On the heels of a poll showing that 62 percent of Democrats and Independents do not want Hillary Clinton to run again, Vice President Joe Biden delivered perhaps the most honest and most stinging post mortem: “I don’t think she ever really figured . . . out [why she was running].” While Biden gave a sympathetic take on that dilemma for Clinton, many voters had a harsher view that she ran because she and Democratic leaders treated the office as hers by right.
Many opposed Clinton based on the full-court press of the establishment that seemed more like a coronation rather than an election. Clinton never seemed to get traction on any message, particularly when faced with the unexpected rise of Bernie Sanders. Indeed, what was bizarre is that the Clinton staff would periodically announce that they were going to remake her image or message like she was a commercial product being tweaked under continuing market analysis.
Biden, 74, did soften the analysis by saying the Clinton felt forced to run, which certainly did not come across to most voters — or every Saturday Night Live segment.
