Hillary Clinton has one job in the next two weeks, and that is to strike as palatable a contrast to Donald Trump as she possibly can. That means appearing poised, not impulsive; in command of events, not reactive to them. She has to demonstrate to Americans who are more inclined to vote for stability and continuity that she is the steadier hand on the tiller. Initially, the Clinton campaign had a difficult time defining Trump negatively since he represents such a radical departure from traditional Republican officeholders. But her campaign soon adapted, rebounded, and had regained its footing. At least, it had before FBI Director James Comey’s press conference. Since then, the Clinton campaign has been on the defense, and Hillary Clinton no longer looks like an imperturbable rock of composure. If her recent press appearances are any indication, Hillary Clinton is flustered. And she should be.

CBS News is promoting their interview with Hillary Clinton as though the news she made in that exchange was to acknowledge finally that the email scandal has taken a toll on her public image. In fact, that scandal has been exacting a political price in terms of Clinton’s lost credibility for months if not years now. Clinton herself has admitted as much. But since the former first lady was supposedly exonerated by the FBI director who, in a press conference, insisted that Clinton’s “extremely careless” behavior was nevertheless not prosecutable, Clinton has seemed defensive.

In her most recent one-on-one sit down with a member of the press (the only format to which she seems inclined to agree), Clinton was asked by CBS News journalist Charlie Rose how she would respond to Comey’s contention that her custodianship of classified material was characterized by “real sloppiness.” Clinton initially denied that Comey had ever said such a thing (he did). When that didn’t work, she then asserted that there were “probably at least 300 people on those emails, the vast majority of whom are experienced professionals in handling sensitive material.” This is an admission against interest; not only does this acknowledge the truth of the public record, that Clinton freely compromised her “homebrew” server with such a large network of email recipients, but that only the “vast majority” of them were experienced in the field of information security. Hopefully, those who are not included in that “vast majority” weren’t as careless with government communications as Clinton.

“Was it wrong?”  Rose asked.

Clinton replied: “Well, it was wrong because,” she paused, “look at what it has generated.”

That’s about as close as you can get to admitting that her only error was in getting caught. What’s more, the institution responsible for uncovering this illicit ring of recklessness was the supposedly guileless GOP-led Select Committee investigating the Benghazi attacks. Not only does Clinton now admit to having been rolled by a group of Republicans her liberal counterparts dismissed as a bunch of Keystone Cops, but her negligence has also led her to shed a lot of support.

Clinton has struggled with self-inflicted wounds before. She’s proven herself reasonably resilient, if not as politically adept as her husband. What should trouble Democrats right now is that, one week before the open of their party’s nominating convention, Clinton doesn’t appear to recognize that the worst of this scandal is not behind her—not so long as she continues to handle it like a political crisis.

Americans are genuinely concerned that Hillary Clinton is a compromised candidate who cannot competently manage American interests. Her recent behavior has only confirmed those suspicions.