The American Leadership Project, a new “independent expenditure” group set up to help Sen. Hillary Clinton, released its first ad, “Blueprint” which is largely positive and focused on middle-class issues, delivering a backhanded jab at Sen. Barack Obama only in its introductory line.
The campaign also plans to go after Obama on the issue of who is better qualified to be commander-in-chief.
This is basically what I have suggested the Clinton campaign should have been doing:
I have recently suggested that Hillary start remembering the forgotten middle-class, which would serve several purposes. It would provide a focus to her campaign. It would match the demographics of must-win states like Ohio and Pennsylvania. It would provide an opening to engage Obama at the level of policy, which is his weaker suit (as compared to the “vision thingâ€Â).
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It is somewhat remarkable that Hillary rarely sells herself as the best â€Âcommander in chiefâ€Â and rarely directly compares herself to Obama in this way. It is remarkable because when she was elected, she aggressively lobbied to get a seat on the Senate Armed Services Committee – presumably to gain a credential, if not the expertise, with which to argue that she would make a better CinC than her rivals for the nomination.
Whether this will work is open to question, now that Obama can outspend Clinton on advertising in Texas and Ohio. At least, that will be my excuse now that the Clinton campaign is doing what I have suggested. Of course, in the unlikely event that it works, disregard that last sentence and insert “I am a super-genius.”
I would add that the “Blueprint” ad can work on more than one level, if the Clinton campaign incorporates it into a new overall strategy. As noted above, it helps move the discussion to policy, instead of purely inspirational hopey-talk. Anyone who watched Obama’s post-Wisconsin speech knows that is not his forte.ÂÂ
Second, insofar as Obama has prospered taking pages from the Clinton ’92 playbook, perhaps Hillaryland will remember that Bill first ran as a man with a plan (though “blueprint” probably works with the blue-collar voters she needs to keep from defecting).
Third, a focus on economic insecurity probably works to Clinton’s advantage to the extent that the insecure may prefer the more experienced candidate (such as she is).
Fourth, the focus on Clinton’s Senate record on jobs issues is smart because it is more difficult to go negative unless you have (or are) presenting an alternative.  Camp Clinton is never going to be a cooler hangout than Club Obama. But Clinton may be able to convince Democratic voters that the coolness of a campaign should be more like its dessert than its main course.
However, one thing that strikes me as odd about these developments is that the division of labor seems inverted. Ideally, one might prefer to have the official campaign selling the positives, leaving the criticism of Obama to the purportedly “independent” group. In this regard, it may be telling that Clinton strategist Mark Penn said that the commander-in-chief issue “is going to be reflected in the debates that we have over the next couple of weeks.” That may be a literal statement of intent. The campaign may have concluded that they need to raise the issue in the candidate debates to ensure both direct media coverage and indirect coverage through punditry on cable TV and the Sunday shows, in op-ed columns, and so on.
i dont think she can effectively make the CinC argument.
she got weepy on nat’l tv.
think about wat a fantastic commercial obama can make of that.
she doesnt look like a CinC either..that big can in those tacky pantsuits?
no way.
also the second she opens that can of worms O hits her with the Iraq vote.
shes tried to squirm out of that before.
no workee.
hopefully HC is done. The more I see of her the less I can stand her and her family.
Another good point, may be the career of
Mark Penn is finished too, over, kaput, zakonchena.
Whatever, At some point our fine country needs a true marxist cabal to run it and now is the perfect time with our choices being Mcain,Hillary and Obama.
Make no mistake that our national security will be absolutley devestated with all of the appeasing that is already taking place in Damascus with both Hillary and Obamas knee crawlers.
No….Now is the time for this country to go through a period of 4 years so we can experiance American marxism and Obama is with out a doubt a percect specimen with core marxist beliefs that will lead the country into the abyss that is needed to wake people up.
We have been tolerating and laughing at these types of people for years and years, it is time to rip the mask of these people and have Americans “experiance” marxist/socialism for themselves so we can once and forever put these people back in the closet,,,,where they belong.
Its always darkest before the dawn….Lets get on with the darkness so we can clearly see the dawn.
Vote Obama.
on the sizzle thread we were talking about viral marketing. i think it is too late to market bilary.
her campaign realizes this and they are focusing on field ops.
the machinery is where O has been kickin her ass.
field ops is how the Architect won 2004 for the repubs.
grassroots get out the vote in flyover country, with a large evangelical component.
bilary is basically non-marketable…
1. she is really well known already..almost impossible to change opinions
2. she lacks warmth, grace, youth, physical attractiveness and speaking ability.
field ops is their only option..they cant redefine her at this point.
Drider.
Bear in mind that Obama went to school in Hawaii, which is about a third of the way to Asia, and Asia is crawling with commies. It stands to reason that some Reds may have broken off of the Asian continent, drifted with the ocean currents to Hawaii, crawled up out of the surf, and done a Marxist mind-meld with young Barack while he was building sand castles on the beach.
Also note that ‘Barack Obama’ is an anagram for ‘aka Moab crab.’ Moab is a well known stronghold of Stalinist Mormons.
Thanks sashal, I was going to mention pretty much the exact same theory that you mentioned but I didn’t want to bore people with too many details.
People will see for themselves what they get once the actions take over and the hollow words are just that….words.
I wish you’d told me that before Super Tuesday.
I am curious as to why anybody might think that Hillary’s words carry any more weight than Obama’s. What is in her background that gives her any “gravitas”?. This 35 years of experience bullshit wouldn’t pass muster with the lamest of personnel managers. She keeps telling us that she has been battle tested by the Republicans. What, by Rick Lazio? In a state where Dems have a 3 to 1 ratio?. I can certainly understand making fun of Barry’s track record but only after establishing that she has done one noteworthy thing in her existence. And fighting for women and children doesn’t count for shit. She is merely the female version of Obama. And I am being kind calling her a female.
I’d just as soon they forget all about the middle class. Every time the dems ‘remember’ the middle class, my taxes go up.
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