This Email Mess

I've been watching Hillary's self-inflicted email mess and it's easy to get wrapped up in the minute-by-minute coverage, but several thoughts emerge.

First, she did this to herself, out of her need for privacy.  It's one thing to be a private citizen in this country, to enjoy the benefits of the economy, to make money, to have a semblance of privacy in your daily dealings with associates and loved ones.  It's something else entirely to be a public citizen, a public official, and I believe that the office of Secretary of State is decidedly a public office.  If she didn't want the scrutiny, she shouldn't have taken the office.  Once she took the office, she had a responsibility to be accountable and reasonably transparent.  She failed miserably in that responsibility.

Second.  It's going to be easy for the Republicans to overstep; to turn this god-send into a liability.  Hillary is on the ropes, but this isn't the first time she's been on the ropes, and if there is a consummate politician anywhere in the United States, Hillary ranks among the first two or three.  If the Republicans push too hard, we risk losing the value of the scandal.  The usual suspects are already spinning the response.  Let's not overdo it and lose the argument.

Third.  It's a long way to 2016.  The pundits are already talking like we're there, but Clinton hasn't even launched her campaign yet.  It's eighteen months until the general election.  Lots of things can happen in that timeframe.  Don't count Hillary out yet.  Let the various news outlets do their job, and I see with some amusement that the AP has filed suit to look at the email server.

Fourth, I wonder how one "Lerners" an entire email server?