Hillary Clinton has added an unexpected name to the long list of the people and groups she blames for losing the 2016. She already has blamed Russia, James Comey, the news media, fake news, misogyny, Bernie Bros, third party voters, and even Barack Obama. Now she blames the DNC for her loss, despite how the DNC violated their own rules to clear the field for her and do everything possible to hand her the nomination. CNN reports:
At Recode’s Code Conference in California on Wednesday, the former Democratic presidential nominee was reflective, quick to crack jokes — and eager to cast blame. The more than hour-long question-and-answer event marked the latest in a series of public appearances for Clinton in which she explicitly took on the actions of those around her and other external circumstances in explaining why she lost on Election Day.
“I take responsibility for every decision I make — but that’s not why I lost,” Clinton said.
Perhaps Clinton’s most fresh and savage criticism on Wednesday was directed at the Democratic National Committee. She went as far as to say that when she became her party’s presidential nominee, she inherited “nothing” from the committee.
“I’m now the nominee of the Democratic Party. I inherit nothing from the Democratic Party,” Clinton said. “It was bankrupt, it was on the verge of insolvency, its data was mediocre to poor, non-existent, wrong. I had to inject money into it — the DNC — to keep it going.”
Of course the DNC is largely to blame for Donald Trump being elected, but this is because of giving the nomination to a candidate as terrible as Hillary Clinton, and not because of the reasons which Clinton states.
It is one thing for Clinton to privately refuse to face reality and blame others for losing. It is harmful when Clinton convinces other Democrats to ignore the facts, increasing the risk that the party will repeat the mistakes it has been making and continue its decline.
Clinton also stated, “I won 3 million more votes than the other guy.” Of course winning the popular vote is meaningless under the Electoral College. Smarter politicians will base their campaigns upon the rules in effect. If the campaign was based upon the popular vote, Donald Trump would have used a different strategy, such as campaigning for votes in California and New York, and possibly trying to run up the vote further in red states such as Texas. He very well would have still won without the Electoral College.
An ex-DNC aide did not appreciate being thrown under the bus by Clinton and responded:
A top former DNC aide tweeted overnight that Clinton’s allegations were “f‑‑‑ing bulls‑‑‑” and even suggested that the Clinton campaign ignored its warnings about how competitive Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin were. Those three states proved decisive for President Trump and, especially in the case of Michigan and Wisconsin, were neglected by the Clinton campaign…And his broader criticism that Clinton’s complaints don’t add up was echoed by other top Democratic data types…
Whatever you think about Clinton’s excuses for her loss and how credible they are, it’s clear this whole thing is threatening to expose some real rifts within a Democratic Party that is also eager to move forward. And now that Clinton is casting blame upon her own national party for her loss, that’s only going to exacerbate things.
Clinton and her supporters have also been frustrated that Clinton is not being accepted as leader of the resistance, as they fail to understand that Clinton represents a large part of what the left is rising up against. This could also be said about the DNC. NBC News reports:
Both the DNC show and its organizing program are attempts to connect with a fired-up and somewhat alienated grassroots base that has largely put its energy and money into other organizations. The DNC wants to bring into the fold ahead of the midterms and 2020 presidential race some elements of The Resistance that want nothing to do with the party organization, partly based on what is perceived as the DNC’s shabby, finger-on-the-scale treatment of Senator Bernie Sanders during the Democratic primary against Hillary Clinton in 2016.
A sign of the problem: Last month, the DNC posted its worst April fundraising haul in eight years, even as other Democratic committees and left-leaning groups raked in cash at unprecedented rates.