BOSTON (WHDH) - This should have been one of the best days of Hillary Clinton’s campaign – appearing with a president who’s more popular than he’s been in years and hoping to catch some of his supporters.
Except…
“Although there is evidence of potential violations of the statutes regarding the handling of classified information, our judgment is that no reasonable prosecutor would bring such a case,” said FBI Director James Comey in a statement to reporters just before noon Tuesday.
But that’s not what she’s said in the past about her server.
“I did not email any classified material to anyone on my email,” she said in March of 2015.
Unfortunately for Clinton, her server symbolizes two damaging charges her opponents make against her: That she’s dishonest and untrustworthy. And then there’s her likeability which the president could have helped today.
Right now, she’s viewed favorably by just 40 percent of voters but unfavorably by 56 percent. Her only comfort in those numbers is that they beat Trump’s 33 favorable to 61 per cent unfavorable ratio.
The FBI’s announcement will blunt Obama’s impact and may remind voters of what Obama himself said about her in a debate in 2008. In response to her comment to the moderator that she didn’t think she was “that bad,” candidate Obama deadpanned , “You’re likeable enough, Hillary.”
The FBI’s decision today was a split decision, calling Clinton extremely careless, but not a criminal. That may close the case for the FBI, but not for anyone else.
I’m Andy Hiller, and that’s my instinct.
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