Last Tuesday, the US Democratic Presidential nominee Hillary
Clinton conceded defeat to her rival Donald Trumph and with that ended her
political career of two decades. Hillary has been in public life for more than
25 years as the First lady of Arkansas, First Lady of the USA for eight years,
Senator of New York twice and Secretary of State for four years. Her ambition
was to break the glass ceiling and become the President of the United States
for which she pitched herself as a candidate in 2016. This was not the first
time she made such a bid. In 2008 she lost the prize at the Democratic
nomination stage  to President Obama.

President-elect Trump paid her glorious tribute after his
victory. “Hillary has worked very long and very hard over a long period of
time, and we owe her a major debt of gratitude for her service to our country,”
Trump said.

Why did she lose? Perhaps America is still not ready for a
woman president. Her gender might have been an issue. Secondly,  Hillary did not connect with the white
population which was a grave mistake. Sitting in his Manhattan apartment the
billionaire Trump was able to reach out to voters even in the Midwest.  Her campaign underestimated the anger in
America and distrust in government, especially among white working class
voters.

Thirdly, there is also this worry about dynastic politics.
Fourthly she was seen as untrustworthy by the majority of the  electorate. Fifthly, she was  an establishment person when the voters were
looking for a fresh face. Some also thought that hers would be the third term
of a Obama regime. Sixthly,  however much
she tried to project herself as a candidate of the future, voters  perceived her as one who represented the
past.

Seventhly, Hillary did not seem to have people skills.
Eight, Hillary’s use of a private email server while Secretary of State reinforced
her untrustworthy image. Her closeness to Wall Street undermined her promise to
support the economically marginalised. Above all, while most of the people were
not impressed with either Clinton or Trump, the latter was more acceptable.

While there could be a hundred other explanations for her
not reaching 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, there is no doubt that her political
career has ended. In a way, 2016 has been gift-wrapped for Clinton and it was
her failure to clinch the presidency. The Democratic Party cleared out all
serious challengers. In an unusual step, President Obama, his wife Michelle,
Bill Clinton and others had campaigned for her intensively. People were
laughing at the candidature of Trump as he was initially seen as a joke. Even
Hillary believed him to be a weak candidate. She had a multi-billion dollar war
chest for her campaign as well as the full support of the Wall Street. Despite
all these Hillary failed. After her two failed bids at the presidency, she is
unlikely to be on the front lines of politics again.

It must be painful for a person like Hillary, who has been
ambitious throughout her life. She had many firsts to her credit. She was the
first ever First Lady with an office in the West Wing of the White House and
the first woman Senator from New York. She became the first woman Member of the
Senate Armed Services Committee and then the first woman Presidential nominee
of the Democrats. Before she became all these she had been the first student to
deliver a commencement address at the Wellesley College and was also Arkansas’s
first working First Lady.  She narrowly
missed being part of the first couple to become US Presidents. So much for her
achievements.

But she also had some minus points. Hillary Clinton is
a  polarizing figure, often blamed for
things that were not her fault, and often vilified by the mainstream media.

The Clintons presented themselves in 1992 with the slogan
‘two for the price of one’. President Bill Clinton put her in charge of
health-care overhaul, which turned out to be a fiasco. The Clintons soon
realised that the country was not buying the ‘buy one get one free’ deal. She
found herself at the centre of a host of scandals including the Whitewater real
estate scam. She was the only First Lady who ever testified before a federal
grand jury.  Hillary adopted a low
profile in Clinton’s second term and stuck to safe issues. Though she stood by
her husband on the Monika Lewinsky affair, 
many women were  angry at her for
not leaving her unfaithfl husband whike 
others viewed her decision as proof of her marriage as a calculated
ambition.

What will be her future? Perhaps  the Democrats might treat her as an elder
statesman. Her endorsements will still be considered valuable.  She might accept speaking engagements. Of
course, there is also the Clinton Foundation which could be promoted
further.  As she put it in her 2003
memoir Living History, “My mother and my grandmothers could never have lived my
life; my father and my grandfathers could never have imagined it. But they
bestowed on me the promise of America, which made my life and my choices
possible.” Nobody can fault Hillary for not trying her best.

— Kalyani Shankar