Is Hillary Clinton a sure thing?

A question that surprised me a bit on a recent trip to the UK was about Hillary Clinton:  she’s a shoe-in to win the presidency, right?  I mean, none of these other people can compete with Hillary, right?

The simple answer is – no, she is not a sure thing. The reasoning behind that position is a bit complex, but here’s my take on the matter.

There is this problem with honesty and integrity that continues to follow Hillary. The current iteration is in the form of an illegal email server that Hillary kept in her home and though which she ran much of her official US State Department email traffic.

Just so we’re clear, US Government employees are required to conduct their government business on official – and secure – government computer systems. This includes email.

The FBI is currently investigating this illegal system that Hillary maintained in her home. The FBI is trying to determine what email traffic passed through her home system, what secret or classified documents may have been included, and whether the home email system had been hacked by foreign governments or crime syndicates.

One reason for requiring government employees to use government systems is to assure transparency – so that government actions can be reviewed when appropriate. For example, the US Congress is charged with overseeing the executive branch and verifying that it operates within its constitutional limits. That executive branch includes the President’s office and all of his cabinet, including the Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton.

The private email server became an issue during a Congressional investigation of the attack on a US consular complex in Benghazi, Libya, in 2012.  During that attack, the US ambassador to Libya was killed, along with several other Americans working in those offices. The Congressional committee investigating the incident collected all emails from the State Department, which manages foreign consulates and embassies. The committee had nearly completed its investigation when it learned of the existence of additional emails that had not been turned over to them.

Subsequently, the committee discovered the illegal email server that contained many of Hillary Clinton’s government emails. Much of the information related to the investigation was hidden on that private email server. The contents of those emails is only just trickling out to the American public, but high level government sources say the server clearly contained top secret materials that should never have been stored there.

The FBI is continuing to investigate this matter. As you can tell, the issue of honesty, integrity and transparency is clearly in play with Hillary as a candidate. Additionally, she may well be charged with a crime for her part in this email venture, particularly if it is determined that secret government information is found to have been hacked and stolen.

Many of Hillary’s supporters don’t care about this story, but the issue has begun eroding her support in some quarters. Hillary is not a sure thing at this point.