Hillary Clinton's biggest obstacle to winning the presidency, in addition to Donald Trump, of course, was a personal affliction that had thwarted her attempt at history once before - complacency, according to a Politico analysis.
The autopsy of her monumental upset would find three key missteps, according to Politico:
- Ignoring Wisconsin and Michigan; she never visited either after the primary.
- Failing to have a policy plan that would distinguish her from Trump, a particularly foolish gaffe since Bernie Sanders exposed her during the primary.
- Underestimating her opponent, much the same she did with President Obama in 2008.
"They didn't listen to the message of Bernie Sanders," Princeton historian Julian Zelizer told Politico. "The roar from those primaries should have done more to push her to put forward and fight for an agenda to deal with economic insecurity and economic inequality.
"Trump appealed to these groups through fear, anger and rage. She needed to offer an alternative, and not sure that she did."
Most basic, she failed to adapt, to learn from past mistakes, despite being married to the quintessential adapter, Bill Clinton.
In his second term as president and facing a GOP-held Congress, he signed a capital gains tax cut and declared "the era of big government is over," Investor's Business Daily reported.
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