What happened on the evening of November is marked in the history books and is known to everyone; a well prepared presidential candidate lost to Donald Trump.

This extraordinary memoir has flashes that suggest Hillary Rodham Clinton is well informed of all that happened. However, it sometimes descends like a mode of settling her blames.

Just like any good informative book, it starts at the end; the elections ended her dream and her career. She explores the whole experience of having failed spectacularly and publicly and how open the passage was.

There are touchingly intimate moments and dry whit at home. She explains how she managed to hunt down a specific wallpaper design to decorate their New York’s home bedroom to match the one they anticipated at the white house.

If the wallpaper came from the past political period, it almost feels like her campaign had the same origin.” I carried out a traditional presidential campaign while carefully planning the policies and building coalition painstakingly. On the other hand, Trump was busy running a TV show that relentlessly had expertly stoked the Americans resentment and anger,” she writes.

It was not only about Donald Trump. Clinton reserves some criticisms of her democratic nomination rivals and Bernie Sanders who proposed the bold ideas that would never have passed in the Congress. Mr. Trump is also responsible for the Wall Street line of attacks that was developed and plundered during the election period, she argues.

She narrates that the “optics” was the only wrong thing for taking more than a hundred dollars from the big reputable banks which had a hand in plunging the country into a recession. Hillary Clinton turned out to be a victim who seemed like a flawed candidate with uninspiring campaigns to the whole world.

Mr. Comey was responsible for the homebrew email servers probe that Hillary Clinton used when she was the state’s secretary. Just eleven days to elections, Comey announced that the investigations were going to be reopened which ensured there were a slew of drawback headlines during that crucial moment. “Although Comey caused few voters to change their minds, the mess was enough to move the Electoral College to Trump,” writes Hillary Clinton.

The impact may never be known, but I am glad to imagine the level of intervention it would have caused if she together with her media team had evaded the controversy, instead of avoiding the legitimate questions. The whole book talks about Clinton’s World Reminders: The billionaire friends and Hampton’s hobnobbers in the Dot Com world. She is an active woman when it comes to detailing sexism that has been plaguing her politics and caused many introspection bouts as she figured out how to manage the chromosome.

Ultimately, she analyses Mr. Trumps appeals to show her flaws. She dissects why she did not connect well with Rust Belt states; the primary factor of handling her rival’s election. She concludes by indicating that she did not lay the fault but was done by the arrayed actors that were against her. Perhaps, a better title for Mrs. Clinton’s Thesis would have been a new expression of verbal shrug that sometimes suggests terrible things happen for no reason.

Hillary Clinton’s poll numbers are inexorably sliding and sliding. This is leading Joe Biden to take a closer look at running for President.

Biden’s Possible Contributors

Mr. Biden has had some discussions with President Obama contributors and his own long time network of donors consisting of trial lawyers, Jewish leaders and Greek Americans. One of these is George Tsunis who helped raise $750,000 for the Obama-Biden ticket and has said he would be there is Biden needed him.

More worrying for Hillary is that some Hillary supporters have said they might switch allegiance if Biden enters the race. One is Tom Daschle, a former Senate leader. Then there is the Draft Biden group that has gone beyond fundraising to hiring staff and field operatives. Biden is likely to portray himself as upholding Obama’s legacy more than Ms. Clinton would.

Poor Clinton Poll Numbers

Beyond possible problems with contributors are the poll numbers. Recent polls in 3 key states, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida showed 60% of the people having an unfavorable view of Hillary and felt that she wasn’t honest and trustworthy. Only 4 in 10 had a favorable view of her.

Timing?

Biden would need to make a decision before the first Democratic debate which is October 13th. He realizes that if she bounces back from the email and other problems she will be hard to beat and it is unlikely that he would enter. But, if she continues to struggle or things get worse, there is a good possibility he would join the race.

Biden has also put out feelers to the gay and lesbian communities since he came out in favor of gay marriage before either President Obama or Hillary Clinton did.

Hillary Crash and Burn?

Some see Hillary Clinton crashing and burning, not only because of the emails but also the funding she and President Clinton have received for speaking engagements. According to an article in the US News and World Report,  a Russian company needed State Department permission to corner the world uranium market. Bill Clinton was paid $500,000 for a speech by the Russian Investment Bank that was rating the stock of the company buying the uranium.

