The political consultant puts in his two bits today at The New York Daily News.
If (although I strongly suspect the right word is "when") Hillary Clinton loses tomorrow's New Hampshire primary, there will be a few proto-obituaries for her campaign and many more stories about how it will be "shaken up" or "relaunched." Scapegoats will be found and exiled: Mark Penn, the pollster and strategist, foremost among them. After all, the candidate can't very well dispense with the überstrategist who also happens to be her husband and who was fully complicit in designing and driving her message.I personally think the country is tired of the Bushs and Clintons and wants someone else to be President.(Mark my words if Hillary doesn't get the nomination and a Democrat wins the white house in 2008, she'll leave the Senate in 2012. I always felt the job was meant to be a stepping stone to a future Presidential run. With her hopes dashed, there is little reason to stay in the Senate.)That's my analysis of what ails the Hillary campaign right now, if I'm right, she won't be the nominee. Oddly I predicted her to win just a week ago. I changed my tune fast after Iowa.The flaw wasn't just the attempt to go back to the future, to the 1990s, but that the Clintons picked the wrong year in that decade. Instead of 1992, when Bill was the personification of change, their model was 1996. So Hillary ran as a pseudo-incumbent, with a selection of bite-size proposals and an abundance of caution and transparent calculation
Here are some of Shrum's suggestions to fix the Clinton bid for the White House.
Clinton's massive mistake - and the final chance to fix it Let Hillary be Hillary. Throw away the product packaging - those poll-tested small-bites of policy - and set out a big case about what she wants to do in the next four years, not what she has done for the past 35.This coming from someone who is 0 for 8 backing Presidential hopefuls. Maybe Hillary should do the reverse of what Shrum is suggesting. What's the harm?Hat tip- James Joyner at OTB
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2008 Presidential Race, Hillary
Comments (2)
"Comeback kid" you forgot t... (Below threshold)1. Posted by DoubleU | January 7, 2008 8:49 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
"Comeback kid" you forgot that one, every Chrissy Mathews was getting all giddy using it.
1. Posted by DoubleU | January 7, 2008 8:49 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on January 7, 2008 20:49
2. Posted by bryanD | January 7, 2008 11:55 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
"Mark my words if Hillary doesn't get the nomination and a Democrat wins the white house in 2008, she'll leave the Senate in 2012."-bj
I won't argue too much there. But does Hillary have writing talent? An artistic bent? Is she "laying down" on her own irresistable people-moving persuasiveness?
If not, she'll remain in the senate until that Lincoln Center job comes along. Magazines and Bravo aren't her thing. Secret service are morons and constantly underfoot. Bill's a dick.
2. Posted by bryanD | January 7, 2008 11:55 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on January 7, 2008 23:55