If you heard Hillary Clinton's speech to the graduates at her alma mater, Wellesley College this past week, you would likely have noticed a few things that didn't click for you.
For example, she made a rather blatant reference to the current president, Donald Trump, without mentioning his name but calling him a liar just the same, referencing presidents who used "alternative facts", or whatever term she used. In context, we all knew whom she was referencing, but she might have been a bit more chary had she thought anyone might think of some "alternative facts" that had come from administrations she herself had been a part of.
I readily thought of a few ...
"If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor."
"If you like your insurance company, you can keep your insurance company."
"I did not have sexual relations with that woman."
"I did not send classified information, nor did I receive information marked classified at the time" (I loved that one because she weasel-worded the statement, though it turned out to have been a lie anyway)
Then there was her ramble into a "previous presidential campaign" that ended with a president's term "ending in disgrace by being impeached for obstruction of justice." That was an alternative fact as well; even though she then said she was referring to Richard Nixon, he was never impeached for anything (he resigned before an impeachment and removal).
But why let the facts get in the way?
Taking it all together, however, this was so not one of Hillary's finest moments. In the book on her campaign, "Shattered" (which I just finished), Hillary is noted as having tamped down the venom in what was written for her concession speech, being advised that she would sound "like a sore loser."
I imagine that she must have changed her mind, although President Trump has been perfectly kind and gracious to her in public, since the election. Because her commencement speech was indeed the whining of a sore loser. It was a backward, negative speech at a terribly inopportune time, not just her having lost the election but delivering that speech while the president is in Europe at the tail end of a very successful trip trying to help the world address the problem of terrorism. It looked awful.
Hillary needs to do something different. Of course, she could stay "in the woods", or even act like a lady or gentleman, much as John McCain and Mitt Romney were gracious in defeat and have remained so, at least as far as the election outcome, ever since.
Now, I have to say this wasn't my idea, but it certainly was someone's passing statement, and is really worth kicking around. It is the one thing that would give Hillary's ego, at least for a time, the stroking it needed without causing disaster for the USA. I'm sure you will agree.
Hillary Clinton needs to do "Dancing with the Stars."
The previous season has just completed, and I'm sure as they contemplate the "stars" they invite for next season (there are two seasons a year), someone should think it wise to call Hillary's people and invite her to come on.
She'll be seventy by then, but heck, Buzz Aldrin did more for the county, and he went on the show in his eighties, although he didn't last too many weeks. I have no idea if she can dance, but neither, really, could the fellow (Cubs/Red Sox catcher David Ross) who finished second this year, and she'd do great things for the way she's perceived. She is supposed to have a sense of humor, at least so her intimates say. We've never seen it, but supposedly ...
Now I'm prejudiced. I would just love to see Tom Bergeron, the marvelous host of the show, announce after a couple weeks "Hillary and Maks, John and Witney, on this second week of competition, the couple eliminated is (doom-doom-doom-doom-doom ...) Hillary and Maks."
I don't think she could take that too well, especially if Bill were in one of the front-row audience seats. So maybe she won't do it. But I love the idea.
If she doesn't want to, I guess she could send Huma Abedin in her place. Or even more fun, how about inviting Anthony Weiner as a guest "star", at least if he is not in prison by then.
Oh yeah, there's still the Clinton Foundation corruption investigation in the FBI, presumably, so maybe Hillary isn't off the hook yet.
Maybe they can do "Dancing with the Inmates".
Copyright 2017 by Robert Sutton
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