Let the "Fun" Begin

[demwing]

Last edited Sat Mar 21, 2015, 08:06 PM - Edit history (2)

The Daily Beast:
Jackie Kucinich
Will Rahn
03.19.15

The last time we saw Clinton, she was on the defensive about her use of personal email at the State Department. On Thursday, addressing a room of happy campers, she was all sunshine.

America, meet fun Hillary.

A newly relaxed, approachable, and somewhat amusing Clinton was on full display Thursday at the American Camp Association’s Tri-State Conference in Atlantic City, where she gave what could be her last paid speech before launching a presidential campaign.

And first policy prescription for the room full of happy campers, before a veiled shot at the current Democratic president?

Have more fun.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/03/19/fun-hillary-is-here-to-make-you-forget-those-e-mails.html

Lets pass quickly over the anecdotes that Hillary thinks are fun (camping, her age) and make two observation:

First
"Fun Hillary" is an obvious attempt to take control of the narrative and switch the media focus away from "Risky Hillary" (comes complete with her own Yahoo email account, and special Kung-Fu Email-Deleting Grip!).

I'm not so concerned with the facts about the email issue itself, I'm concerned with the manner in which Hillary handles the media's perception of this issue. What Hillary does with her little email troubles speaks to her effectiveness as a campaigner, which, we are often told, is one of her strengths. . Her competency and her diplomatic skills are her major selling points. If she's viewed as someone who takes unnecessary risks with matters affecting our national security, she's toast.

Clinton could have went for "Bold" but she didn't. She could have owned the email issue and embraced the fact that she deleted emails with a comment like "Damn straight I deleted some emails - does America want her National Security issues floating around the Internet?" That's how Republicans would have dealt with the story...DARE anyone to challenge them on it. But she didn't.

Instead, Clinton went for "Fun." She was warmish, nearly fuzzy, and somewhat self-deprecating, and though she's never been as folksy as Bill, she was trying. I don't think she hurt herself, but I doubt she helped herself either, because she didn't change the narrative. She joked about her age. How does that inspire confidence again?

Second
Clinton's answers to policy questions tell us more about how she'll act as President than as a campaigner. That's valuable. Let's go back to what Clinton said:

But the real fun began when she started talking about the political environment in Washington. Using camp metaphors, of course.

“The red cabin and the blue cabin have to come together and actually listen to each other. Wouldn’t that be a novel idea?” she said. “Sort of create this much more open dialog opportunity which I would like to see more of in this country.”

Later she stressed the importance of building relationships with the other side of the political aisle.

“I don’t think there is any substitute for building relationships, I just don’t,” she said.

Left unspoken was how the head counselor of the blue cabin has been routinely criticized for failing to forge a bond with the campers in the red cabin.

She also painted a rosy picture of Bill Clinton’s relationship with Newt Gingrich when the latter was House speaker, saying Gingrich would come over to the White House to hash out policies out with the president after he was done trashing them in public. They got stuff done. Politics, she stressed, is for people who know how to talk and compromise, and the red cabin talked to the blue cabin when the Clinton's were in charge.

So. Clinton wants to compromise with the Red Cabin? Really?

Has she NOT been paying attention to all the obstruction over the last 7 years, or is Clinton just hard wired to try to find a way to make Democrats more aligned with Conservatives? That doesn't sound very progressive to me. Doesn't sound "fun" either.

Maybe Hillary thinks there'll be compromise on both sides. If so, then I ask again: has she NOT been paying attention to all the obstruction over the last 7 years?

Remember her words: "Politics is for people who know how to talk and compromise, and the red cabin talked to the blue cabin when the Clinton's were in charge."

Indeed.

Let the "Fun" Begin.