Ever since her substantial win in the New York primary last month, former Secretary of State and First Lady Hillary Clinton has been enjoying a comfortable presumptive win of the Democratic nomination. On Wednesday, news broke of a report published by the Inspector General investigating the Clinton’s use of a personal email server for her correspondence as the highest-ranking official of the State Department. According to the report, several counts of misconduct occurred during the use of the personal email server. The most concerning aspect is the lack of authorization for her use of the server. Even though Clinton claims to be “as transparent as possible,” her staff did not seek information security approval from a senior State Department official nor did her office cooperate with the inquiry proceedings.
Throughout her campaign thus far, Clinton has dismissed and dodged most questions under the pretense of following the status quo. Clinton’s breach of cybersecurity protocol while handling sensitive information related to national security extends beyond a lack of authorization. Despite several hacking attempts made at her personal email server in 2011, Clinton aides once again disregarded information security protocol which mandates appropriate notification of computer security personnel outside of the Secretary’s staff. Ironically, the hacker, “Guccifer,” who attempted to bug Clinton’s server led to the discovery of the use of a personal email server. Furthermore, the report states that she “did not comply with the Department’s policies that were implemented in accordance with the Federal Records Act” since she did not turn over all her emails conducted on the server before leaving the office of Secretary of State.
The public release of Clinton’s violation of information security protocol probably will not do much to lower her already high unfavorability rating of 52 percent. The CBS and The New York Times polls from last week still display Clinton and Republican candidate Donald Trump as the most negatively received candidates in recent history, since the polls were first conducted in 1984. Clinton has been repeatedly attacked in regards to the email issue since the beginning of her campaign. But the release of the audit reveals the extent of misalignment between her actions and her talk of “transparency and consistency.” Trump’s campaign is already having a field day now that they have a basis for their attack ads. But that leaves us with the question of whether or not the Democrats have given up too easily in their search of a progressive but more importantly, electable candidate.
Out of the three candidates still running, Bernie Sanders still enjoys the highest favorability rating of 41 percent and lowest unfavorability rating of 33 percent. Often brushed off as “unelectable” for his democratic-socialist principles, Sanders has also lagged behind on media coverage compared to Trump and Clinton Despite establishment Democrats’ claims of his lack of electability, Sanders beats Trump with a plus-four lead in a recent Fox poll while Trump leads Hillary by three points. As support for a debate between Sanders and Trump surges, it is imperative that Clinton learn from her past campaign mistakes, especially as most California primary polls show her in a dead heat with Sanders. This highly-watched debate would not only boost Sanders’ visibility but also highlight Clinton’s unwillingness to debate Sanders herself, opening herself to attack from two fronts.
As more details of the State Department inquiry come forward, it is important to consider the factors of electability and principle. Often cited by her supporters as the most vetted and qualified candidate running, many do not question why so many choose to attack Hillary Clinton. Isn’t the fact that Clinton is so vulnerable to attack an alarming prospect? Many have theorized that Sanders looks so appealing right now because he has not been tried against the Republican attack machine. In the midst of the FBI investigation of Clinton’s mishandling of sensitive information during her position of Secretary of State and its engulfing scandal, the Democratic Party establishment should reconsider who to throw their support behind. Sanders’ high favorability ratings and match-up against Trump as well as his issues-focused campaign should not rule him out of the race yet, especially when California is still in a dead heat and investigation proceedings have yet to be concluded.
