by Dick Morris
Hillary does not have the routine experiences that the rest of us do. Unlike most people, she hasn’t driven a car for the last twenty-four years. She doesn’t need to. Her lifetime Secret Service protection includes a car and driver and, of course, insurance and maintenance. No need to stand in line at the Department of Motor Vehicles like the rest of us. As frustrating as that experience may be, it’s an equalizer. Everyone is the same. Take a number and wait. But Hillary doesn’t ever have to wait. It’s always taken care of for her by the innumerable civil servants and paid employees at her beck and call.
And we, the taxpayers, foot much of the bill. By the way, Bill has the same perk, so they have two free, perfectly maintained, chauffeured cars available to the family. Their twin black extra-large SUVs came in handy when Chelsea came home from the hospital after giving birth to Hillary’s granddaughter, Charlotte. After the family photo op outside the hospital, Bill herded everyone to the awaiting government-paid, chauffeur-driven SUVs, and they all piled in and headed home. And of course the Clintons don’t have to worry about burglar alarms and security at their DC and Chappaqua homes. Again, the Secret Service handles that, and we pay for it. And there’s no issue of lost keys: the 24/7 guards make locking the doors unnecessary.
Hillary doesn’t even shop for food or clothes. Her e-mails show that Huma Abedin, her longtime personal assistant in the White House, the Senate, the State Department, and her campaign, coordinates her wardrobe needs with a personal shopper at Bergdorf Goodman, the elite New York City department store. She also deals directly with expensive designers including the late Oscar de la Renta and Ralph Lauren. No need to cope with crowds in stores, or even shop online. It’s all taken care of by the staff and, once again, we often paid for it. Hillary doesn’t have to worry about what she should wear to each campaign event. Huma tells her what to wear. In one e-mail, she told her to wear a dark color, “maybe your new dark green suit.”79
As for food, the State Department executive chief chef, hired by Hillary and paid by the taxpayers, often shopped and prepared food for her personal use. Hillary questioned whether she had actually paid the chef for his wonderful personal services, but no response was ever disclosed. Keep in mind that over 30,000 e-mails that Hillary unilaterally decided were personal were destroyed. So lots of what was personal but transpired at the State Department is not available. But we have enough to see how much of her personal business was executed by the government employees.
Hillary’s usual response to criticism—“Everybody does it”—just doesn’t work. Can you imagine Colin Powell e-mailing staff on a Sunday night to ask what time a TV show starts? Or James Baker asking his staff to arrange for some new suits or print out instructions for his new hair cut? Or Secretary of Defense Robert Gates taking directions from his staff on what color tie to wear? No, this is not the usual behavior of a high-level public official. It’s the behavior of a pampered, self-involved, and probably lonesome person who knows no boundaries.
And it is pervasive. Hillary doesn’t do grocery stores. Minor personal needs are taken care of by her staff (presumably her housekeeper takes care of larger food needs). When Hillary wanted skim milk, for example, she e-mailed one of her assistants on a Sunday night, asking her to buy it. She also asked her to remind her to bring more tea cups to the office. Her hair-dos even need some help from the office. She asked an employee to print out directions for how to make a “fish-tail bun.” It’s nice to have minions at your beck and call—especially when you don’t have to pay for them.
The government employees also do heavy duty helping Hillary with her TV and entertainment needs. It seems that she couldn’t figure out how to find a guide to television stations to look for her favorite shows. One Sunday night, she actually asked a State Department employee to tell her what time The Good Wife and Parks and Recreation came on. And she e-mailed another high-level employee to ask where she could watch Homeland. He tried to find the answer for her, but she didn’t know the name of her cable provider. Do you get the picture?
There’s always someone available to carry her bags. When she was carrying a lot of “stuff,” in the limo ride from her home to the office, she e-mailed her staff to come down to the car and meet her. And then there’s the weather. Rather than look out the window, she e-mailed her staff to ask, “What’s the weather for today?” Staff were frequently asked to make sure she woke up at a certain time in the morning. That’s what they’re there for, aren’t they? No need for alarms or wake-up calls.
Then there was her frequent need for technical assistance. We know from her e-mails that she isn’t familiar with computers, faxing, Wi-Fi, and so on. And we know from our personal experience that she doesn’t know how to type and doesn’t use a computer at all—just an iPad and a phone. It’s hard to believe, but according to her e-mails, she seriously had no idea what Wi-Fi was, whether she had it, or even how to check whether she did. Is she kidding? She repeatedly asked her staff for help with her fax machine—to no avail. She could not master it, despite repeated attempts to walk her through the process. And she did not have the ability to print any documents—personal or professional—so she directed staff to do so. And of course she often asked staff to bring her “berry” charger to her, wherever she was. So transportation, security, food, clothing, tech assistance, directions on TV shows, wake-up calls, and other mundane errands are all covered by free staff. It’s a good life.
