Last Thursday Gail Collins, in her NY Times column followed up her column of the previous Thursday by providing more guidance for Hillary Clinton on how to run her campaign. The last suggestion was that she let the Sanders people write the Party platform. Ms. Collins most recent suggestion was that she cut loose of Bill and President Obama and run as her own person. Ms. Collins also pointed out that Secretary Clinton comes across as lacking passion and vision. Once again, Ms. Collins is very insightful.
Ms. Collins column comes at a time when the Clinton supporters in the media and in the Democratic Party establishment are whining about Bernie Sanders seemingly because he has not turned all his delegates over to Secretary Clinton and promised not to attend the convention or if he does attend, promise not to mention the policies he supports that have energized millions of citizens both in the Democratic Party and without. (As has often happened in her campaign, Secretary Clinton has walked back what her backers are saying. On tv on Sunday she said that Senator Sanders is perfectly entitled to carry on campaigning as long as he wishes. Apparently her supporters at the Times didn’t get the message so there is a front page article today about how Senator Sanders should give up campaigning. It’s handy to have people who seem like spokespersons for her campaign say things and then have her act like those statements are the farthest thing from her mind. See statements by Chelsea and Bill.) Finally, Clinton supporters are complaining that Senator Sanders insistence that he is entitled to speak his mind and collect political supporters prevents her from focusing on trashing Trump and “pivoting” towards the election, i.e., abandoning progressive policies and moving to her comfort zone of Clintonian Third Way Republicanism.
Actually what the current state of affairs in the Democratic Party provides is an opportunity for Secretary Clinton to turn her campaign around into one that might overcome the negatives shown in the polls on the front page of the NY Times on Friday, which seem to show that in the minds of citizens she is not much different from Trump. But to do this, Secretary Clinton has to take a deep breath and not only send Bill out of the country and stop looking for vindication from President Obama, but also embrace Bob Dylan’s song “The Times They Are A’Changing”.
Secretary Clinton has an ideal opportunity to show leadership, energize the Democratic base and show herself to be in charge of a Democratic Party which committed to serious change for 99%. First, she should say that she has heard the call by much of the country for significant changes, and she wants to make those changes happen. As part of that, she should promise that when she has enough committed delegates to get the nomination, she will insist that the platform committee consist of at least ½ Sanders delegates.
Second, she should announce that she has heard the complaints about the way in which delegates are selected for the Democratic convention, and she feels that the nomination process must not only be fair, but it must appear to be fair. Thus, at the convention she will do all she can to encourage the Party to create a commission to consider how to make the nomination process as open and fair as possible.
Third, she should explain that she knows that America cannot be a society that only works for 1% of the people, and that she wants to restore the balance in society. And, yes, she knows this view will offend many in the 1%, including some people who are friends of hers and possibly supporters of hers in previous campaign, but that she is committed to being President of all the people, and not just people who invite her to speak at their meetings.
Fourth, she should make a dramatic gesture to demonstrate her commitment to these ideas. An obvious one is to announce that she and Bill are selling their house in the Hamptons, giving the proceeds to various food banks around the country (her Foundation has so many problems giving more money to it just looks bad), and moving into some place that puts her more in touch with the 99%.
Doing all this would get her at the top of the news ahead of whatever nonsense Trump is spouting that day. If she spread these actions over several days, she would capture a lot of free positive publicity.
More importantly, she would show herself to be a leader, as she visibly takes steps to fix problems that she sees. She’s running for President; she needs to show that she is a leader. Suggesting that she would turn economic policy in her administration over to Bill was a big mistake, even if on Sunday she was walking that back, too. She needs to bury the idea that she thinks she needs to turn part of her job as President over to others, and particularly not to men (Trump is already having fun with Bill; why would she make it easier for him to do so?). The best “pivot” to the election is for Secretary Clinton to show that she can make decisions and act decisively to fix problems. That would be a great contrast with Trump.
The best “pivot” to the election would be to have a clear and concise vision of how to make the country better for the 99% and to be passionate and excited by that vision.