Secretary Clinton greets voters at Roosevelt Park, New York, on the day of her official campaign launch.
Credit: Clinton Campaign
by Etse Sikanku
Hillary
Clinton, former first lady, former secretary of state and scion
of the Democratic Party, launches her campaign for president today. If Hillary prevails, this date will be noted
as the day everything started.
Ever since
announcing her intentions, Hillary has run a pretty smooth campaign. You’ve got
to congratulate her campaign team for a solid, well-oiled and particularly
sturdy machine despite the many intrusions. She has remained unperturbed and completely
focused. Her grassroots tour is a far departure from the hegemonic posturing of
the last campaign and there’s a clear effort to reshape and reinvent both
candidate and campaign.
Previews of her campaignlaunch indicate an attempt to first of all officially introduce her as a candidate, define her campaign message and
provide a solid raison d’être for her campaign. These are all really good
intentions for an announcement speech. One
of the things I really liked Obama’s announcement speech back in 2007 was his
ability to address seeming weaknesses of his campaign and doubts about his
ability to win:
“I understand the skepticism. I recognize there is a certain presumptuousness -- a certain audacity -- to this announcement. I know I haven't spent a lot of time learning the ways of Washington. But I've been there long enough to know that the ways of Washington must change.”
“I know there are those who don't believe we can do all these things.”
Obama’s
speech also focused heavily on the themes of “togetherness”/“communalism” and
American exceptionalism. Of course the speech was largely inspiring too.
Address weaknesses
One of the
things the Clinton campaign should do is to address certain emerging concerns
about her candidacy. Two immediately come to mind: her declining level of trust among voters and
the perception that she is status quo. She doesn’t have to address the scandals
directly but she can’t have an announcement without touching on the effects
those scandals are having on the campaign.
Project Strength
Next Clinton
must not be shy to project her strengths. She has to clearly tell us why she’s
running for president, but in addition tell us why she’s the right person to do
the job. Again these arguments can be woven around her experiences and
accomplishments without sounding boastful. One may assume voters already know
these things about Clinton but you don’t have to take anything for granted on a
day like this. This is the one great chance to define yourself before another
person does.
Inspire
Also another thing the Clinton campaign badly
needs is a dose of inspiration. We’ve heard about how she’s going to weave her
campaign message around the experiences of her Mum. We understand why she’s
chosen Roosevelt Park for her launch. However this campaign is in dire need of
some inspiration—what the political people call the “enthusiasm gap”.
Clinton by
her character is a very serious minded and substantive person. That’s all good
but for her to galvanize people the way Obama did she needs something to fire
up voters. I think Clinton has a clear chance to do so by telling us about her
own life story and how she went from being a little girl from Park Ridge to New
York Senator to Secretary of State. She’s the first female prohibitive front
runner of a major political party in the greatest nation on earth. There are
many across the world who look up to her
She doesn’t have to run her campaign like Obama but she has a real chance to inspire many women in America and across the world by her accomplishments and endeavors. There are many young girls and women who are likely to sign up for public office and aspire to greater heights simply by her story. She should rump that up.
She doesn’t have to run her campaign like Obama but she has a real chance to inspire many women in America and across the world by her accomplishments and endeavors. There are many young girls and women who are likely to sign up for public office and aspire to greater heights simply by her story. She should rump that up.
Don’t cede to Rubio on American
exceptionalism
Hillary must
not cede the exceptionalism theme to Rubio. Though Rubio’s life story clearly
fit into the notion of the American Dream, Hillary must not simply hold back
here. First the American narrative is an important one in American presidential
elections and Hillary must tap into it. Second this narrative is beyond
politics; it lies at the heart of American cultural life and values. It’s one
of the best ways to tap into voter sentiments. And then also this narrative can
help to close the enthusiasm gap among her followers. After all, it’s not as
though she doesn’t have an American Dream story of her own to tell. She has a
truly moving and authentic story to tell as a female who has “cracked the glass
ceiling” in ways that many girls in other countries can only dream of. From Chicago to Yale to Arkansas to the Senate to the State Department. Now that's an all American story.
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