WASHINGTON
A pattern of cutting corners, a patina of entitlement and inevitability, has led to this.
Destroying digital messages and thwarting official investigations while acting all innocent about wiping out sensitive material.
Avoiding reporters after giving disingenuous explanations at uncomfortable news conferences. Claiming egregious transgressions are a private matter and faux controversy while sending out high-powered lawyers and spin doctors to deflect and minimize. A pair of team captains craving a championship doing something surreptitious that they never needed to do to win.
It turns out Tom Brady and Hillary Clinton have more in common than you would think.
Brady had his assistant terminate his Samsung phone the day before he talked to an investigator about Deflategate. Hillary set up a home-brew private server, overruling the concerns of her husband's aides, and erased 30,000 emails before the government had a chance to review them to see if any were classified.
Brady and Hillary, wanting to win at all costs and believing the rules don't apply to them, are willing to take the hit of people not believing them, calculating that there is no absolute proof. They both have a history of subterfuge — Brady and the Patriots with Spygate, Hillary with all her disappearing and appearing records.
Her strategists worry about surveys showing that voters do not trust her. But her private server is a metaphor for her own lack of trust and a guarded, suspicious mindset that lands her in needless messes.
Last week, the Wall Street Journal offered yet another unsavory saga of what appears to be Clinton back-scratching. After Hillary, as secretary of state, intervened to help make a deal where UBS had to turn over only a small fraction of the account information sought by the IRS, UBS amped up its donations to the Clinton Foundation and paid Bill Clinton $1.5 million to do some Q&As for them.
Hillary is lucky that she faces a crowded, absurdist Republican field cowering in the shadow of the megalomaniacal showman Donald Trump. But two recent Quinnipiac University polls show her unfavorability rising in swing states. She now trails Jeb Bush by 1 point, after leading him by 10 in May, and Joe Biden leads Jeb by 1 point.
Many Democrats fret that she seems more impatient than hungry, more cautious than charismatic. They are increasingly concerned that, aside from the very liberal Bernie Sanders, who could be approaching his ceiling in the early states, there is no backup if something blows up.
Joe Biden is talking to friends, family and donors about jumping in. The 72-year-old vice president has been having meetings at his Washington residence to explore the idea of taking on Hillary in Iowa and New Hampshire.
He gets along with Hillary and has always been respecful of the Democratic Party's desire to make more history by putting the first woman in the Oval Office.
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Explore all your optionsBut going through the crucible of the loss of his oldest son, Beau, to brain cancer made the vice president consider the quest again.
When Beau realized he was not going to make it, he asked his father if he had a minute to sit down and talk.
At the table, Beau told his dad he was worried about him. My kid's dying, an anguished Joe Biden thought to himself, and he's making sure I'm okay.
"Dad, I know you don't give a damn about money," Beau told him, dismissing the idea that his father would take some sort of cushy job after the vice presidency to cash in.
Beau was losing his nouns and the right side of his face was partially paralyzed. But he had a mission: He tried to make his father promise to run, arguing that the White House should not revert to the Clintons and that the country would be better off with Biden values.
His other son, Hunter, also pushed his father, telling him, "Dad, it's who you are."
It could be awkward for President Barack Obama, who detoured from the usual route — supporting your vice president — and basically passed the torch to Hillary. Some in Obama's circle do not understand why he laid out the red carpet for his former rivals. "He has no idea how much the Clintons dislike him," said one former top White House official.
But the president has been so tender and supportive to Biden ever since learning that Beau was sick, it's hard to say how he will react. Since the funeral, Obama has often kept a hand on Biden's back, as if to give him strength.
When Beau was dying, the family got bracelets that said "WWBD," What Would Beau Do, honoring the fact that Beau was a stickler for doing the right thing.
Joe Biden knows what Beau wants. Now he just has to decide if it's who he is.
© 2015 New York Times