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The Foreman Forecast: The Hillary problem – Metro US

The Foreman Forecast: The Hillary problem

Hillary Clinton has defended her husband Bill Clinton's previous transgressions for decades. Will that change in the era of Me Too? | Getty Images

Here are two things I never expect to see. One is Hillary Clinton running for president again, and the second — Hillary Clinton ever changing her answer about whether President Bill Clinton should have resigned amid the Monica Lewinsky scandal.

“Absolutely not,” was her response on CBS when asked about it this week, and variations of that have been her stock reply for years. Was your husband abusing his power by having sexual encounters with an intern? “No.” Does it matter that Lewinsky was 22 years old? “An adult,” the former Secretary of State/Senator/First Lady says.

Of course, she can say what she wishes, and plenty of loyal fans are firmly in her corner. They see the Oval Office encounters as a consensual tryst that was unfairly exploited by partisans. Case closed.

But in political terms, every time Hillary Clinton engages such questions, her party suffers. In the maelstrom of the #MeToo movement, Democratic leaders are positioning themselves as champions of women’s rights, and scourges of predatory males. They portray their party as the future for women of conscience. That’s why this messy piece of the past is such a problem. Each time one of the Clintons can be lured into defending that old transgression, critics get another free shot at the party’s positions.

To be sure, the many allegations of sexual misconduct against Donald Trump raise the same thorny issues for Republicans, but it’s costlier for Dems because they have put women’s issues so front and center. In any event, many political strategists would argue Hillary Clinton absolutely cannot be the person making that case.

She and the former president can play a huge role in rallying the Democratic base. He can talk about presiding over a roaring economy and some of the highest presidential approval ratings in decades. She can recount her adventures in international diplomacy and boast about how she raised the profile of female candidates to unprecedented heights.

But when asked about Lewinsky, even a half-baked political pundit would tell them, it’s time to let it alone – say you’ve said all you’re going to say; because anything more is not helping your case, it’s just hurting your party. 

Tom Foreman is a CNN correspondent and author of the book “My Year of Running Dangerously.”