It's important to separate Hillary Clinton the candidate from Hillary Clinton the potential president. They aren't the same.

Only a cretin would fail to understand that Hillary would be a superior president to Donald Trump. In terms of experience, temperament, intellect, diplomatic savvy and countless other metrics, the gulf between them is plain to anyone who isn't blinded by prejudice.

But in terms of the campaign, she was a highly polarizing candidate with weighty political baggage that played right into the hands of a vicious, unscrupulous liar like Trump. It doesn't matter that most of the allegations against her were bogus. They were still exploitable, and exploit them he did.

That's got to be part of the lesson of 2016 for the Democrats. They need to come to terms with the fact that they nominated a weak candidate -- and resolve to do better next time.