With Hillary Clinton’s disastrous press conference in Las Vegas on Tuesday, the bright orange pantsuit she wore is likely to replace Monica’s blue dress as the most iconic piece of wardrobe in the Clintons’ legacy. We are visual creatures, and while words are important, a picture is indeed worth a thousand of them. That being the case, one needs to ask why none of Hillary’s advisers thought to question the advisability of her wearing an outfit not far removed from the prison jumpsuit her enemies would like to see her wearing.
It’s not the first time she’s worn orange, but it’s likely to be the last. Besides begging the comparison to prison garb, the orange color is both memorable and easy to caricature, which comedians and cartoonists have used to full advantage. Pair this imagery with her dismal performance in handling questions about her emails and server, questions she certainly should have been prepared for, and you have a memory that won’t quickly fade from the psyche of the American voter. Simple images such as Nixon sweating, Dukakis’s tank ride, John Kerry windsurfing, Rubio’s awkward water break, or Howard Dean’s scream, provide fodder for critics that can be played time and time again. And while none of these images should disqualify a candidate from consideration, imagery can do more damage than things that really should. As Andre Agassi used to tell us when he still had hair, “Image is everything.”
Of course, what Hillary wore is only important because of what she did and said. She strolled to the podium with drink in hand, like a royal deigning to take time out from her leisure to grace the masses with a moment of her presence. Arrogance soon fell to awkwardness as she struggled in an exchange with FOX’s Ed Henry, culminating with a truly stupid, presumably ad-libbed joke, about wiping her server with a cloth. It’s kind of like advising a kid who’s being picked on to use humor to diffuse a situation; that only works if you’re actually funny, otherwise it comes off as pathetic, and gives them something else to pick on you about.
Comparisons to her husband Bill’s ability to handle tough situations abound, and while it’s true that he has a natural gift for it, Hillary has managed to survive other scandals and handle her critics. Bill didn’t look so good either when parsing what the word “is” meant. Therein lies Hillary’s problem with this situation. Like Bill’s battle with impeachment, she is facing issues both legal and political. Make no mistake, Bill might make it look easy, but lying and cover-ups are heavy lifting, and Hillary is no longer a young woman. It may be that this is all beginning to wear her down. There is a politically expeditious way to handle a scandal, and then there is a legally expeditious way. The tension between the two creates a difficult tightrope to walk.
IMHO: This of course is a dilemma of her own making. It is surprising to me that this particular scandal seems to be the one that sticks, after so many others that would have seemed more likely to. It may be that this is the straw that broke the camel’s back. There are people that always seem to be in the middle of controversy, and the Clintons are such. People tend to not want to condemn people they have supported, but like Bill Cosby, there comes a point where there is so much smoke you need to admit that someone’s been playing with matches. Part of Donald Trump’s appeal is that everything is out in the open about him, even the bad stuff. He’s an ass, but he’s openly an ass. People are weary of slippery politicians, and none are more slippery than the Clintons. We want the truth, and we don’t want to work so hard to get to it. Politicians have perfected the art of obfuscation to the point that their ability to hide the truth exceeds our perseverance to reveal it. That being so, Hillary is beginning to look like someone who will repeatedly make you play a game you hate, and always beat you at it by cheating. Hillary is always in the middle of controversy because that is the kind of politics she plays, dirty.
Las Vegas ditched its attempts at “family friendly” imagery years ago in favor of glorifying the city as a place to embrace your vices without fear of being found out. How ironic that Hillary should be cornered here for hers like an Ashley Madison client. Unfortunately for her what happens in Vegas isn’t staying in Vegas this time!
