The Clintons: Plenty of Supply, But No Demand

While Hillary Clinton was the secretary of state, her husband raked in hundreds of thousands of dollars per speech. Once she conclusively exited politics with her loss to President Donald Trump, however, the demand for paid Clinton commentary plummeted. They still try to gather crowds, as they did on a just-ended 13-date tour, but so few people were willing to pay to listen that you could get a ticket for less than $14.

Reportedly, as the “power couple” moved to ultra-progressive California, the tickets were sold for as little as $2.

Hillary gathered most of the media attention on the tour, speaking about people’s careers and “where we go from here.” She mostly shied away from politics  but occasionally made a hat tip to the party line to say that the United States is experiencing a “constitutional crisis.” Audiences did not appear impressed.

It’s too easy to say, “Oh, how the mighty have fallen.” A more interesting question is: Why? Bill’s reputation has taken a few tough hits with the blossoming of the MeToo movement. But Hillary has been, without a doubt, a woman who reached the upper echelons of power. Riding on the back of her husband, President Bill Clinton, she secured a seat as senator from New York and went on to become the secretary of state.

Nevertheless, in her entire political career, she was never able to pass any significant legislation, and she lost embarrassingly to two political newcomers in her bid for the presidency: first to President Barack Obama, then to Trump. In 2016, she nearly lost to outsider Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT).

Hillary will likely be remembered for her roles in destabilizing Libya, thereby opening the floodgates for mass migration to Europe, and in the Benghazi scandal, where U.S. citizens, including an ambassador, were murdered during a terrorist attack on the American embassy. Later she tried to cover up her inability to act decisively by blaming a YouTube video.

Perhaps that is the reason she did not brag about her accomplishments when she ran against Trump in 2016: There were none. Instead, she presented herself as the “experienced” candidate. Unlike Obama, she was not trying to sell a positive message or thoughtful policies to the American people. She whined about it being “her turn,” encouraging people to vote for her merely because she is a woman.

Although she scored more votes than Trump, voter enthusiasm for Hillary was underwhelming. The truth is, she does not have a charismatic personality, and her power derived from internal maneuvering in the Democratic Party.

Although ticket sales were lackluster, the blame might not rest entirely on the Clintons.  In the last decade, the Democratic Party has moved so rapidly and dramatically to the left that, for most of the voter base, the Clintons are too far to the right. As such, they now stand as a symbol for the demise of the center in the Democratic Party.

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