Now that she is an official candidate, for the former secretary of state, the real task is to build a winning platform: between the Democrats and in the country itself.
When in 2008 then-Sen. Barack Obama was asked how he would describe Hillary Clinton, his rival in the primary elections, he replied, “likeable enough.” He was right. She wasn’t sufficiently nice; so much so that he was the one to win the election. Clinton, the favorite by far, was in fact defeated as a result of this “enough.” The former first lady has learned her lesson. She has to be likeable, totally likeable, if she wants to become the first female president in the history of the U.S.A.
After having warmed the engines for months and months, her electoral vehicle has set off. To reach her destination, the first thing to do is to avoid repeating past mistakes. Hillary Clinton must therefore be in harmony with Americans. Empathy with them will be the winning card.
Enough of the Cold Hillary
Her advisors have studied the past in depth. Clinton’s image has always had her as distant, out of reach, aristocratic and powerful, very far from the average American. Seeing her on a podium and hearing her make a speech has always had the same effect: detachment. Now it’s time for warmth, something that she expresses when she finds herself in the company of small groups of people. This is why her electoral campaign gurus have decided to organize election events under the banner of intimacy: meetings and dinners with small groups of supporters, who are then shown again by newspapers, television and social media.
Hillary must no longer be the wholly rational and political woman that she has appeared to be in recent years. To help her in this transformation there is also her new role as grandmother: an empathetic woman who takes care of America, as is the message in her first video.
Currently, she doesn’t seem to have adversaries. She definitely doesn’t among the Democrats. Joe Biden is very far from the percentages substantiated by the former first lady. Elisabeth Warren, the liberal senator, could present some inconvenience, but she has made it known that she doesn’t intend to take part in the race.
Even among the Republicans, opportunities seem to be few. Jeb Bush has still to make his announcement. Marco Rubio’s is to come. It will be the last one, after those from Ted Cruz and Rand Paul. For now, they seem to be faded figures compared to the giant that is Clinton.
The Electoral Machine
The former secretary of state already has a formidable electoral machine at her shoulders. Apart from the endorsement from Barack Obama and half the Democratic party, Hillary Clinton can count on a Super PAC, a political action committee, which has already got together around $15 million in a few months, starting from September 2014.
Millionaires like Warren Buffet have invited voters to bet on Hillary’s final win. Her fame and popularity, her political experience — she was also New York senator — and her determination to make history as the first female president of the U.S.A. seem to be the determining ingredients to help her reach that objective.
Her campaign will be characterized by a focus on the economy, which must be improved, despite the recovery of gross domestic product and employment rates; on opportunities — there shouldn’t be class A and class B Americans; on the increase of social inequality — and here Clinton, member of the political but also economic aristocracy in the U.S.A., must prove to be convincing and on climate change, which will become a priority.
Continuity With Obama
These are all topics dear to Barack Obama, although he has distanced himself from them in the past when the president’s popularity was at a historical low. Now that Obama’s support has grown, Clinton seems to intend to lay claim to this inheritance through a political program under the banner of continuity.
On the internal front, the two have very similar, moderately liberal ideas, even though commentators have said that Hillary is more centrist than Obama. On the external front, however, she is much more interventionist than Obama. At the time, she was for the intervention in Iraq, and then as secretary of state, she was in favor of the one in Libya.
Clinton must therefore present herself as the one who can do what Obama couldn’t: Improve the United States’ state of health more than the current president has.
How will the electorate respond? She is already ahead in the polls. However, a year and a half is a long time. Hillary remembers the blow in 2008 well. She seemed destined for victory, and then at the primary elections, a certain Barack Obama showed up, who, with his ability and his sometimes more liberal, sometimes more centrist political stances, pinched the position. Now, Clinton seems ready to not repeat the same mistakes. The experience accumulated in the last years will be very precious.
At 68, Hillary is certainly not a new name for Americans. Since the 90s, she has been at the forefront in one way or another. She wants to transform what could seem like a handicap into a virtue. Her characteristics, including her age, can make her America’s champion, the person who looks after the country: the first woman in the history of the U.S.A. to sit in the Oval Office. She is ready. Are the voters?
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