Ian Tuttle of National Review Online argues that even a presidential election victory won’t be enough to rehabilitate Hillary Clinton’s image.

Despite months of relentless media coverage of Donald Trump, his endless string of campaign calamities (including a weeklong spat with the family of a fallen American soldier), and the increasingly widespread view that Trump is a bigot — the worst thing you can be in American public life — the two candidates are about equally unpopular. He’s viewed unfavorably by 60 percent of registered voters; she’s at 59 percent.

Which is to say that, if Hillary Clinton is elected in November, she is in for a miserable four years. Because none of the sources of her unpopularity are going away.

First are the scandals. Ongoing litigation surrounding Clinton’s e-mails and her use of a private e-mail server would stretch into her first term in office, and is certain to yield further embarrassing revelations (like this week’s discovery that Clinton failed to turn over several e-mails related to the Benghazi attacks), and it was recently reported that field offices of the FBI are considering investigating the e-mail scandal in conjunction with various U.S. Attorneys’ offices. …

… And she will not be able to distract from any of the above with good governance. She has said that she will be Barack Obama’s third term, and the policies she has proposed suggest as much. In response to years of economic stagnation, she will maintain or expand the bureaucratic “solutions” that in fact have helped to entrench problems. (It’s not unlikely that Clinton would have to preside over a second recession.) …

… None of this will be good for the country. But it does offer conservatives an opportunity. The time is now to come up with a comprehensive, positive agenda that presents a coherent and compelling alternative to the failed liberal agenda that, in 2020, will have held the day for a dozen years.