In addition, of $500 million given to the Clintons’ foundation, only 15% has gone to charities and $300 million has gone to “other expenses”.

A Biden Run Helps Hillary?

Others feel that Biden running would help Ms. Clinton’s campaign. They said she is a terrible front runner but does quite well when she is in the middle of a race. They feel Biden running will force her to run a better, more competitive campaign and hone her for the race against the Republican candidate.

Unsurprisingly, they weren’t sure where Biden would get his support from since Bernie Sanders is exciting the liberals and Obama supporters are mostly backing Hillary Clinton according to this line of thinking.

So, there is obviously a wide range of opinion about a Biden run, but it should be interesting to watch and see what happens.

Hillary Clinton has been the frontrunner and presumed favorite to win the Democratic Party nomination for President. So far several people have decided to run and challenge her.

Martin O’Malley

One is Martin O’Malley the former governor of the state of Maryland. So far he has not gotten any traction and it is our guess that his aim is for the Vice President position and later for President.

Lincoln Chafee

Another is Lincoln Chafee a former senator and governor of the state of Rhode Island. Interestingly, when he was a senator, he was Republican. Some have described him as a Nelson Rockefeller Republican. So far, he too hasn’t gotten much traction.

Jim Webb

Jim Webb, a former senator from Virginia was the first to anounce an exploratory committee but just decided to declare. However, he has little name recognition and has a long way to go on the fundraising front.

Bernie Sanders

The final challenger to Clinton could be formidable. He is Bernie Sanders, a senator from Vermont. He recently spoke in front of the largest crowd so far of any candidate running. Over 10,000 people showed up to hear him speak in Madison, WI.

Some say that Hillary Clinton is the strongest front runner of any candidate in history who wasn’t an incumbent. She has experience as a senator and then as Secretary of State, plus the unusual experience of having been married to a President. However, Bernie Sanders could pose problems for the following reasons. ( The Huffington Post had an interesting article on this.)

Because of Sanders length of service in the Senate, he has a more substantial legislative history than any of the Republicans he would have  to run against if he won the nomination.

A majority of  Americans are on the side of the Democrats on a majority of issues from economic to immigration to climate change to gay marriage. If the issues that Sanders has pushed for over the years such as trade, the federal budget and middle class economics, resonate with voters in this election, then he will have a good chance. If you count all the electoral votes of states that are leaning Democratic, or are likely or safely Democratic then only 23 out of 85 toss up votes are needed to win.

This means that Bernie Sanders can stay true to his pricipals and beliefs and doesn’t have moderate or change them to appeal to conservatives. People for a while have been saying the Democrats had to use realism instead of progressive values to be able to win. Because of changes in the electorate, this seems to be much less the case and could leave Clinton in an outmoded paradigm.

Sanders is on 6 committees in the Senate and on many issues has more experience than Clinton or any of the Republican candidates.

Sanders beliefs haven’t changed over the years based on polling. He has stuck to his beliefs and has been fighting for the middle class and the poor for many years.

Despite Hillary’s war chest and fund raising capability, any more emails on Benghazi or other issues could really cripple Hillary and boost Bernie Sanders position. It will be interesting to see how it all plays out.

Hillary Clinton’s problem isn’t that she can’t fundraise but you might say she is doing it too well. She and her husband have all the fat cats riding around in their limousines donating large amounts of money to their foundation and also outrageous fees for speaking engagements.

The Clinton Foundation

The Foundation has done a lot of good by connecting various charities with donors. But the problems arises in that the foundation is accepting donations from foreign governments. That would generally not be a problem, but when you are running for President it can look like the foreign governments are trying to buy influence. Not where you want to be when running for President.

Failure to Think Ahead?

The foundation took foreign donations up until 2009 when she became Secretary of State. They stopped because it didn’t look good having foreign governments donating indirectly to a top administration official. But when she stepped down as Secretary of State, the foundation started taking foreign donations again. You would think that she and Bill had in mind her run for President. It seems like a poor choice to resume the practice given this and makes you question the ethics but also the surprising failure to see how it would be perceived.

