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Hillary Clinton – The “Pretty Woman” of Politics
#32 - 0--spud--Hillary Clinton – The “Pretty Woman” of Politics--2008-01-10 09:14:53
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If one word will be used to describe the presidential elections of 2008 in the years to come, I believe that word will be “change”. Every candidate from every party has desperately tried to tie his or her candidacy to “change”. In fact, pundits and television commentators often count the number of times the word is used in debates and the number seems to keep rising and rising with no end in sight.
In recent weeks, it has become apparent that Hillary Clinton has once again associated herself with “change”. Unfortunately, as other candidates stress how they are or have been agents of change, Mrs. Clinton continues to show how she is a product of change. As her poll numbers have decreased and with her recent loss in Iowa, Mrs. Clinton has once again morphed into another candidate. The last two weeks have seen a phenomenal change in Mrs. Clinton as she tries to reposition herself with the voters.
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“I am woman, I am change”. Two weeks ago in a televised debate, Mrs. Clinton was asked if voters should vote for her because she is a woman. Mrs. Clinton responded that “she is a woman who in running for President, not someone who is running for President because she is a woman”. Fair enough, Mrs. Clinton was letting America and her opponents know that she believed she was the best qualified candidate based on her merits and experience and did not need to play the gender card.
Now fast forward two weeks to the next debate. When pressed to explain her apparent contradictory strategies of “35 years of experience” versus her claims to be “the candidate of change” , Mrs. Clinton replied that she should be considered an agent of change just because she is a woman and that a vote for a woman (her) would be a vote for change.
“That hurt my feelings”. Again, two weeks ago, as the clear campaign front runner, Mrs. Clinton was careful to portray herself as calm, composed, and very presidential. She refused to get into emotional battles or let personal feelings interfere with her performance. Some would say she was cold or calculating, but, Mrs. Clinton wanted to portray herself as tough, strong, and able to “keep up with the boys.”
Again, fast forward two weeks and many percentage points later, and we find the new, softer, gentler, more caring Hillary Clinton. During the ABC debate, Mrs. Clinton came up with probably the best line of the campaign with, “well, that hurt my feelings” when asked about her likeability problem with the country. It was charming, sympathetic, and brilliant.
“It’s personal with me.” The following week and based on the huge response to the “hurt my feelings” angle, Mrs. Clinton continued to show the new Hillary with a well timed, well videoed breakdown the day before the Iowa caucus. In a response to a question, Mrs. Clinton who had previously gone to great lengths to not be emotional or let personal feelings get into the way, broke down when explaining how personal the campaign was to her.
Was the move successful? We cannot know for sure; but, the women vote that was absent in her loss to Obama in Iowa was now back in force in New Hampshire. It was clearly the return of the women’s block of votes that propel Hillary to victory and allowed her to avoid an early exit from the campaign.
A lot of people will read this and say, "so what?" This is just good campaigning and politicking. I guess on one level they are right and everything is fair in love and politics. However, one has to wonder. There is no doubt that with the stakes so high, that the temptation to “bend the rules” or “massage the truth” has to be very tempting to all the candidates. The reality is that all of these candidates are chasing a dream that many have had all their lives. How each candidate sticks to their principles, to their character, and to themselves, is a strong indication of how they will lead our country. Sure the temptation is great now; but, how much temptation will there be when they hold the reins of power?
So, who is Hillary Clinton? Well, the answer may be found in the classic film “Pretty Woman”. Remember when Richard Gere first met Julia Roberts and Gere asks, “What’s your name?” Julia Roberts slowly leans over and whispers, “What do you want it to be?”
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