Hillary Clinton and the End of Iowa?

Let’s begin this one with a disclaimer: I detest the current presidential primary process. I consider it an unfair and anachronistic approach that should have long ago been corrected. That being said… it’s the method we have, so for the time being at least, the games begin in Iowa…

Our major-party presidential nominees are selected through a time-honored tradition. Based on the theory that the people best suited to select a president are those who know him best, our system relies on aspiring candidates moving into Iowa and New Hampshire for months at a time, visiting small towns throughout these two small states, and giving the electorate a chance to get to know them.

They make speeches there, and hold rallies, but these aren’t the key components of the IA/NH method. The focus is on casual visits, dropping by every little diner they can find, in every small hamlet they pass through. The candidates sit down at table and talk with the customers, often with no press present. The entire economies of Iowa and New Hampshire are based on this odd cycle of presidential campaign tourism; every four years, in the full year preceding the presidential election, these two states are littered with candidates and their staffs, giving business to the small eateries with this unusual brand of tourism.

Candidates may make no effort to get to know the people of Illinois, Texas, California, or Massachusetts; those states aren’t even in play, so why bother? But it’s a rare Iowan or New Hampshirite of college age who can’t list at least a couple of candidates whom he’s met at truck stop diners over the years. Whether entrusting the people of two states to choose our nominees based on whether they liked or trusted them over coffee and doughnuts is beside the point; it’s been our method for decades.

While Republicans often have a front-runner in presidential races, Democrats rarely do (unless, of course, it’s an incumbent). The Democrats therefore find themselves in an unusual position this year, as Hillary Clinton has sucked all the oxygen out of the room for so long, nobody else is making a credible effort. Governor Marty OweMalley of Maryland, Liz “Fauxahontas” Warren of Massachusetts, and Vice President “Uncle Joe” Biden are all nipping at her heels, reminding the public that they’re available if needed… just if a choice might be desired… no offense intended, Ms. Clinton… But they aren’t (currently) much of a threat.

As a result, the Hillary Clinton campaign is in uncharted territory. Iowa diners are for getting to know the American people, but they already know her. There’s nobody in America who doesn’t already know who she is, what she stands for, where she’s been, and where she wants to take us.

In fact, with over 20 years of media attention under her belt, most Americans can probably quote more Hillary Clinton quotes than has been the case with any other presidential candidate in history. Ask an Iowa voter who Hillary is, and, rather than saying “I don’t know, I haven’t had coffee with her yet,” he or she will likely start rattling off some well-known HRC quotes:

“I’m not going to have some reporters pawing through our papers! We are the president!”

Oh yes, the American people know her all too well already. So, what on earth can she do with this carefully-crafted Iowa model of campaigning – a model based on casually introducing voters to heretofore unknown candidates – and successfully twist it into something that can fit her unusual situation?

Confronted with this question, the campaign could have either chosen to accept the status quo, and go through the motions, or to upset the apple cart.

They could certainly have made the case that “You folks don’t need to meet me; you know me so well already, we’re on a first name basis!” They could then have casually done the same tour they all do, but on a Rose Garden strategy that it’s only a courtesy, because the people of Iowa and New Hampshire are already good friends with this particular frontrunner. As long as it wasn’t scripted, this low-key, low-expectations, happy approach might have been successful.

Or they could have chosen to upset the apple cart. They could easily have justified saying “With all due respect, there’s no need for special month-long visits to Iowa and New Hampshire; we’ll spend an equal amount of time in every state, visiting with some of the good people presidents never see because just because their states are so deep-red or deep-blue.” That would have been an inspired choice… but the campaign didn’t have the courage to roll the dice like that.

So what did they choose? The Clinton campaign chose to do Iowa the normal way… or at least, to fake that they were.

They bought a campaign van, figured out a route with the right diners to visit, planned a schedule. They assigned campaign aides – to provide Hillary with that well-deserved “frontrunner entourage,” to ensure that every good image gets photographed, to step in with an excuse to cut the visit short whenever an uncomfortable question was asked.

It doesn’t take a multi-million-dollar campaign to stop at a random diner and talk to the real people in the room, so they didn’t do that. They invited special audiences – known Democratic party activists, fundraisers, local party chairs, and picked them along the way, so that the “table of welcoming strangers” would never really be strangers at all.

When the campaign stopped for a bite at Chipotle – for a genuine meal break – they went incognito: head covering, sunglasses, the silence and distance of a superstar (except perhaps for the fact that a real superstar would have left a generous tip). But when they stopped for a fake meal break, they showered her with cameras and set up a studio audience of pre-approved supporters.

When you can’t even be real in Iowa, the national capital of heartland reality, there’s something really wrong, isn’t there?

As soon as the Hillary Clinton campaign formally commenced, on Sunday April 12, it began to stumble, sometimes hilariously. Her campaign logo – a capital H with an arrow pointing right – was a parodists’ dream, with comedians, cartoonists and Facebook meme-makers thinking that Christmas came really early this year. Her ridiculous story that her grandparents were all immigrants was proven to be a flight of fancy as soon as it was out of her mouth. And her first days on the campaign trail – “faking her way through Iowa” – was a disaster as soon as the artifice was uncovered.

Some will argue – especially her detractors – that this is much ado about nothing. The important thing is the fact that her stances on the issues are mainstream for today’s unapologetically statist Democratic Party, and her background – First Lady, Senator, and Secretary of State – gives her a well-deserved top-tier status that her rivals for the nomination cannot approach. And all that may be true.

But the nation still has a choice to make, even if it sees through these issues.

