Michael Goodwin: People want authenticity, not calculation
Fox News contributor and New York Post columnist provides insight on the state of the 2016 presidential race
Michelle Obama’s emotional speech denouncing Donald Trump for alleged sexual misconduct last week got rave reviews from the left. She called Trump’s words and reported actions “shocking” and “demeaning,” and below “basic standards of human decency.”
Well said, and she gave a moving performance — but it would have been more powerful if the first lady had dared to say the same things about the proven sexual misconduct of fellow Democrats Bill Clinton or the late Ted Kennedy. Or if she had denounced the crude rappers she invites to the White House for their “demeaning” lyrics about women.
But she didn’t, which spotlights the Achilles’ heel of her argument. To wit, selective outrage in the service of partisan politics is neither moral nor persuasive.
Politics, someone once said, ain’t beanbag, and there is nothing more hardball than the stretch run of this year’s presidential campaign. The only rule is that there are no rules.
The record of both Clintons must count in weighing whether the sexual charges against Trump disqualify him from consideration.
Because sex sells, and because she is seriously hobbled by her own past, Hillary Clinton is now running almost exclusively on charges that her opponent is a pig and a predator. The charges are spilling nonstop from the front pages and airwaves in a coordinated effort to deliver a kill shot to the Republican nominee.
To continue reading Michael Goodwin's column in the New York Post, click here.
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