Hillary Clinton was widely respected every year

(source needed)

Here's a list of objectionable stuff Hillary was involved with prior to running for president:

• Hillary Clinton's hawkish stance on war, being more hawkish than Barack Obama and Joe Biden. She is specifically noted for advocating an escalation in Afghanistan​.
• Clinton's involvement in the 2009 military coup in Honduras. Rather than condemning the coup, Clinton pressured other countries to recognize the new right-wing government, leading to increased violence and instability in the country​​.
• The firing of seven employees from the travel office during the Clinton administration in 1993, an act that some critics attribute to Hillary Clinton's influence. The fired employees were later reinstated due to public pressure​.
• Controversies surrounding her commodity trades from 1978 and 1979, in which she turned an initial investment of $1,000 into nearly $100,000. No official investigations were carried out, but the incident raised eyebrows and led to criticism​​.
• Involvement in her husband's controversial pardons during his presidency, including those for the owners of a carnival company convicted of bank fraud​.
• A controversy regarding gifts taken from the White House upon the Clintons' departure in 2001. Some items, worth $28,000, were meant for the White House estate and not as personal gifts for the Clintons. These items were returned after complaints from the donors​.

While this is certainly part of it (and all of it for a large number of people), I think it is overly simplistic view and disregards her past as a DA in which she enforced a draconian truancy program.