Posted on 05/23/2006 6:20:45 PM PDT by blam
Dull Hillary stumbles and the memory of Bill lingers on
By Francis Harris in Washington
(Filed: 24/05/2006)
Hillary Clinton may be the Democratic front-runner for the presidency but she seems to have a lot to learn about campaigning for the White House.
In a weighty speech to journalists at the National Press Club in Washington yesterday, the senator squandered an opportunity to shine before a critically important audience - the journalists who will present her to the public if, as expected, she declares her candidacy for the 2008 nomination.
It began well enough. Resplendent in a lemon yellow two-piece and expensively bejewelled, her star power was plain the moment she entered the room. Everywhere, necks craned for a sight of the immaculately coiffured New York senator.
But then she lost it. The half-hour speech was achingly dull, a meandering lecture on energy policy which left the audience stifling yawns.
It was hard not to recall the charisma of her husband, Bill, the former president, and Mrs Clinton seemed to sense things had not gone well.
As she droned towards the finish, she looked out at a silent, glassy-eyed audience and acknowledged that her speech was a little unusual. "I know this is probably more wonkish than many of you had anticipated," she said, moments after offering her plans for something called geologic carbon sequestration. "But I feel very strongly about it."
There was a murmur of laughter but only minutes earlier some of those at the breakfast meeting appeared to have slumped into unconsciousness.
Others stifled yawns, held their chins in their hands or stared at the carpet or ceiling. By the time two women peace protesters made their predictable intervention on Iraq (and were predictably carried out by Mrs Clinton's burly secret servicemen) the assembled journalists had largely stopped listening.
The melee did at least open the way for questions. Mrs Clinton was asked: "You're here to talk about energy, but most people are here because they think you will run for president." She affected surprise before offering a cautious and well-rehearsed answer, claiming that she didn't think about such things.
However preposterous her response (she has raised more than £10 million for a senate re-election battle which will cost far less), there was a respectful silence. But everyone laughed when she was asked what she would like to be remembered for if her career ended now. "I don't want it to end now," she said.
That sort of ambiguity feeds America's fascination with Mrs Clinton.
Yesterday a 2,000-word examination of the Clinton marriage in the New York Times, produced no firm conclusion other than Mr Clinton remained by far the better public performer while she was "starchy". Her performance yesterday did nothing to overturn that notion.
Sounds like he taught her how to deliver it, too!
...geologic carbon sequestration...
Bet you can't say that three times fast.
Dull---Duh---
Guess I don't know the meaning of fascination
Hillary is upset, she can't concentrate, she can't keep from thinking of Al Gore. She knows she can't beat the man. Hillary knows that Gore killed Manbearpig and everyone is super-stoked on him, even if they don't know it....
Is Geologic Carbon Sequestration a new method of estimating the amount of ice tea AlGore has consumed?
The RATS are about to crown this woman as their leader without realizing her grave limitations both as a candidate and as a potential President.
HA! That's not what we've heard here on FR.
She is only slightly more insufferable than the bent one. I never in a million years will understand how some people think that fool is charming.
It began well enough. Resplendent in a lemon yellow two-piece and expensively bejewelled, her star power was plain the moment she entered the room. Everywhere, necks craned for a sight of the immaculately coiffured New York senator.
But then she lost it. The half-hour speech was achingly dull, a meandering lecture on energy policy which left the audience stifling yawns.
I'll bet this isn't the way it will be reported in the Washington Post or the NY Times.
Are you cereal??
It sounds like a part of Helen Thomas's annual medical checkup.
This was fun to read. She not only needs a face transplant, she needs a charisma transplant.
If she runs, and I think she will, election 2008 could be fun!
Which one of us needs a bra? (He has been putting back on his post surgery weight, huh?)
Ol' Bill needs a Manzeer - his boobs are almost as big as his girlfriend's.
Definitions of fascination on the Web:
the state of being intensely interested (as by awe or terror)
Yeah, being interested in what scheme she has based on terror would describe my facination with her.
And current law will allow her to keep the unused funds for her 2008 adventure.
Playing "pocket Billiard"???
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