Render: Hillary lacks competence, judgment

There are two issues facing Hillary Clinton that have a direct impact on her capability to function as president. These issues are her judgment and her competence.

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The first issue concerns her use of an unsecured system to perform the duties of secretary of state. It is mind boggling to think that someone who has been in the political arena for as long as Clinton could believe that no classified information would be sent to her on her email account. Her claim that the state department approved her private server denies the fact that for all intents and purposes, she was the state department.

The Clinton claim in an ABC News interview that, “You know, I was not thinking a lot when I got in. There was so much work to be done. We had so many problems around the world. I didn’t really stop and think what kind of email system will there be?” is beyond the pale. It is a virtual impossibility to set up your own private email server without some in-depth thought. If she actually didn’t stop and think what kind of email system would be there, she would have used the government provided, secure system like all members of the state department.

As for her contention that, “It’s very hard to explain the government systems of classifying information, all the rules, and keep people focused on accurate answers,” I am reminded of what our company gunnery sergeant told me when I received my first security clearance. “If you screw up anything that has to do with classified material, I will personally put your rear end in jail.” The gunny didn’t say rear end, and I never had any problem following all the rules concerning classified information.

Clinton’s judgment was seriously flawed in opting for a private email server and her competence in mitigating the problem should prove fatal for her campaign.

Clinton could take some small solace for misunderstanding different classifications as evidenced by former admiral and current state department spokesman John Kirby, explaining how to treat information that is sensitive, but not classified, “It is highly, highly discouraged to send (by private email) information that you think is sensitive but unclassified,” Kirby told reporters. “You can do it if there’s no other viable means of communicating the information, and you take the proper steps to make sure that it’s recorded back into the government system.”

The state department should have hired a gunny.

Rube Render is the Curry County Republican chairman. Contact him at:

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