The political context around Hillary Clinton has changed. Until now, complaints about her have pervaded public commentary, usually with a predictable refrain. In a May podcast, former "Daily Show" host Jon Stewart couldn't find much good to say about the next leader of the Democratic Party.

He imagined Hillary Clinton, he said, "to be a very bright woman without the courage of her convictions, because I'm not even sure what they are."

It was hardly an original damnation. Clinton has long been perceived and portrayed as a cautious, calculating, programmed talking-points robot churning personal ambition into political power, a transactional politician who lacks the inspirational lift that Democrats admire in Franklin D. Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy and Barack Obama.