On Sunday’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos, Robert Reich, former Labor Secretary for Bill Clinton, surprisingly criticized Hillary Clinton over her foundations’s donation issues and insisted “full disclosure is a key vulnerability” for her candidacy.
After Reich hailed Clinton for “running a general election campaign already” the liberal economist argued “[s]he has got to, and her husband as well, put everything out, I mean more disclosure than any other candidate” and then conceded that Bill Clinton should “stop the paid speeches.”
Earlier in the segment, Newt Gingrich claimed that “the scandals” surrounding Mrs. Clinton “are going to continue” but the real issue may be that “we’re now deadened to that scale of influence purchasing and that scale of activity. If we are, that will be an interesting test of the American people.”
Matthew Dowd, chief strategist for the Bush-Cheney 2004 campaign, went one step further and suggested that all of these issues surrounding Mrs. Clinton point to a “candidate problem” rather than simply a “campaign problem.” Dowd concluded the segment by detailing the weaknesses in her candidacy that will make it very difficult to win in 2016:
Every time she enters the scene as a national candidate she falls in the polls, just what happened this year. If you just take a look at this, ignore tactics. Ignore all these things. Take a look at her numbers. And you look at her numbers and you look at the dynamics of the country. Where the country thinks we're off on the wrong track. The country wants a change in policy from Obama. And the president's job approval is in the 40s. All of those dynamics say she's unelectable.
See relevant transcript below.
ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos
June 7, 2015
JONATHAN KARL: Okay. so let’s turn to Hillary Clinton, because you saw some really troubling poll numbers for her. You had, again, the question of favorable/unfavorable. Look at where she is among independents Donna. You have only 36% saying favorable. 58% of independents view Hillary Clinton unfavorable. And then of course you have that number, this is out of the ABC News/Washington Post poll, 52%, a majority, say she's not honest or trustworthy. Those do not look like the numbers of a winning candidate, do they?
DONNA BRAZILE: Well you know what, I looked at those numbers and I went to bed that night, thinking, you know what, she's still pretty much out there talking to voters, getting the issues out and preparing, I believe, to have a very successful campaign.
KARL: But she’s got to turn that around.
BRAZILE: Of course, she's going to turn it around. But, look at what she's been up against. I mean, she came out of the gate in April, she's been attacked by the 25, 30 Republicans who are running each and every day. The media is complaining every day that they haven't read enough of her e-mails and they need more answers on Benghazi. She’s being attacked from every front.
So I’m not surprised that she's slipped in the polls. The big test for her starts now. And that is next week, she cannot just go out there and just echo some of the talking points that we have been hearing, she has to go out with big, bold ideas and if she’s able to do that, she's going to win the nomination and the presidency.
NEWT GINGRICH: Well, look, I think it's a great test of where we are as a country, the scandals are going to continue. The corruption overseas is going to continue. The ties to the Sweeds, who now turn out to have a $26 million Clinton Foundation. The ties to the Russians on uranium. The ties to Nigeria, the ties in Haiti. All of that stuff is going to keep coming. Now it may be that we’re now deadened to that scale of influence purchasing and that scale of activity. If we are, that will be an interesting test of the American people.
KARL: Mr. Secretary, do you see any fundamental problems with Hillary Clinton's campaign and where she is now?
ROBERT REICH: Look, let's keep in mind, she has been a public figure for 23 years, her polls have been going up and down, it's a roller coaster for 23 years. I think that what she has done over the last few weeks on immigration, on voting rights, on criminal defense and criminal justice system, I think are very, very important statements, she's put her Republican opponents on the defensive.
She's running a general election campaign already. But I do think that the issue of sort of disclosure, a full disclosure is a key vulnerability. She has got to, and her husband as well, put everything out, I mean more disclosure than any other candidate --
KARL: Does he have to stop the paid speeches?
REICH: I think he -- I would say he has to stop the paid speeches --
MATTHEW DOWD: To me this is not a campaign problem, this is a candidate problem. And if you take a look at the data on her over time, the place where she drops is when she enters the national scene as a candidate. Every time she enters the scene as a national candidate she falls in the polls, just what happened this year. If you just take a look at this, ignore tactics. Ignore all these things.
Take a look at her numbers. And you look at her numbers and you look at the dynamics of the country. Where the country thinks we're off on the wrong track. The country wants a change in policy from Obama. And the president's job approval is in the 40s. All of those dynamics say she's unelectable. Can she win? Yes. But she can only win if the Republicans nominate an equally unelectable candidate or she disqualifies [sic]
