When the inevitable was defeated by the deplorable, the former disappeared into the woods around her New York home. I assumed she was searching for her very own Walden Pond, a serene site to contemplate the meaning of it all, how it all went wrong, how the USS Clinton struck the shoals of defeat and disappointment. I was ready to praise the woman who spent her life in public service. I was prepared to present her with a Henry David Thoreau prize for self-awareness.

And then it all went as wrong as her campaign, for the insight required for honest analysis was missing. She emerged from her woodsy sojourn no wiser, her clay feet dissolved in the pond water. When next heard from, she was singing the Comey blues and decrying the misogyny of the American electorate, even that of white women, the majority of whom voted for her opponent.

Insight? I don’t need no stinkin’ insight. I am Hillary. Hear me roar!

Paul Bloustein

Cincinnati