If Hillary can't run a decent campaign, how can she run a country?

[99th_Monkey]

Obama's upbeat "drama-free appeal" consistently wins voters' hearts & continues to draw
more and more super delegates. Rock on Barak!!

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Obama's happy, drama-free appeal
By ROGER SIMON | 4/7/08 6:56 PM EST

Mark Penn is only the latest problem in a campaign that has been heavy on drama and light on results.

In the days and weeks ahead, the Barack Obama campaign is going to pose a simple question to the undecided voters and undeclared superdelegates who will decide the Democratic nomination for president: If Hillary Clinton can’t run a good primary campaign, how is she ever going to run a good campaign against the Republicans?

And while she says she is ready from Day One to be president, she is at something like Day 430 into being a presidential candidate and her campaign seems to be going from bad to worse to train wreck.

Mark Penn, who just got booted as her chief strategist, is only the latest problem in a campaign that has been heavy on drama and light on results.

“None of these folks have ever run anything, other than Hillary running a health care task force,” David Axelrod. *snip*

The Obama campaign is going to tell voters it is proving itself every day. It says it had a calm and deliberate strategy that it has executed well: Win Iowa (I will write more about this in my next column) and then aggregate delegates.

“Mark said, ‘This is about delegates,’” Axelrod said. “But to get them, you have to compete for them in caucuses and primaries. We had an army of eager and willing volunteers in every state, and we were able to rally and marshal them.”

Penn is a master of identifying subsets within the electorate. He wrote a book called “Microtrends” and talked about such things as “Archery Moms” and “Impressionable Elites” and “Caffeine Crazies.”

But Obama has openly derided the “slicing and dicing” of the electorate and has concentrated on one major theme: change. He promises to change the way Washington works.

Clinton has a theme, too: experience. She knows how Washington works. But there is a built-in downside to that.

“In a year when people are rightly jaundiced about the ways of Washington, a strategy that has at its core that you are the ultimate Washington insider seemed ill-conceived to me,” Axelrod said.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0408/9436.html

[andyrowe]

1. Bam

:toast:

[99th_Monkey]

2. Thanks for the rec.

I love that Obama is saying "Hillary has every right to keep running" (without adding the "... on empty" part.

He's got class, I must say.

[TML]

3. Nice find

:kick:

[99th_Monkey]

7. thanx.

for the K & R.

I found it on "real politics.com", which can be a mixed bag; but this seemed like a keeper.

[Raine]

4. with this many problems in a primary campaign

I don't know how she could run a decent General Election campaign either.

Edit: corrected typo

[99th_Monkey]

6. Bingo!

But who cares about the General Election if Hill's the nominee?

After all, Hillary thinks McSame "has better experience" than Obama, so she's just trying to "do us all a favor"
by handing it to McSame?

How could this get any wackier than it's already become? Oops. I'd best be careful what I ask for.

[dkf]

5. No Drama Obama...

:)

[99th_Monkey]

8. Hey? That kinda has a ring to it, huh?

and some truth too boot.

[dkf]

10. Ripped it off someone...but I can't remember where I saw it.

Sure does strike a chord though.

[cliffordu]

9. DING DING DING We have a winner!!! Kicked!!

Best post I wish I'd have found first!!!!

:hi:

:kick:

[99th_Monkey]

11. Gracias

This seems like just the right time for this contrast to be raised, maybe not by Obama, but
it's so freaking true, it needs to be said.

[TexasObserver]

12. Hillary's campaign theme is chronically this: Vote for me, I'm a victim!

She's lived a life of privilege, and has been a spoiled brat for most of that time. Her attitude that she is entitled to the nomination permeates her entire campaign. While she likes to boast of experience she has never had, her fall back theme is always that she is a victim, so all who see themselves as a victims should line up behind her. She's the most depressing, pessimistic candidate we've had running for the nomination in a long, long time.

If she were to be our nominee, in the general election she won't even get the votes she has gotten in primaries, as many of her voters are people who vote Republican in the general election for president, as the polls show.

[PoliticalAmazon]

17. ...alternating with "Vote for me! I'm entitled!" n/t

[TTUBatfan2008]

13. I've been wondering this for a while actually...

I absolutely hate all the personal attacks on Hillary. I'm sick of that stuff. But I think her campaign has not been run very well. It's not entirely her fault, but the people around her have not done a good job with the campaign's strategy and execution of their plans. It just seems like a big mess quite frankly.

[Lilith Velkor]

14. Bush ran a successful campaign twice

How'd that work out for us?

[liberalla]

15. The HRC campaign is somewhat reminiscent of Bush war plans

Bush had no plans what to do after they conquered Iraq. Maintaining the peace, reconstruction, etc.

Hillary had no plans or money for anything after Super Tuesday. She thought the nomination would be hers after that... a "sure" thing. They've been scrambling ever since.

The lack of preparedness and planning for any possible outcome, is a serious concern and extends to more than the running of a campaign.

[Lilith Velkor]

16. The only reason Bush was in a position to not make those plans

was that he ran a successful campaign.

You *do* know that there's more to the Presidency than PR, don't you?

[AllentownJake]

18. You have to get elected

To be President. How can we trust her in the GE when she's done such a terrible job in the Primary season.

[apocalypsehow]

22. Once, not twice. He didn't win in 2000, even though he was sworn in.

n/t.

[Lilith Velkor]

23. The public accepted the coup because it was close enough for a steal anyway

and they (we) didn't feel like having a civil war at the time.

The reason it was even that close was that Gore ran a crappy campaign. Surely you don't think that reflects negatively on the job he would have done as President when compared to Bush, do you?

[D23MIURG23]

24. Gerald Ford didn't run any, how'd that work out for us? n/t

[Lilith Velkor]

25. Not as bad

Although it could be argued that the results of said non-campaign contributed to our current predicament.

[TexanDem]

19. That's been my question a long time! Seems obvious! K&R

[Medusa]

20. Don't worry--she won't win this nomination

so it's not going to be a problem for her--or for us and this country. :evilgrin:

[Life Long Dem]

21. Hillary is connected with a union buster, therefore she is part of the war on the middle class.

[Orsino]

26. She is a corporatist, with a staff full of corporatists...

...to what I imagine is a slightly greater degree than in the Obama campaign. I have to hope that he will tend to appoint/nominate people who have not been so corrupt for so long.

[Araxen]

27. K&R!

:kick::kick::kick::kick::kick::kick::kick::kick::kick:

[Arugula Latte]

28. Excellent question. And the answer is ...

she can't.