Politico has
some advice for Hillary Clinton should she run for president and it's a doozy. According to John Harris and Maggie Haberman (this is such high-level analysis it took two reporters to come up with it), Hillary should be sure of the following, among other inanities:
Don't turn into Mitt Romney.
Sure, Hillary is very popular while Mitt was seen as "awkward, elitist, insular, and just a bit odd," they acknowledge. But still! Her popularity will decline if she runs and becomes a more partisan figure, so ... well, they had to get Mitt Romney into this piece somehow, and apparently making sense was not really a priority.
Don't turn into Al Gore.
Obviously Gore had to make an appearance here, too, so he's dragged in to make the point that Clinton faces a challenge in distinguishing herself from Barack Obama without alienating his supporters. It's a basic point, but if you mention Al Gore in bold print, suddenly it's
sexy and attention grabbing.
Define her record at Foggy Bottom.
"Foggy Bottom" is, of course, "state department" in Beltway-speak. So, duh, Clinton should have something to say about her last job. Again, it takes two reporters for this required analysis.
Get some ideas.
I'm going to go ahead and quote from this section so you get the flavor directly. "Few operatives think 2014 is the time to be plunging deeply into policy proposals and describing the details of a Clinton presidency." And then: "But ..." Have ideas, but only vaguely!
Get some rest.
Right. Define yourself, address a number of issues that only political reporters care about, seem warm and cuddly for the public, walk a balance beam with regard to the current president, develop your campaign themes without seeming to publicly talk too much about issues ... and get some rest.