Thursday, January 24, 2008

Hillary's Charm Offensive

Barack Obama made a comment at the South Carolina debate about not knowing which Clinton was running for President. Although it was an off-hand remark, it was an astute one. Both Bill and Hillary Clinton are working on a plan to help her win the nomination and, possibly, the Presidency.

One of Hillary's most damaging weaknesses is her inability to really connect with people. She's tried any number of tactics to make herself appear more human, such as the crying incident in New Hampshire, but it hasn't really worked so well. On the other hand, Bill has a way with people that is amazing to watch. He captivates audiences with his words and mannerisms like no other politician, living or dead. (Of course, the dead politicians have to do a lot more to captivate an audience, what with the cries of "The dead have come back to life!" and all...)

What Hillary's campaign has done is split the Clintons. One does the actual hard campaigning (Hillary), and the other does the softer touch campaigning (Bill). This strategy can be effective if done properly and if both parties remember what they're supposed to do. When there are breakdowns, like Bill yelling at reporters or lying about Obama, it throws sand in the gears of an otherwise well-oiled machine.

Right now, the focus is on the question of whether Bill helps Hillary. Clearly, he helps her because he adds an element to her campaign that isn't there without him: likability. The gaffes and the attacks on Obama sting, but don't really hurt Hillary overall because there are enough Democrats who wistfully remember Bill's two terms in office to want him back there come January 2009. And putting Bill to work to stump for Hillary is one way to do it.

But there is a caveat to this. Bill needs to stop with the attacks on Obama and focus more on what Hillary brings to the table if he wants Hillary's charm offensive to be more charm and less offensive. The more Bill shows off his angry, darker side, the bigger the risk to Hillary's campaign. A jovial Bill is good. An angry Bill is not.

We'll see if Hillary's two-prong campaign approach will earn her the nomination, but I'm betting it will. And then, Hillary will get crushed in the general election, so it all works out in the end.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

What this whole Obama/Hillary kefuffle is showing me is that Obama can't fight back. We all see Billary hit him with innuendo, smear, and lie, but so far all he can do is weakly protest, sounding more like Rodney King than Martin Luther King.

Which of course begs the question -if he can't stand up to a rather dissipated looking Bill Clinton, what would he do if Putin started playing hardball with him? Ask him for some change?

Anonymous said...

Baghdad

Two policemen were killed and 3 others were injured including a policeman in an IED explosion in al Andulos square downtown Baghdad around 8,00 am.

Two civilians were injured in an IED explosion in Ghadeer neighborhood east Baghdad around 4,00 pm.

A civilian was injured in an IED explosion in Zafaraniyah district southeast Baghdad around 4,30 am.

Police found three anonymous bodies in Baghdad today. Two bodies were found in Doura neighborhood in Karkh, the western side of Baghdad while the third body was found in Ma’amil neighborhood in Rusafa, the eastern side of Baghdad.

Nineveh

Mosul police chief Brigadier General Salih Mohammed Hasan al Jobori and one of his guards were killed and 10 other people including al Jobori guards were injured when a suicide bomber detonated himself among them while al Jobori was visiting al Zinjili area west Mosul city where the explosion happened yesterday. Police said that the suicide bomber was wearing a police uniform confirming that al Jobori was injured seriously and he died after moving him to the hospital.

the toll of the explosion of Zinjili explosion which took place yesterday rose to 40 killed people and 220 others injred

Karbala

The spokesman of Karbala health directorate Dr. Saleem Kadhim said that two of the guards of Sistani’s representative sheikh Abdul Mahdi al Karbala’i were killed and two others were injured in an IED explosion that targeted his car only 500 meters away from the shrine of Imam Hussein downtown Karbala city south of Baghdad at 9,00 pm. Abdul Mahdi’s received minor injuries and he left the hospital after being treated, Kadhim said.