Her staff even kept tabs on where Bill Clinton was each night. Her daily schedule prepared by the State Department ended with “RON,” meaning “rest of night.” According to the schedules published in her e-mails, they were rarely together—usually reading:
RON
HRC
Washington
WJC
Chappaqua
The schedule would close with the weather report.
Hillary’s years in the White House had prepared her for life outside the building. For special occasions like dinner parties at her home, for example, her 24 place settings of china is just perfect. Her pattern, Spode Stafford Flowers, is one of the most expensive china dinnerware patterns available and now retails for about $600 a place setting. But, of course, Hillary and Bill never paid for it. The china was a gift from many donors who were solicited on her behalf by her White House decorator to donate the place settings Hillary wanted. She had actually chosen thousands of dollars of high-end tableware and decorative objects items that she wanted and made a list. Like most brides today, she was registered at a store so that friends would know what she wanted. Hers was Borsheim’s Fine Jewelry and Gifts.80 It worked out quite well.
Except for the fact that she wasn’t a bride. As they left the White House, the Clintons disclosed that they had received $190,000 worth of gifts, including $17,000 in silver flatware, $21,000 in china, $52,021 worth of furniture, $71,650 in artwork, and three carpets worth $12,282. Also included was $60,000 in glass sculptures by renowned artist Dale Chihuly.81
So their two multimillion-dollar houses were all set. And all of it was given as a reward for their public service. Don’t you wish you had a benefactor like that? Both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton live lives of privilege and luxury surrounded by solicitous staff who tend to their every need. But there’s one key difference: Trump earned his own money to pay for his comfort. Hillary got hers as a government perk, a by-product of her so-called public service. And, unlike Hillary, Trump is always out and about with people. At Mar-a’Largo, Trump’s Florida mansion and club, he is seen every weekend night during the season. Rather than hide away, like Hillary, he talks and listens to the guests, introduces his family, and enjoys himself. He plays golf, drives his car, and mingles with people. So, in every way imaginable, Hillary doesn’t have a clue about life in the real world. She’s the wrong choice for president.
Reason Nine: She Doesn’t Know Anything about Our Biggest Problem—the Economy, Stupid
Aside from terrorism, most Americans cite the economy as our major national probl
em. And Hillary doesn’t know much of anything about economics. In her long political career, she has grappled with any number of problems and issues: education reform, utility regulation, child care, equality for women, health care, human trafficking, terrorism, foreign affairs, and human rights. But she has never spoken out about any economic issue.
Not only is her record devoid of advocacy on the economy, she never introduced a bill in the Senate related to it or used her position as secretary of state to address it. She could have taken the lead in berating China for its currency manipulation or to warn its leaders against the gigantic financial bubble they have created that may yet plunge us into a global depression. But she didn’t. She chose instead to lecture them on human rights and abortion. She might have shined at meetings of global leaders by taking the lead in pushing policies to counter the emerging worldwide recession and unemployment. But she didn’t.
As First Lady, she left economic management to Bill and his advisors. As a candidate for president, she never spoke out about near-zero interest rates or the looming economic crash or the unsustainable housing bubble about to burst or the dangerous proliferation of subprime mortgages. She simply knows nothing about the economy and has no qualifications to lead us out of our stagnation and recession.
Bush-43, by contrast, had graduated from the Harvard Business School. Bill Clinton was well tutored on the economy, and Ronald Reagan’s entire career was based on his economic views. But Hillary, like Obama before her, approaches the economy without any preparation or particular knowledge. The White House is a dangerous place to learn about our most important problem. Hillary’s campaign rendition of her economic plan is little more than a repetition of Democratic Party dogma, doubtless drafted for her by others.
For example, her recipe for “boosting economic growth” includes “tax cuts to the middle class and small businesses.” The last Democratic presidential candidate to urge a middle class tax cut was husband Bill who not only failed to deliver the promised cut, but actually sharply increased taxes. She also calls for “an infrastructure bank” that will spend $27.5 billion on “roads, bridges, public transit, rail, airports, the Internet, and water systems.” If the trillion-dollar stimulus package proposed and passed by President Obama upon taking office did little or nothing to stimulate growth, how will Hillary’s public works program do any better? And as a throw in, she says, without specificity, that she will fund “more scientific research.”
Just in case her stimulus plans trigger any economic growth, she will see that it is extinguished by raising the minimum wage to $15, “increasing workers’ benefits, expanding overtime, and encouraging businesses to share profits with employees.” Her proposed hike in the capital gains tax, requiring investments to be held for six years in order to qualify for the current 20% rate, will make capital for new inventions and processes harder and harder to get, stymieing economic expansion. It is the program of an economic ignoramus, copied from boiler-plate language in every past Democratic platform. Her own campaign website boasts of her “economic priorities as Secretary of State.” The list is pathetic and shows how little she focused on economic issues. The site says that she
• “lobbied for American companies in foreign countries” (She did, as long as they gave generously to the Clinton Foundation and invited Bill to speak for a six-figure fee.)
