Never happen, Pandering Hillary will not go off script.
As the conventions near their end, it’s crystal clear that Hillary Clinton stands a very good chance at becoming the next president of the United States. But win or lose, now is the time for her to act like the president she hopes to be.
She’ll begin, of course, tonight as she makes her first and fullest statement yet as to why, as the Democrat’s choice for president, she deserves our votes. But that’s just the first step.
Beginning Friday, with her primary opponents all behind her, she must model for America how she’ll conduct herself as president, should she takes that oath of office come January. In one critical respect, she’s been failing to even try.
She hasn’t had a formal press conference in more than 200 days. that’s bad enough. But she also avoids the press even at regular events. Her spontaneous Q&A with reporters in March was the first time in 88 days, for instance, that she even took their questions. This year, in total, she’s met with the press about nine times. When she has, it’s usually been for five minutes or less. The White House Correspondents Association has blasted both Clinton and Republican nominee Donald Trump. the former avoids the press and the latter tries to bully any reporter who is critical of his campaign.
Clinton’s refusal to regularly engage with the reporters who cover her campaign, like her failure to hold even infrequent formal press conferences, is more than a mistake. It undermines our democracy.
It’s also bad politics.