Politics is full of surprises, so let’s cherish those few certainties that we know we can always count on: Barack Obama will always be a nerd; Joe Biden will always have hungry glint in his eye around other peoples’ wives; and Rand Paul will always look like he should be playing a carrot in an elementary school play about nutrition.
And Hillary Clinton will be the Democratic nominee for president. This was never in any doubt, so the fact that it’s been “leaked” that she’s announcing her candidacy tomorrow isn’t particularly surprising. Yeah, yeah, you’re running for President, we know.
The fact of her candidacy isn’t so interesting. But what I’m looking forward to finding out is: what story is she going to tell? Is it true that “she’ll run like a woman,” as Vox puts it? That the “feminine motif will be fully integrated into her persona, her rhetoric, and her platform”?
God that would be so much better than last time. Remember 2007ish, when she was going for a kind of “you know you want me” vibe. (“I’m in it to win it” was the slogan, which, ugh, could just as easily have been a slogan for shoes or yogurt or fishing lures.)
The story her campaign told back in 2007 was that she was smart, capable, canny, prepared, and exactly the kind of strong leader the country needed to fix the mess that George Bush had made. The word “inevitable” was thrown around (even though it really wasn’t true: unlike this year, there were a ton of viable candidates jostling for the nomination in 2007).
And she downplayed her gender to the point of absurdity. In trying to come across as one-of-the-guys-but-better, she instead came across as bossy and mean, which is why Obama’s description of her as “likable enough” was some serious shaaaaade, and why the video of her getting emotional came across as calculating.
Seven years after her first campaign fizzled out, public perception of Hillary Clinton hasn’t changed all that much, but polling shows that voters still like the fact that she’s a woman (how kind of them).
Meanwhile, the GOP is pushing a narrative about how she’s untrustworthy, with a new “Stop Hillary” ad.
If Republicans wanted to turn liberal voters against Hillary, all they’d need to do is remind us about her Fresh Air interview in which she lashed out at Terry Gross. Go ahead and delete your State Department emails, but keep your hands off our beloved NPR personalities!
At any rate, we’ll find out exactly what tone Hillary plans to set on Sunday, when she releases her announcement-video via Twitter. Then I’m going to pop some popcorn for the Game of Thrones premiere Sunday night, which will likely feature far more political intrigue.
