Hillary

Over four decades, Mike Royko published about 7,500 columns in his hometown of Chicago in three newspapers: the Daily News, the Sun-Times and the Tribune. A year before he died, he reflected on the more-than-probable reelection of Bill Clinton to the White House. Royko did this based on two surveys that moved away from traditional questions and asked citizens two very peculiar questions in order to define their electoral preferences. The first one asked voters which of the two candidates they would choose to take care of their children if they went out to dinner. The second, even more odd, asked which candidate people considered more trustworthy to choose the ingredients for a pizza.

The fundamental part of the issue is that Bill Clinton was chosen, with a large margin, over the other candidate, Bob Dole. It was impossible not to remember this anecdote when the tireless Hillary Clinton decided to run for president. With elements of tragedy, in some extreme cases reaching the grotesque, Hillary Clinton resisted the scandals and blunders; she was stable, with professional preparation beyond doubt and an almost Olympic ambition. However, she always paled in the face her husband’s charismatic power and later that of Obama who, helped by the historic embellishments of his candidacy, took her out of the presidential race.

Hillary Clinton must have wondered about the essence of charisma during television time. At this stage, she could write a thesis that would extend her three-book installment of political memoirs, all of which are destined for self-promotion rather than self-criticism. Her campaign, which has just begun, will be a powerful showing of how the best minds in political marketing try to get her closer to voters that want her in their living room. The exercise of media palatability will come accompanied by a downpour of monetary contributions, a legal absurdity that the Supreme Court allowed when it raised fundraising limits in its decision in Citizens United.

Her reinvention to become the first female president of the United States will consist of conquering those superficial yet fundamental values that voters appreciated in her husband during those times that the great Mike Royko called the Age of Indulgence.