Obama's charisma. People never fainted for the Clintons although they did suicide in the back of the head.
Hillary didn't have a good campaign strategy either. Plus a first black president had more appeal than a shattered glass ceiling.
As to blackmail, she did start the birther business, but maybe her goons hadn't dug up enough dirt yet? Nobody saw him coming. He was elected to the Senate after she had procured those FBI files.
While I'm at it, maybe we ought to be a little more concerned about Bernie's message. He is hard core Marxist and atheist. If you read his biography, it comes across as dark and depressing. That sugar shack was a dilapidated, roomy two-story house that could have been fixed up into something really charming. The dirt floor must have been the basement.
No matter what happens in this electin, the Bernie phenomenon will not go away. He has capitalized on class envy. Trump has capitalized on anger over immigration and jobs.
In another 20 years, what will our people be voting for? Bernie says it's all rigged. We can see that in both parties in different ways.
And if it weren't for the failure of both party elites to pursue their own agendas rather than the peoples', we wouldn't find ourselves where we are now.