I support Hillary Clinton for President. I think she is the best qualified, hardest working, most pragmatically progressive candidate in this race. She is the most electable candidate we have judging by polling, and I believe she has credibility and bona fides among the DC establishment to actually get things done as President.
So here is my plan to get Hillary back on track.
- Go after Bush and the GOP -
Hillary should focus on reminding voters how bad the Bush years have been. She should focus on the bad decisions, the lies, how ill-suited he was to be President and the cost to Americans. In order to replace Bush and fix the mess made, you need someone with experience, a clear vision, and the ability to implement an agenda. You also need someone who can take on the GOP machine and that no one is better prepared to do that than she. If she could do this in a TV ad, with a juxtaposition of images, it would remind people what is at stake and how hard it will be to wrest control of the White House from the GOP, no matter how weak they appear to be.
I think one of the problems she has had is that the GOP reference point has been missing for a few months. There is no GOP front runner and Bush is absent in the debates and in rhetoric. Hillary did better when Dems feared Rudy as a potential nominee and when Bush was promoting war and threatening more war. Reintroducing Bush to the voters is likely to focus their attention.
- Accomplishments, Vision and Narrative -
In my view, Hillary is a pragmatic problem solver who will be fiscally conservative, socially progressive, and will have a sane, internationalist foreign policy. That's something that most of this country will find appealing.
She should give bullet summaries of what she will do and what she has done in the context of a narrative (the vision thing). It often gets lost in the shuffle how much Hillary has done on domestic and international policy and what her underlying motivation or governing philosophy is. She needs to give 3 or 4 pieces of legislation that mattered and a summary of what she will do on Iraq, jobs, the deficit etc. In short, she needs to redefine her narrative in a way that actually connects with what she has been doing as a policymaker and legislator.
- Identify Obama's Vulnerabilities and Deliver Focused, Thoughtful Criticisms -
Hillary was on to something in the debate when she said that 7 years ago a lot of Americans voted for the President they wanted to have a beer with. In many ways, we are taking the same risk with Obama (though Obama is a person of far more ability), and America cannot afford a President who is likeable but has no experience to do the job. Obama's vulnerabilities on health care and social security deserve also further scrutiny. When Paul Krugman was criticizing Obama, his numbers were more in line with the other candidates in Iowa. When that scrutiny passed, his numbers grew. Right now, Hillary is throwing everything at the dart board to see what sticks. That isn't going to work. A more focused criticism of Obama that factually connects to his qualifications will be more effective.
The second issue Hillary needs to tackle is Obama's electability. The way to do that is to identify a GOP front-runner who would cause Democrats the most heartburn in red and purple states (e.g., Huckabee or McCain) and explain to people the vulnerabilities that Obama would face. He has never polled well in the South (a few polls during his hot streak notwithstanding).
- Revitalize Her Image -
Hillary needs to re-introduce herself as a decent, humane, hard-working professional and mother who has held her family together in spite of incredible odds, and has an incredible gift for forgiveness, selflessness and tenacity because she sees the big picture and wants the best for her country. That is Hillary in a nutshell when viewed in her best light: a pragmatic progressive who cares and will do whatever it takes to improve the lives of Americans. People need to know that story.
Unfortunately, the Edwards folks have done a lot of dirty work painting Hillary as an unlikeable, cold-hearted corporate machine (and Edwards deserves a punch in the mouth for his hypocritical nastiness, but that's for another diary). It is a characterization that is so far from the truth it is maddening to people like me who have followed her for 15 years. This is the woman who after all boldly declared to the world that women's rights are human rights. However, Hillary did her part to walk into that narrative with her vote on Kyl-Lieberman, as it reminded people that she has a tendency to play triangulation politics on things that matter, like national security. By humanizing herself with ads and town hall meetings, she can reverse this trend. Edwards' voice will become more muted as he heads down the path of irrelevancy and that should make it easier for her to tell her story.
- Embrace the Clinton Years unabashedly -
Hillary should take credit for what happened during the Clinton presidency, because by all accounts. she was consulted on every major decision and took a lead role on key issues. The Clinton years were great for America for all segments of society, and she should tell people that she can bring back that prosperity and respect that America enjoyed when Bill was at the helm.
She still has a great chance to win the nomination. A lot of people who have not yet had an opportunity to vote or be courted have real doubts about Obama's ability to win a general election against the GOP machine or to govern effectively. There are fewer doubts with respect to Hillary on those points. If she can get out of NH with a sense of viability, she will have 3 weeks or so to reframe this election to her advantage.