Clinton’s campaign launch: what she must do

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.

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.