No Electrifying Speech – Hillary Clinton Makes America Yawn

The first female candidate in the history of U.S. presidential elections did not manage to get through to young people with her coolness. They are left-wing and like to dream.

Yes, it’s historic. Yes, Hillary Clinton is the first woman to have accepted the presidential nomination from one of the two main American parties. Yes, her acceptance speech on Thursday went well.

But no, you do not get the feeling this caused a wave originating from the Democrats’ National Convention in Philadelphia to go through America. History is being made, the delegates are celebrating their candidate and the nation is bored by it all.

Word has gotten around that Hillary Clinton is not popular. In addition, she is carrying two heavy burdens with her into the critical phase of the election campaign. Firstly, the woman who wants to be the first female president of the U.S. must fight for the young voters.

Americans under the age of 30 are for the most part left-wing, and they lean toward the Democrats. In 2008, they were largely responsible for Barack Obama’s victory. This year, however, the young people do not even seem to have decided whether they will actually vote on the eighth of November.

‘Stronger Together’ – That Is Not Catchy Enough

The other problem: Clinton has a manifesto, but she is missing a catchy title. “Change We Believe In” was Obama’s slightly empty but still attractive slogan in 2008. Her speech on Thursday was built around the message of “Stronger Together.”

That sounds good, but it is less catchy than her rival Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again.” Everyone can imagine the meaning behind this promise: it means new factories and jobs for workers, better-equipped schools for the children of the middle class, and a clear security-political premise for soldiers.

Clinton’s “Stronger Together” appeal does not have a clear enough message. Who is going to work with whom? The Democrats and the Republicans? Have fun in Congress! Americans and (illegal) immigrants? Trump would clip that around the Democrat’s ears. Black Lives Matter activists and white policemen?

Cases of police violence against black people and deadly shootings targeting cops are too recent for such utopic ideas. “Love Trumps Hate” is a nice word play of Clinton’s election campaign. However, “Love Trumps Hate” sounds more like fairy lights and singing “Kumbaya” than strong governance.

Sanders’ Motto Is Burnt

“Feel the Bern,” her internal opponent’s slogan, was suggestive in its vagueness. For young supporters of Bernie Sanders, it conjured up images of revolution, barricade fights and even burning banks on Wall Street. And now that Sanders has given in, his motto is burnt.

Hillary Clinton relies on reasoning instead of emotion—unlike Sanders and his irresponsible make-a-wish program and the exact opposite, in particular, of Trump’s resentment. Clinton is leading a “Feel the Brain” campaign for which she lacks a title.

Back to Clinton’s problems with the young target group. Not only did Obama win because of a high turnout in the 2008 elections of African-Americans, who are affine to the Democrats anyway, but also thanks to first-time voters: 44.3 percent of them voted in 2008, compared to only 41.9 percent four years earlier.

In 2012, only 38 percent of young people voted. It was not only thanks to the young voters and voters of ethnic minorities that Obama was able to beat his Republican opponent Mitt Romney, but mainly thanks to unmarried women.

Clinton Continues To Be Dependent on Sanders

Clinton not only has to fight for the young voter turnout to increase again, but also for the majority of the votes from 18- to 29-year-olds. In this group, her approval rate is at a miserable 31 percent. In comparison, Obama’s rate was 64 percent in that age group.

This is due to a lack of trust in the candidate and the young’s veneration of the democratic socialist Sanders. In Philadelphia, the senator buried the hatchet and started backing Clinton. However, one endorsement speech cannot eliminate all the previous continued attacks.

Clinton continues to be dependent on Sanders. He will have to talk to his “Sanderistas” a lot to lobby for Clinton. And Clinton, who is actually a centrist politician, has to pay a political price and preach left-wing ideas, which makes her, as a Republican in her youth and a centrist politician today, feel uneasy.

And lastly, there is the problem of America’s lack of confidence in Clinton. She has damaged her image herself. In September 2012, she misinformed the public when she declared the deaths of four Americans in Benghazi, Libya, including the ambassador, the result of spontaneous violence in response to an anti-Muslim video instead of admitting early on that it was indeed a planned terrorist attack.

Transparency Only When Inevitable

This dishonesty toward the families of the victims hurt her image even more than her using her e-mail accounts against regulations during her time as secretary of state.

She did it because she did not want her correspondence to end up on the official servers. And this confirms her general image as a gimmick who is above the rules and who only allows for transparency when it is inevitable.