If Hillary Clinton were the brilliant policy wonk she pretends to be, with a solid command of foreign policy and positions on economic and social issues with which the American people agree, then perhaps the nation wouldn’t mind her total disrespect for our primary tradition, her fakery in the diners, her concocted family histories that are so easily disproven.

But she is NOT a brilliant policy wonk. Her experience is long but thin; her accomplishments negligible. As a First Lady, she attempted to foist on the nation the same nationalized healthcare concept that we now see failing, twenty years later, confirming that her opponents were right all along. As a Senator she accomplished nothing, then ran for president. And as Secretary of State, she brought destabilization to a middle east that her predecessors had tamed, and contributed to the collapse of American influence and respect on the world scene.

So we MUST pay attention to every aspect of her campaign. Every candidate who runs for an executive office can make the claim that past failures were the fault of her managers. Perhaps as Secretary, she was only implementing the policies of the Resident of the White House; they weren’t her choices. Perhaps as Senator, she was just one out of a hundred, and accomplished more behind the scenes than we know. There are always possible explanations.

So when that candidate runs for President, there is at least one aspect of the campaign that can be a blank slate – the campaign itself. We can watch to see how she talks to real voters, how many domestic donors she attracts. We can count how many followers she excites on social media, how many volunteers put her bumper sticker on their cars or her lapel pin on their jackets.

The campaign does matter. It isn’t alone, and it certainly mustn’t take precedence over the candidate’s past writings, past speeches, past voting record, past scandals, or past crimes. But still, the campaign is worth study, and if she acquits herself well in running a campaign, perhaps that particular positive may indeed be worth counting as a plus for her executive ability, in the final analysis.

Unfortunately for Hillary Clinton, all that we have learned of her campaign is more and more fraud. Fake Twitter followers on the internet, fake Iowa voters at the diner, fake family history in an interview about immigration. Her approach to the Iowa caucus campaign just reinforces everything we already know about her. So that extent, it is useful to us, though not a benefit to her.

There is a bright side, however. What if it works? What if her campaign method – blatantly faking her way through Iowa – succeeds, and she wins the caucus, and the nomination, after all?

Then others will copy her approach – there’s no arguing with success, you know! – and before you know it, there will be a clamor to overthrow the IA/NH model of presidential primary selection entirely, as having been rendered utterly inefficient, and too easy to successfully get around.

And if that happens, the nation will be better off for it. There are few more destructive processes in our country than the current presidential nominating calendar, one that gives Iowa and New Hampshire massive power in the selection of our major party presidential candidates.

If Hillary Clinton’s Scooby van, camera-happy campaign aides, and fake dinner companions succeed in helping to reform our antiquated primary process, then Hillary Clinton will have inadvertently done her nation a great service.

John F. Di Leo is a Chicago-based international trade compliance trainer. A former political activist and community theater actor, he served as Milwaukee’s Republican county chairman for one term in the 1980s, but has been a recovering politician now for eighteen years (but, like any addiction, you’re never REALLY cured)…

Permission is hereby granted to forward freely, provided it is uncut and the IR URL and byline are included. Follow John F. Di Leo on Facebook or LinkedIn, or on Twitter at @johnfdileo, or on his own page at www.johnfdileo.com.

The candidates sit down at table and talk with the customers, often with no press present.

The only reason Herself would go would be for the press!

She’s got “people” to tell her what the people think.

Hillary is TOAST. This roll out of her’s was a fail from the get go—Everything about it was just wrong—from the van to the isolated nature of things. She must be off her rocker—She should fire who is ever in charge and talk to Bill—he has more instincts in his little finger that her whole staff. Running for president means taking some risks—answering some question, facing the mob. Having answers. Even a king or queen has to go before the folks before they are crowned. This is the end of Hillary.

Does anyone else get the impression that Hillary is a robot??

For example, when she says the American people need a champion and she wants to be that champion, she sounds like she is parroting back some lines she has memorized. Her speaking style is so unnatural.

I wonder if her handlers and flunkies know this sort of thing,,and for that reason, don’t want to do speeches and rallies. They know that Hillary will not gain support by meeting people.

We should all be reminded that the first president who captured the Iowa caucuses was Jimmy Carter who spent the better part of a year driving around the state and peddling his book with the ironic title “Why Not the Best?” Sorry, Iowa, I’ve never forgiven you for that one.

What is different this time, about the media reaction to Hillary, is the mockery going on, virtually everywhere. This was brought up this morning on a morning show- a video opinion type report that was shown.

She has dealt with people who oppose her, despise her and fear her. But this butt-of-jokes business is new to her and she better shake it fast, before it sets in knocks her out.

That was the point of the report, and I think it is a really obvious point.

Our candidates have forged the path for Hillary in a pratfall, and they have done it with good humor and cheer. Leave the animosity and fear behind and go for marginalizing her as a cartoon.

Heavens, they have plenty of material to work with.

“Why do I have to keep proving to people that I’m not a liar?”

Because Hillary, for one main reason. You have continued your lying about the following charges laid at you (and Bill's feet)!

Hillary, your lying about your well documented relationship with JOHN HUANG!

Hillary, your lying about your well documented relationship with CHARLIE TRIE!

Hillary, your lying about your well documented relationship with NG LAP SENG!

Hillary, your lying about your well documented relationship with JAMES & MOCHTAR RIADY!

Hillary, your lying about your well documented relationship with TED SIOENG!

Hillary, your lying about your well documented relationship with LIU JU-YUAN, Minister of China Aerospace Corporation!

Hillary, your lying about your well documented relationship with KESHI ZHAN!

Hillary, your lying about well documented relationship with SHEN RONG-JUN, Vice Minister of COSTIND!

***

http://www.angelfire.com/md2/Ldotvets/Bubba_47.html

http://alamo-girl.com/treason.htm

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