the Republicans.

As for the right side, this opens the door to a new generation of Republicans. As Instapundit blogger Glenn Reynolds noted,

“On the Republican side, Clinton's travails both hurt and help. By making the political establishment look corrupt, they especially help the anti-establishment candidates such as Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and Sens. Ted Cruz and Rand Paul. By damaging a Democratic front-runner, they might help Republican establishment favorite Jeb Bush. But given the closeness of the Bush and Clinton families in recent years — you'll see that video of Jeb Bush presenting Hillary Clinton with a Liberty Medal, on the eve of the Benghazi anniversary, a lot during the GOP primaries — if the whole Bill-and-Hillary dynasty looks corrupt, the Bush dynasty could be tarnished by association. And, in fact, the corruption associated with the Clinton's might make voters more skittish about political dynasties in general.”

Democrats do have options, including war hero James Webb, Maryland’s Governor Martin O'Malley, and, of course, Elizabeth Warren, who may decide that the time is now to run and certainly, if the Democrats are going to run a leftist campaign, what better person than Warren to spearhead the effort? This race has taken a dramatic turn as the Clinton’s dirty laundry has not only been laundered in public but now there is evidence to suggest that the Clinton’s may have to compromise their country national security and the Foundation. The Clinton Foundation is a conduit for the Clinton’s to make a ton of money with foreign countries gaining access to the Secretary of State. That is enough to sink any political campaign, including the Clinton’s. While Clinton can still say that she leads Republican candidates in polls, how long will that last when the majority voters view her as untrustworthy? If Hillary Clinton continues to sink in the polls in contrast to her Republican opponents, when will Democrats decide the time has come to challenge the Queen and end her political career?