Posted on 05/24/2006 12:24:18 AM PDT by MadIvan
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.
Leni
IIRC, it was not described as something that could "hang"....
Certainly, it would not hang well...
Anything to cause a massive civil war in the Democratic Party...I am in favor of.
"Mrs. Clinton will not run. She lives by the polls, and if they are the same as today, she will stay in her present position."
Mrs. Clinton is not concerned with polls. She is concerned with two things. 1) Can she win the primary, knowing she already alienated many on the left and 2) If she does win the primary, can she steal a large enough red state to put her over the top.
I believe they are working on number two first.
What I would really like is a picture of Hillary holding up that headline, "Bush Knew" on the floor of the Senate while calling for an investigation of 9/11. I saw it on TV, but haven't seen a photo anywhere. Then Sandy Berger goes in and steals and loses documents relevant to that investigation. This is what she will have to face if she runs for POTUS. The real "Culture of Corruption".
Well, that leaves McCain out.
"I pray Gore and Kerry give it another run..."
The person to watch out for is Feingold. He is leaning more to the left than Kerry and Clinton and he has money. Plus, he can win in some of the big primaries.
Couple him with a Warner, Bayh or Richardson and you have a good ticket to compete in 08.
A truly smart person can make a speech that communicates information and is also engaging. She can't. No personality.
I have never feared the Witch and always felt she would set the all-time record for negative turnout if she did mangage to get the nomination. She is dumber and duller than a box of rocks, when unprotected and having to think on her feet, as in a very long presidential run.
He doesn't need encouragement. He's already running. Problem is, I think he'll win the nomination and will be harder to beat in the general election than most people here think.
You read my mind.
I want to see the 'expensive jewelry.' She usually wears cheap costume jewlery, plastic pearls, etc.
Pinz
If anyone has a picture, please post.
When it comes to finding specific Hillary pics, hope springs infernal.
Leni
Seems like The Onion is part of the 'Hillary is just so smart' game plan.
http://www.theonion.com/content/node/48757
Sorry, for some reason the site will not allow me to copy the text, but the gist of it in a tongue in cheeck manner is that Hillary is 'just too smart and competent to be president.'
Actually, Hillary and Algore together sequestrate a fair amount of carbon right there. Algore does spew more than the usual amount of greenhouse gases, but on balance....
She is a stain on decency.
Let's assume President Reagan rose from the grave. Recall his power of oratory, the turn of phrase, the sophistication yet simple genius of his philosophy. Faced with his skills hitting her full force, Hillary's brain would leak out of her ears, having melted into a thin gruel.
She is notable only for celebrating her own cleverness, and celebrating it as a contrast to the stupidity she perceives in the general public. She really thought you lot would buy that whole ridiculous "Yankees" explanation. She really thought she could bamboozle you lot into accepting socialised medicine. She still thinks she is going to outwit you all and achieve the Presidency, and thinks you'll accept her facade of humility as being genuine.
She doesn't fool me, nor anyone else here. Her bewilderment and rage at people like us is also symptomatic of her idiocy - her intellect is obviously not flexible enough to take into account how she might be perceived by others.
Regards, Ivan
2: "Ambiguity" might be fascinating to moonbats and fanatics for royalty, but is not anywhere on the list of characteristics sane people want in a leader.
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