The Hillary Clinton campaign appears to be running off the rails. Hillary is down to Sybill-like changes of character, from conciliatory to sarcastic to downright deranged, all in 24 hours. According to the New York Times on Tuesday, her campaign is preparing to throw everything but the "kitchen sink" at Obama and hope something sticks. At this stage, the campaign has to ask itself some serious questions, starting with this one:
What is the goal?
If the goal is to win this primary at any cost, and then hope that you can bring the Obama voters home after the convention, that strategy will fail. Hillary has crossed the nastiness rubicon, I think, and she will have a tough time getting strong turnout beyond her base of white women, even if she could win mathematically -- which, by the way, she really can't.
If the goal is to scorch the earth under Barack Obama, in order to render him unelectable in November, and preserving Hillary's option to run again in four years, that's a strategy too risky to be worthwhile. Democratic voters have long memories, and don't like second-run candidacies (just ask John Edwards) -- especially second-run candidacies by candidates who appear to have put personal glory ahead of their country's fate (see Ralph Nader...)
They must also ask another question, before changing directions yet again, in terms of Hillary's public demeanor. And this one is particularly important given that there's a debate tomorrow, and considerable confusion out there about which Hillary will show up to it. The question is this:
Is it presidential?
Is what Hillary is doing and saying -- and is the manner in which she is saying it -- likely to be interpreted by the public as conduct befitting a future president of the United States? Barack has had to answer this question in the public's mind, too, because he is so new to the Washington game, and polls show he has largely answered it for Democratic voters. Like Hillary, he has had to overcome a certain resistance to the notion of him as commander in chief -- the guy with his finger on the button -- and that is even more true because of his youth than his race. But Hillary has had to answer it too -- as a woman, which she largely took care of early in the campaign -- but now, as a person -- as a character. So Hillary, dig deep, and ask yourself...
Is this presidential?
Is this presidential?
And while I understand Hillary's frustration -- she's right that the media loves Obama and despises her and her campaign (in part because of Howard Wolfson and company's bully-boy tactics) and it's true that as the known quantity in the race, she has a less exciting story to tell. But this is an important question of presentation, because temperament is one of the elusive factors that voters consider when they are choosing a president. Hillary's demeanor has been all over the place in the last few days. She and her handlers need to regain control of her imaging, because right now, it's not looking ... well ... presidential.
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dim done
done = request.form("done")
if done = "" then
done = "No"
%>
Tell a friend
<%
Else
if request.form("done") = "Yes" then
'sets variables
dim email, sendmail
email = request.form("email")
Set sendmail = Server.CreateObject("CDONTS.NewMail")
'put the webmaster address here
sendmail.From = "webmaster@aspbasics.com"
'The mail is sent to the address entered in the previous page.
sendmail.To = email
'Enter the subject of your mail here
sendmail.Subject = "Check out this website"
'send a specific page or send a site url
dim url
'url = Request.ServerVariables("HTTP_REFERER")
url = "http://www.aspbasics.net"
'This is the content of the message.
sendmail.Body = "Site recommendation from a friend!" & _
vbCrlf & vbCrlf & "A friend has sent you this email and thought you would should check out this site." & _
vbCrlf & url & vbCrlf
'this sets mail priority.... 0=low 1=normal 2=high
sendmail.Importance = 1
sendmail.Send 'Send the email!
response.redirect Request.ServerVariables("HTTP_REFERER")
'Response.write ("Sent to ") & email
End if
End if
%>
"[T]he practice of arbitrary imprisonments, have been, in all ages, the favorite and most formidable instruments of tyranny.' Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 84, August, 1788
