For the sake of the country, Hillary Clinton needs to shut down the foundation and clearly apologize for emails.

Hillary Clinton's favorable ratings have now sunk to 31%, on par with Donald Trump's, according the recent polls. Emails and Foundation issues are not  blowing over and it appears she has the advantage now in electoral college votes, but she is in danger of losing the popular vote,or be a minority president with less than 50% of the popular vote,  and  it would weaken her claim of a mandate needed to make her presidency effective.  What if her voters stay home or throw away their votes on a third party?  What if Wikileaks does produce some damning information or  more email disclosures produce a dramatic October surprise? There are some unknowns in this race that is like no other.  What is happening now will also follow her into the White House, complicate her ability to govern, and feed the GOP's never Trump to re-elect their senators, who are clever enough to paint themselves as a check to Clinton. This hurts  the chances of a Clinton friendly Senate and to get her agenda passed or the best choices for a Supreme Court to get approved.

In earlier postings I have recommended that the Clinton Foundation needs to announce a transition to Gates and that Bill Clinton and Chelsea, as well as Hillary be at more than arms length.  Sure the Foundation does great stuff and sure the key is the importance of the Clinton family's influence, but at this point the Gates foundation has the ability to continue with existing programs and Hillary's election and trust in her as a president are far more important issues when we consider the good of the country as a whole.  It is also a pre-emptive strike against unknowns lurking out there that could be even more damaging..such as the Wikileaks threats or even more revelations of pay to play in heretofore unreleased emails.  She should stop  being a lawyer covering her tail.  What Clinton did may not have technically broken the law, but the ethics factor and her  propensity to parse words to skirt the law are harmful to her campaign  and will cloud trust of her even into the Oval Office.  For the good of the country, the Clintons have got to remove themselves from the Foundation and she has got to say again and again, she screwed up with  the emails.  Those are the best inoculations against lurking surprises in October.

Could the shut-down of the Foundation be contingent on Clinton's election?  It could be, though not as convincing as beginning the process now.  The process could be started,  now but reversed if she is elected. If for some reason she is not elected, at least the Foundation could continue its good works and the conflict of interest would no longer be an issue.