By The Iowa Statesman
Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has been the political world’s version of Lazarus Long for decades, but time may have finally caught up with her aspirations for the presidency. The controversy surrounding her use of a private email server to circumvent the use of a government email account — which would automatically archive every communication — is putting big dents in her armor.
According to The Washington Times, revelations about the sophistication of Clinton’s secret email system spurred a move in Congress on Wednesday to subpoena her records about the Benghazi terrorist attacks and stirred fresh doubts among Democrats about her presumed presidential bid. U.S. Rep. Trey Gowdy’s House Select Committee on Benghazi said it plans to subpoena “Clintonemail.com” for all correspondence related to the 2012 attack on the diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya, that killed four Americans.
Seven previous congressional investigations did not find any criminal actions by U.S. officials in their responses to the attack, but the discovery of Mrs. Clinton’s private email system is raising questions about whether she complied fully with those inquiries and about the security of her communications.
The hypocrisy of the situation isn’t lost on anyone.
In 2012, U.S. Ambassador to Kenya Scott Gration abruptly stepped down from his post. While he resigned after he was blasted in a State Department review, The Weekly Standard notes a key part of his review: that he had developed his own private email system.
In 2007, as a candidate for the Democratic Party presidential nomination, Clinton blasted the Bush Administration for “shredding the Constitution” by having private email accounts.
And now, according to the Washington Post, Democratic activists in early presidential nominating states say that new controversies swirling around Hillary Rodham Clinton have made them more eager than ever for alternatives in 2016. The stories about foreign donations to the Clinton Foundation, plus the new revelations about her secret email accounts have only added to the undercurrent of anxiety about Clinton’s vulnerabilities.
But as they survey the landscape, few Democrats see other credible contenders.
Maybe this part of a contrived plan, maybe it was just inevitable, but more liberals may soon be clamoring for the Marxist-in-waiting, U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren. Like Obama and Clinton, she was also a devoted student of Saul Alinsky.
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