Say, Why Does Hillary Want To Be President, Anyhow?

Today’s the day when Hillary plays small ball with her announcement to run for president. At least, we are assuming that she will announce that, rather than saying she is not running. The Washington Post’s Dan Balz has a few questions

When Hillary Rodham Clinton arrives in Iowa next week as a candidate for president in 2016, every statement, gesture, laugh, outfit, facial expression and interaction with voters will be put under a microscope the likes of which few, if any, previous candidates have experienced.

Doubtful. The media were BIG Hillary supporters in 2008, and switched to Obama when he won the nomination. They’ve barely had a negative word to say during her terrible tenure as Secretary of State, in which she accomplished….can anyone say what she accomplished?

Her every step will be analyzed for signs of change or continuity. Has she learned from her loss to then-candidate Barack Obama in the 2008 primaries? If so, what? Does she act entitled or hungry? Has she shifted on foreign policy issues since she was Obama’s secretary of state? Are her economic views the same as Obama’s or Bill Clinton’s or Elizabeth Warren’s? Does she appear to like campaigning or see it as a necessary duty to reach her ultimate goal? Is she rusty or sharp, chilly or warm? The list is endless.

The answers to these questions will be provided helpfully by the Compliant Media.

Two questions above all others hover over her candidacy: Why does she want to be president? And will voters find her honest, authentic and empathetic enough to entrust her with their futures?

The answer to the first should be interesting. Her campaign released a mission statement to aides, which includes

“We are Hillary for America,” declares the document, first reported by Politicoand later obtained by The New York Times.

“Our purpose: To give every family, every small business, and every American a path to lasting prosperity by electing Hillary Clinton the next President of the United States.”

In a sentence freighted with significance, the memo continues: “This campaign is not about Hillary Clinton and not about us — it’s about the everyday Americans who are trying to build a better life for themselves and their families.”

So, Hillary running is not about Hillary. Riiiiiiight.

Anyhow, Maureen Dowd chimes in with a howler

WHEN my brother Michael was a Senate page, he delivered mail to John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon, who had offices across the hall from each other.

He recalled that Kennedy never looked up or acknowledged his presence, but Nixon would greet him with a huge smile. “Hi, Mike,” he’d say. “How are you doing? How’s the family?”

It seemed a bit counterintuitive, especially since my dad, a D.C. police inspector in charge of Senate security, was a huge Kennedy booster. (The two prominent pictures in our house were of the Mona Lisa and J.F.K.) But after puzzling over it, I finally decided that J.F.K. had the sort of magnetism that could ensorcell big crowds, so he did not need to squander it on mail boys. Nixon, on the other hand, lacked large-scale magnetism, so he needed to work hard to charm people one by one, even mail boys.

Or, it could be that Nixon was just a polite person, and actually interested in people. Something that is actually reinforced in Nixon’s book In The Arena. He was an introverted man in an extroverted arena. Introverts often find ways to play that small ball in asking about other people and greeting them. But, hey, this isn’t about Nixon

As Hillary finally admits the axiomatic — she wants to be president — she will take the Nixon approach, trying to charm people one by one in the early states for 2016, an acknowledgement that she cannot emulate the wholesale allure of Bill Clinton or Barack Obama.

In this age of Media Everywhere, 24/7 news stations, people able to take and upload videos in a heartbeat, etc and so on, can playing it small and informal, work? I met Hillary way back in the 1990’s, and she was cordial and warm. It was not a political event. Conservative radio host Mike Gallagher, in his book Surrounded By Idiots, writes about surprising his Democrat wife with a trip to meet Hillary, who was, again, very nice and pleasant. At the end, though, Mo Dowd seems to come off the rails

But if Hillary really wants to help those children, maybe she should give them some of the ostensible and obscene $2.5 billion that she is planning to spend to persuade us to make her grandmother of our country.

Interestingly, for all the Democrat caterwauling about money in politics, they sure like to spend lots themselves. And, at the end of the day, why, exactly, does she want to run for president?

Crossed at Pirate’s Cove. Follow me on Twitter @WilliamTeach.

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