Hillary Clinton could not have resisted running for the United States presidency. The lure of being the best-positioned person to be the first female president of the US could not be ignored. Although she will be 69 in 2016, her second attempt at the presidency was, to her, a call of history, of destiny; a call that was nurtured as the First Lady of Arkansas under the governorship of her husband Bill. Having tasted life in the White House for eight years, the powerful and prestigious position as a senator from New York, her work in the Congress and finally as secretary of state, she does not only believe she could be president, but feels that becoming so would be a true vindication of her lifelong quest and the full essence of her self-actualisation.

She may not want to admit it except quietly to herself, and frustratingly to Bill, but she is having a harder time than she expected to. The expected coronation has not happened, and she has suddenly discovered that she has the fight of her life to reach her goals. Quite apart from the phenomenal challenge of Senator Bernie Sanders, Clinton is embroiled in what has emerged as “emailgate” — the use of a private server to send e-mails while she was secretary of state. The FBI has taken the server into custody and already has found classified e-mails which Clinton claimed were never sent or were deleted. There are thousands of e-mails to be examined, and it certainly can be no comfort to anyone running for president of the United States to have the FBI looking into your behaviour. The FBI does not engage in investigating any matter where there is not even a whiff of criminality. This is more than a distraction for Clinton. It hangs over her campaign and over her mind as a wet, dark blanket.

This is perhaps why she has appeared so uncertain, and even haggard, in recent days. Running for president of the United States, for the most powerful job in the world, is not a walk in the park. It takes personal stamina, internal resilience, and strong emotional fortitude. For some people, it is impolitic to comment on the age of anyone, especially a woman, when they are pursuing a particular job. But the inevitable march of one’s mortality has no respect for age or gender. Clinton does not seem to possess the stamina or strength that the campaign desires. This is exacerbated by the unnecessary distraction of the FBI probe, which has to be of more concern to her than she would betray in public. This is exacerbated further by the fact that she is up against a real challenge from Bernie Sanders. There is more than rumour that Vice-President Biden may jump in, and that he has the blessings of the President to do so. If the latter is correct, it will be the final nail in her political coffin as the Clintons will no doubt see this as the ultimate betrayal.

Meanwhile, her untrustworthy index is on an upward trajectory. There is an expanding narrative that she has not been truthful about the way she has handled the e-mails. A recent national poll indicated that 58 per cent of the respondents believed that she knowingly lied about them. A growing number of people believe that her alleged prevarifications or obfuscations are straight from the Clinton playbook and are to be expected. Of all the troubles a politician can face, any notions of dishonesty or untrustworthiness is enough to cripple a campaign. It is getting late for her to change this narrative before it becomes too deeply embedded in the voters’ psyche. If there are further negative revelations from the FBI concerning her e-mails, she may sooner than later get the rest that she deserves.

But no one should count her out. She is no political neophyte. She and Bill, together, have weathered some serious political storms. Understandably, Bill is uncharacteristically quiet, as if a family gag order has been placed on him. Part of the dilemma of being around a long time is that it makes it difficult to present oneself as being new and different. Almost everyone believes they know where all the skeletons are buried. The Republicans will do everything in their power to roll out the mud wagon to ensure that she does not gain any traction. They want to remind the world that the Hillary today is not much different from the Hillary of 25 years ago.

She will feel that she is on a political trapeze in trying to ingratiate herself to a younger generation grown up on social media and becoming more feistily independent. Her peers and people older than her may feel a sense of Clinton fatigue. They have seen her playbook and many will not feel the motivation to see this movie again. For diehard democrats the euphoria of seeing Hillary succeed is palpable. They are not her problem, though some progressives and some on the far left are very wary of how she will tackle major issues such as income inequality, the pugnacious big banks, the keystone pipeline project, the trans-Pacific trade deal, to name a few. There are many diverse constituents to satisfy and in this culture of thin-skinned politics it is not hard to tick anyone off. How many people she ticks off may well determine the viability of her candidacy this time around.

Dr Raulston Nembhard is a priest and social commentator. Send comments to the Observer or stead6655@aol.com.