On February 16, 2016, top-tier Democratic pollster and strategist Stan Greenberg, who advised former President Bill Clinton during his campaigns, sent an unsolicited email to Hillary Clinton’s campaign Chairman, John Podesta, criticizing Hillary Clinton for the way she was handling many aspects of her campaign.
The email released by Wikileaks highlights the fact that it is not only Republicans that have concerns over Hillary Clinton’s actions, but people within her own circle are raising similar flags.
“I think as you must that she’s put herself in a terrible box and in a position that maximizes her vulnerability”, Greenberg began the email to Podesta. The email went on to say, “She does not talk about what she is for — and presents the whole issue of trust and integrity — surely, Barak Obama and I won’t be influenced by money as we make brave choices. It is all about trust, though she has less in the bank than the president.”
As the email continued, Greenberg became critical of what he saw as Clinton’s indifference to corruption. “She [Hillary Clinton] seems indifferent to the systemic corruption that makes it impossible for government to act for the middle class or address big problems, like climate or health care. She may be immune to pay to play, but the systemic isn’t. She’s got to distinguish between self and country — and needs to.”
Greenberg closes the email with, “I won’t go on. Any point in discussing? Open to any vehicle to get to a better spot. She has a strategy that will probably get her to a delegate majority, but not one that aligns with the forces that will demand change. Be well, Stan.”
Greenberg, according to the Democracy Corps website is a “New York Times best-selling author and polling adviser to presidents, prime ministers and CEOs globally and right now, is conducting deep research in more than a dozen countries.” Greenberg co-founded Democracy Corps with James Carville in 1980.