Defending the Donations

The Clinton’s put out a statement defending the practice and pointing out that they are very transparent about who donates, and making available a donor list. But many of the people who are donating to her campaign fund are also making significant donations to the foundation as well. That just doesn’t look good. One can  make the assumption that people are donating larger amounts to the foundation than they otherwise might because they were assuming she was running for President and now know she is.

Republican vs. Democrat Outlook

It is not unusual for politician’s to buddy up to wealthy people who can write big checks. But the Republicans have an advantage because they are generally seen as on the side of business vs. labor and they generally don’t see it as a problem to be cozying up to rich people. Rather, it is almost a badge of honor. But Hillary has been pulling in money from the wealthiest people in the world for the foundation and these people usually want something in return. Combine that with the fact that the Democrats draw a lot from labor and the middle to lower classes and it makes for a very difficult balancing act.

Catch-22

The problem can go both ways. Her poll numbers have been dropping which is not the direction she wants them to head. However, they have been receiving large donations which have been rapidly filling the campaign coffers which gives her power compared to most rivals.

We just wrote about Hillary and possible problems with a generational gap and appeal. But there is another audience that will be critical to her election, the black vote.

How do you follow up on a performance like Barack Obama’s in turning out the black vote. It will be hard to repeat.

Some people not only wondered whether she will get the black vote, but whether she enjoys it. F. Michael Higginbotham wrote and interesting article that makes the claim that she does deserve to be supported by blacks.

Police Relations

He points to her speech at Columbia University on April 29th. She spoke about a number of causes for the problems in Baltimore and other issues around the country and her proposed solutions.  She spoke about the racial inequities in the criminal justice system but just as importantly in the US in general and in the areas of politics and the economy.

Although it has become obvious to most Americans over the last year with Baltimore, Feguson and unfortunately many other incidents, she pointed out the poor relationship between the law enforcement and minorities. She also commented on the dramatic disparity in arrests, sentencing and imprisonment by race. Black men are much more likely to be stopped, searched,  and charged and they receive longer prison sentences than white men for the same crime.

One solution she suggested, which has been at the top of many people’s minds recently is body cameras for police. But, she said there were problems that were even more important than relations with the police. It was the lack of employment for black men. In Baltimore, the black unemployment rate is twice that of whites’. In the 20-24 year old age range it is 3 times as high. More disturbing is that the median net worth of whites in the US is 18 times that of blacks, which is higher than in South Africa during apartheid.

Economic and Educational Opportunities

She pointed out that more economic opportunities are needed and better education. She also suggested more support for poor families so they can better give a leg up to the children.

Voter Rights

In a speech last summer, she also condemned voter identification laws and restrictions that had a greater impact on the minority community. She was very critical of the Shelby County vs. Holder decision by the Supreme Court which invalidated part of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. She pointed out that the Voting Rights Act has done more democratization than almost any piece of legislation. Within 4 years of becoming law, 800,000 new voters registered, mostly black.

What do Hillary Clinton, David Letterman and Mad Men have to do with each other? On the surface, not much. They are or are about Baby Boomers. So what?

Who is going to be voting for Hillary Clinton? Granted, there is a population bulge with the Baby Boomers, but they are beginning to die off and the Greatest Generation from World War II is rapidly fading.

David Letterman and Jay Leno were dominant during their long runs, but they have now handed things over to the next generation of Conan O’Brien, Seth Meyers and Jimmy Kimmel. Yes Letterman represented the Baby Boom generation and the attitude of Question Authority. But the irony and and sarcasm that he brought to the fore as a contrast to Rat Pack type cool of Johnny Carson, isn’t new and cutting edge anymore. Besides, everyone is doing it. The younger generations have grown up instead on The Simpson’s and South Park.

You also have a generation of news anchors turning over such as  Bill O’Reilly for Megyn Kelly and Diane Sawyer for David Muir.

Then there is Mad Men, which is quintessentially about the 60s and the beginnings of the Baby Boom dominance. But what younger group really wants to watch things like this or reminisce about Ed Sullivan or The Beatles or Edgar Bergen? They would rather focus on things that relate more closely to them.

This is the problem for Hillary Clinton. She is 67. Obama is 53 and was only 47 when elected. Hillary will be on the upper end of the age range for Presidents. Obama energized the youth vote who were excited about a change. Can she relate to this part of the population and can she energize them in the same way that Obama did?