Anonymous Clinton Staffers Play Blame-Game

So the New Republic's Michelle Cottle surveyed a dozen anonymous low- and high-level Hillary Clinton campaign staffers and came up with a laundry list of reasons why they believe the New York Senator's campaign hit the wall. Most people place the blame squarely on the shoulders of her "inner sanctum": Ousted pollster Mark Penn was "out of touch" and way too corporate. Ejected original campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle was "out of her element." Communications director and rumored memoirist Howard Wolfson "had no real presidential campaign experience, and no primary experience whatsoever." And then there are the macro problems: Hillary wasn't hungry enough for it early on. She shouldn't have run as an incumbent. She should have attacked Barack Obama earlier. Smooth Bill Clinton went totally crazy and imploded. The campaign's financial mismanagement was akin to "fraud." Voters felt like they didn't know her! Voters felt like she would say anything to win. Her smarts came off as "wonky" in speeches. Her team had a terrible rapport with the media.