Posted on 01/27/2016 12:30:34 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
In the race to win Iowa's caucuses, Hillary Clinton is back where she started.
Less than a week before her first big test in the Democratic primary, Clinton is confronting an eerily similar mood to 2008, when Barack Obama upset her in the Hawkeye State.
Back then, Clinton leaned on her experience, hoping it would result in a win.
She's hitting many of the same keys in this go-around against Bernie Sanders, seeking to cement the argument that she is the most "tested" candidate in her party.
"Somehow, they got back to the same structure as 2008," said Pat Rynard, founder of the Democratic news site IowaStartingLine.com. "And it's playing out in the same way."
A Democratic strategist who regularly speaks to members of Clinton's team said the campaign has clearly made a decision to present her as the "serious, sober, and responsible one in the race."
"That's the card they're playing," the strategist said. "They've made a clear decision that they're not going to inspire people. Instead they're going to make the case that they're the legitimate option."
Clinton could be forgiven for a deja vu moment.
Sanders is appealing to the same liberal white voters and young people who were attracted to Obama.
Even the conversations are similar.
At Monday night's Democratic town hall, for example, Sanders criticized Clinton for her vote on the Iraq War - an argument Obama used to win the state in 2008.
Clinton's latest effort in solving the puzzle that is Iowa is to home in on her experience, just as she did in 2008. It's a shift for her campaign; the former first lady and secretary of State in previous weeks highlighted her electability.
A Clinton aide said the Democratic front-runner is telegraphing a two-part message in the lead up to Monday.
Her team wants to present her as tested, tough and proven. At the same time, she is aiming to cast herself as a strong advocate for those in need - whether it is young people looking for help to attend college or working people seeking healthcare for themselves and their children.
The two points are intended to help Clinton compete with Sanders, who has won voters over with his criticism of the political system.
Clinton is casting herself as a "tireless fighter," in the words of one aide, who has "spent her entire life taking on the toughest fights on behalf of families and children."
And in contrast to Sanders, the Clinton team is suggesting she could actually get things done - both because she can win in November and because of her readiness to deal with Washington.
At the Monday night town hall, she praised a powerful Sanders campaign ad set to Simon and Garfunkel's "America" that demonstrated the excitement his campaign has generated, particularly with young voters.
Clinton said she "loved it," but added that "you campaign in poetry; you govern in prose."
The former New York senator doubled up at a get-out-the-caucus event in Iowa on Tuesday, jabbing the Vermont independent by saying, "there are a lot of good ideas in the world but you've got to be able to act on them."
Clinton received a boost from Obama earlier this week when the president offered a near-endorsement to Politico and said she was "extraordinarily experienced - and you know, smart and knows every policy inside and out."
Asked if he saw similarities between the Sanders campaign and his own, Obama said, "I don't think that's true."
But those watching the race on the ground can't help but draw parallels - and wonder if Clinton will fail at solving the Iowa puzzle for a second time.
Rynard gave credit to Clinton's campaign for sharpening her message, especially when it comes to her experience on foreign policy and where she differs with Sanders on healthcare. But he still can't square why Team Clinton has trouble making their candidate sound more exciting.
"Why can't they make her history of results more inspirational?" he asked. "What isn't moving about a child getting more access to healthcare? What's not inspirational about a young kid not being hit by rocket attacks because she negotiated a cease-fire?"
"I'm having trouble understanding that," he said.
EXACTLY the argument Trump's using.
FR THREAD: Mark Levin Lashes Out at Donald Trump: 'Might as Well Vote for Jeb Bush'
..."I've always had a good relationship with Nancy Pelosi. I've never had a problem. Reid will be gone." [Trump] added, "I was always very good with Schumer. I was close to Schumer in many ways. It's important that you get along."...
Almost nobody we know in the D party wants te have Hillary shoved down their throats — evrn less so than in 2008 ( before her disasterous Sec of State stint). And remember they voted for an ineligible unknown inexperienced foreign enemy agent instead of her , then. They’ll vote for Bernie the Red this time to avoid Hillary.
Ronald Reagan giving a speech at the Democrat National Convention for Harry Truman. Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall are in the background.
“Why can’t they make her history of results more inspirational?”
Like what? Being handed a lay up Senate seat where she wrote zero bills? Being handed the SOS job to hone her creds? Failed HillaryCare? Putting down bimbo eruptions? Just what exactly is this clown talking about?
Serious about $$$
Sober before breakfast (most days)
Responsible for what happened to Vince Foster
Tested, or at least Testy
Tough on women raped by her husband
Proven Fighter against The Truth
When do I get my payment from the campaign?
Was Harry Truman for gay marriage? No one knows since the idea would have seemed absurd to his generation, but as late as 1963, he wasn't even for interracial marriage. He wasn't for shutting down coal. Heck, he wasn't even against Jim Crow outside of military integration. If you had asked him if welfare for able-bodied adults without a work requirement was a good idea, he'd have laughed at you. And if you had asked him about opening up immigration from non-white regions of the globe, he'd have looked at you like you had two heads. Schumer is for all of those things.
Truman's positions were way to the right of many things Reagan espoused in the 80's. Schumer and Pelosi are to the left of even the most left-wing Democrats in today's political world, never mind Truman. And the Donald thinks Schumer and Pelosi are great.
: )
Subliminal play on TESTICLE?
"WASHINGTON - Donald Trump on Sunday admitted he considered becoming George H.W. Bush's running mate, but denied it was ever his idea.
The potential Bush-Trump ticket was first revealed in a new biography by historian Jon Meacham, who writes in "Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush" that the 41st president considered the idea "strange and unbelievable."
The book claims Trump was the one seeking to be veep and asked Bush aide Lee Atwater to vet him for the ticket. But Trump claims it was the other way around."....
Clintons problem is that she is dragging more baggage than Jacob Marley.
In President Reagan’s time, the issue was Communism. The Democrat Party was rife with Communists. Communists had successfully infiltrated the Democrat Party, and Hollywood. Reagan had even campaigned for ultra liberal actress Helen Gahagen Douglas, who ran against Richard Nixon for the U.S. Senate. Nixon accused Douglas of being a Communist sympathizer and won the race.
SERIOUS: a deadly serious liar
SOBER: WTF?
RESPONSIBLE: Yes, for a whole lot of things but you’ll never get her to admit it
TESTED: Hell yes, if you were married to a two-d!ck billy goat you’d be tested frequently too!
TOUGH: Yes, no longer “Pretty in Pink” worthy, she’s going for the harridan vote today.
PROVEN FIGHTER: If Fighter equals indignant congenital liar, then yes.
“I wear the chains I forged in life,Ebenezer”
Forgot enabler,liar,traitor,Fraud,crook,all around scumbag
Really, CW? You post an article about Hillary and try to use it to slam Trump? What, were the pickings slim today?
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