Hillary Clinton yesterday made light of her email problem (which potentially means that the public record of her tenure in Foggy Bottom has been cyber-lifted) at a journalism award gathering—and reportedly received a standing ovation.
Mrs. Clinton was speaking at the awarding of the Robin Toner Prize for Excellence in Political Reporting, named after the late Robin Toner, a reporter at the New York Times. Among other things, Mrs. Clinton said this (as reported in National Journal):
"I am all about new beginnings: a new grandchild, another new hairstyle, a new email account," she quipped, "Why not a new relationship with the press? So here goes. No more secrecy. No more zone of privacy." (She then joked that ceremony attendees could find non-disclosure agreements under their chairs.)
Given that Mrs. Clinton in effect absconded with public records that belong to you and me and that we’d really, really like to know if these records can shed light on Benghazi and donations to the Clinton Foundation, this is not really all that har de har har funny. But power makes you funny, and these reporters know that a scandal is not going to force Mrs. Clinton out of the race for the White House.
The closest to an attemp to ask a question was this:
Washington Post reporter Dan Balz, who won this year's award, made Clinton an offer: "I am happy to yield my time back to you if you want to take some questions," he said, making Clinton laugh.
The speech was the last on Clinton's schedule, and the next time she appears publicly, it will likely be to kick off her 2016 presidential campaign.
She acknowledged her at-times tumultuous relationship with the press, making light of both it and the controversy over her private email server that again made her the subject of negative headlines in recent weeks.
Mrs. Clinton didn't take Balz up on the offer and left without taking a single question.
Not to make invidious comparisons, but I bet Richard Nixon would not have gotten laughs and a standing ovation if he’d joked about the Watergate tapes (and he didn’t even delete them!). Mrs. Clinton doesn’t appear inclined to allow us to get to the bottom of what is legitimately a serious cause for concern that raises issues of character and fact. She appears to believe that making jokes about what is really a matter of gravity will be disarming for members of the elite press.
Unfortunately, she is probably right.
If Republicans believe that the press will remember Mrs. Clinton’s many troubles with record keeping, going back to the beginning of the family’s public career, they can dream on. John McCain was a media darling before he got the GOP nomination. He got a rude awakening. Hillary has always disliked the press, but should she get the Democratic nomination, as still appears almost certain, the press will fall in line.