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March 13. 2015 12:01AM Jeffrey Gillespie: The opaqueness of Hillary Clinton When it comes to American politics, I am influenced by character, not by gender. It's important to mention this whenever you're writing about Hillary Rodham Clinton. Mrs. Clinton is an extraordinary person and a brilliant politician. Her tenure at the State Department was a tour de force of polished diplomacy and grueling work ethic. That being said, there have always been scandals. Many, many scandals, following her and her husband all the way back to when their political career began. We don't need to get into Whitewater or Travelgate, Marc Rich or Jeffrey Epstein again, but a certain pattern has been established. It showed up over Benghazi and, lately, over the revelations that Mrs. Clinton used a private email server while she was heading the State Department. That pattern isn't so much one of culpability as one of entitlement. When confronted with a muddy problem, she simply refuses to articulate any position that offers a clear explanation to her supporters — let alone any countervailing evidence to her detractors. For many Americans, Clinton's manner when confronted with legitimate character questions does not pass the smell test. It smacks of arrogance and a sense of grandiosity, a superciliousness that correlates with her political style. She thinks she's untouchable. That perceived untouchability also shows up every time she's a candidate, or a potential one. In the last presidential election, she held the Democratic Party hostage far longer than was necessary once it became evident to everyone but her that Barack Obama would be the nominee. In the run-up to 2016, she is doing so again. She is playing a long, coy game by refusing to announce her candidacy, which everyone now knows is inevitable. The entire crowd of potential Democratic candidates for 2016 — it's not a mistake that we don't yet know who they are — is frozen like an Iowa corn field in winter, waiting for the Anointed One to make her move. Add to this the fact that Secretary Clinton is bound to run as the underdog to any GOP candidate (she always will run as such, since that moniker appeals to the broadest base of her supporters) and you have a garbled commentary on your hands. If she wants to be seen as established, but not as a member of the elite, then why is she behaving like both a novice and an elitist? There comes a moment when waiting stops being strategic and starts looking amateurish. That moment has passed. Pundits and the public alike are unimpressed. They aren't seeing a decisive and articulate leader doing what she is supposed to do best, and it's turning them off. In the meantime, establishment Republican Jeb Bush has formed an exploratory committee, and is getting down to brass tacks. He's found time to sideline other candidates (most notably, the perennially optimistic Mitt Romney) while Hillary fiddles. Prominent GOP heavyweights including Chris Christie, Lindsay Graham, Scott Walker, George Pataki and even Rick Perry have formed teams of their own. The Republicans will have a crowded roster for Democrats to contend with. Unless there is a strong appetite among liberals for another conservative president in the Oval Office come January of 2017, let's hope Mrs. Clinton's advisers encourage her to get off her high horse and down in the mud with the rest of the professional politicos — before it's too late. Jeffrey Gillespie's writing has appeared in the Santa Fean and Art Collector magazines, the Portland Mercury and Willamette Week. He lives in Ashland. http://www.dailytidings.com/article/20150313/OPINION/150319922 © 2015 Copyright © 1995-2011 Crain Communications Inc. All Rights Reserved. Terms of Use Privacy Statement -->