Is Clinton Not Getting Good Advice?

Charlie Cook: “It’s in­ter­est­ing to watch Hil­lary Clin­ton’s highly schizo­phren­ic cam­paign. On one level, in terms of strategy and tac­tics, or­gan­iz­a­tion­al abil­it­ies, use of tech­no­logy, and the like, it is a very im­press­ive ef­fort, a blend­ing of the best from her 2008 cam­paign with the cream of the 2008 and 2012 Obama pres­id­en­tial ef­forts.”

“But as the con­cent­ric circles get closer to the can­did­ate, the people oc­cupy­ing the in­ner circles are heav­ier on long­time Clin­ton loy­al­ists rather than polit­ic­al pros, the cam­paign be­comes more opaque, and the tac­tics get more baff­ling. Wheth­er it is pre-cam­paign de­cisions on hand­ling emails, go­ing eight months without a press con­fer­ence, or the bum­bling hand­ling of her health situ­ation in re­cent days, the ques­tion keeps re­cur­ring: Is Clin­ton not get­ting good ad­vice or just not tak­ing it? One won­ders wheth­er there are enough people will­ing to stand up to her and tell her what she needs to know but may not want to hear.”

“Clinton and her campaign’s penchant for secrecy and evasiveness are contributing to a race that is far more competitive than it should be. Being the lesser of two evils with Donald Trump the alternative is a low bar. Hillary Clinton is not clearing it with ease.”