• “drafted the Trans-Pacific Partnership” (She now opposes it.)
• “pried open Chinese markets to U.S. companies” (She was so effective in doing so that our trade deficit with China now exceeds $500 billion annually.)
Some record!
Reason Ten: Hillary Is Governed by Gurus
Hillary is not a creative thinker. She is accustomed to getting her talking points from Bill or some other key advisor and going out there and fighting for them. She is an advocate in the purist sense of the term, not an innovator. So, for her entire political career, she has always been in the thrall of some political guru or other. Under her gurus’ influence, she adopts their priorities and programs, often hook, line, and sinker.
If we elect Hillary as our president, we can’t be sure who the guru who guides her will be. Every president has advisors upon whom he relies. But Hillary takes it to an obsessive degree. She hangs on his or her every word as a lodestar. Dick knows. He served as her guru from 1995 to 1996. Hillary listened to his every word. Bill told Dick in 1995, “She reads your memo every day and is doing just what you suggest.”
In 1993, when Hillary took over the health care task force, she appointed Ira Magaziner, a protégé of former Labor Secretary Robert Reich, to direct its efforts. Magaziner sold Hillary on the total overhaul of the entire system that she ultimately recommended. She followed his advice so literally that the final, unwieldy product went down in flames.
During her 2008 run for the White House, she put Mark Penn in as her chief strategist, giving him much of the guru role Dick had occupied in Bill’s 1996 campaign. Penn’s advice was ultimately so bad that the rest of the staff revolted and forced Hillary to sideline him. Many blame Penn for her disastrous defeat by Obama.
As secretary of state, Sidney Blumenthal was her guru. The revelation of her numerous e-mails back and forth to Sidney demonstrate the degree of her dependence on his input. Hillary tried to hire Blumenthal to her State Department staff, but Obama blocked the appointment, so she got him consulting deals with the Clinton Foundation and her puppet front group, Media Matters. With a cunning mix of half-baked intelligence and sound political advice, Sydney held Hillary almost hypnotized. In electing Hillary, we don’t know whom we are getting. We don’t know who will fill the space in her mind reserved for gurus.
Reason Eleven: She Is Rigid and Stubborn
Nobody is as pig-headed as Hillary Clinton. Once she gets an idea in her mind or decides on a course of action, she will doggedly pursue it regardless of its obvious limitations and political cost. Her rigidity stands in contrast to her willingness to flip-flop on issues. When a new political season is upon her, with new demands and political needs, she unhesitatingly throws away her previous platform and takes whatever position will benefit her current needs. But on a tactical level, she is almost totally inflexible.
• She insisted on keeping the proceedings and records of her health care task force secret until a federal judge ordered them opened and fined the federal government $285,864 for the damage caused by Hillary’s secrecy fetish. The harm to the program that the task force ultimately produced was immeasurable.
• Hillary insisted she had no role in firing the White House Travel Office Staff in 1993 despite extensive evidence—and staff memos—the proved otherwise. In the end, she was almost indicted for perjury for her stubbornness in swearing under oath that she was not involved. There was nothing illegal about the firings. The staff served at the president’s pleasure. But Hillary didn’t want her role out there in public. Her stubbornness almost led to her indictment.
• When the Washington Post asked for the Clintons’ tax returns in 1993, she refused to let Bill release them because they contained evidence of her futures market winnings. Her stubbornness this time led to the appointment of a special prosecutor who dogged the Clintons during Bill’s entire presidency.
• As noted, when Paula Jones sued the president for sexual harassment and was willing to drop her suit without requiring an admission of guilt or any money, Hillary refused to let Bill settle because Paula asked that he confirm that he sent a state trooper to fetch her. Hillary was afraid that this admission would reinforce a story that Bill used troopers to get women. Because Hillary wouldn’t settle, the suit continued and eventually led to the Lewinsky scandal and impeachment.
• Hillary insisted on using a private server while secretary of state despite the virtual certainty that she would be challenged for doing so. She stubbornly claimed that she never handled classified material on the server even after over a thousand e-mails confirmed that she did. Her constantly changing stories of what she used
the server for caused a massive erosion in public trust, but she stood her ground.
• While running against Bernie Sanders, she doggedly refused to release the texts of her speeches to Goldman Sachs that she delivered after leaving the State Department and for which she received six-figure fees. Her obstinate refusal gave Sanders a campaign issue he used to pummel her repeatedly.
Hillary sees flexibility as a sign of weakness and holds to her established position like Krazy Glue. Her macho insistence on never giving in denies her key tactical flexibility. Like German and Russian soldiers in World War II who were ordered to take “not one step back,” Hillary’s stubbornness denies her the ability to execute tactical retreats or even to maneuver.