The news of Hillary Clinton’s private e-mail system broke March 2.
The news of foreign donations to the Clinton Foundation broke February 17.
Hillary Clinton will be making some sort of public statement about those scandals today. Since those stories broke, she has spoken at the EMILY’s List Gala, spoken about the importance of having access to data (on the status of women) at the Clinton Foundation with Chelsea, and she is speaking at the United Nations today. In other words, she’s been willing to speak to the public, but only about the topics she wants to address. No questions from reporters at these speeches, of course.
Obviously, her strategy is to address issues on her timetable, not the media’s, and to stick to a prearranged schedule instead of adjusting to speak about the preeminent issue of the moment. President Obama uses this approach a great deal, too.
The day the civilian passenger airliner was shot down over Ukraine, he offered a brief pro-forma comment before serving up his well-worn infrastructure speech, then continued on to his scheduled fundraisers. He went to Texas for a series of fundraisers, but refused to visit the border at the height of the humanitarian crisis of unattended children entering the United States. Last summer, the president denounced ISIS beheading an American citizen, then immediately headed off to the golf course.
There’s something toddler-like in this defiance, this sense that “I’m not going to let this deter me from what I want to do” attitude.
Stick to the schedule, stick to the schedule, stick to the schedule . . .