How Liberals Will Make Hillary Pay
The Republicans opened their salvo against Hillary Clinton's (undeclared but obvious) 2016 presidential campaign with a lame--but not unexpected--attack on her age. But that's really nothing compared to what liberals are going to accuse her of.
Supposing that Hillary will be running, her biggest enemies are going to be those in her own party. She is going to be made to pay for all the sins of Obama and this is just coming from the liberal side alone. Those who are disgusted with NSA surveillance and all manner of things that Obama hasn't tamed are going to hold her feet to the fire. And you've read it here first: "Hillary is going to be Obama's third term." Again, this won't be coming from the right-wing exclusively, this will first appear among her own party.
Expect the charges of her voting for the Iraq War to come back full swing. Expect her voting for the Patriot Act to be held up as a freshly committed sin, one that will automatically disqualify her from lots of left-wing support. She'll be charged with not having a problem with electronic surveillance. More than likely, she'll be accused of wanting to make it permanent, or wanting to expand it even more.
It's a given that the right-wing will beat the dead horse of Benghazi, gleefully taking her Congressional testimony on the issue out of context ("What difference does it make?") as proof that she's a handmaiden to the devil (Obama). But it's the left-wing that will do more damage to her, with more vitriol. "She's a corporatist!" "She's the ultimate insider!" There will be spoons bent from all the clanging on the left against her, and calls for "anyone but Hillary." These are the same people who painted her and Bill as racists in their desire to promote their (then) unfulfilled 1960s social equality fantasies come together by electing the nation's first black president. They not only threw her under the bus, but backed up and did it several times more. You might think that the deep disappointments these folks have with Obama might make them repentant about their horrid treatment of her, but no. The invective coming from the left will probably make their right-wing adversaries look on with admiration.
I fully expect all the tired "she's too old" charges to get their full airing. Mocking statements about her weight. Her hair. Her clothes. Her glasses. The same stuff that women still have to endure even now. But that will all pale in comparison to the vindictive trolling that will be come out against her from her own party. I've got no doubt she can handle it, but I have full doubts that Democrats won't sabotage it for her, while they all pat themselves on the back for having done something to soothe their hurt feelings over the disappointments of Obama. And watching a Republican candidate get sworn in as the next president.
Just you wait.