Letters to the Editor
MaddieP
Published Letters: 708 Editor's Choice: 9
-
Hillary's Challenge
[Read the article: Quote of the day: Obama on Clinton ]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Its me MaddieP, registered independent, Obama supporter and, (or should I say yet) voice of reason. ;)
I've said in other threads that while I support Obama I will support Clinton if she wins the nomination. I don't like the idea of a McCain administration (shudder). I will continue to call for civility and an eventual democratic COALITION even in the midst of this ardent race for the nomination.
IN the meantime, to Hillary supporters (and possibly her campaign managers) see if you can figure this out:
what do these people all have in common:
JFK
Ronald Reagan
GHW Bush
Bill Clinton
GW Bush
Mike Huckabee
Barack Obama
PEOPLE JUST PLAIN LIKE(D) THEM. Now wait a sec and hear me out and you'll discover my opinion of why Hillary is having such trouble against Obama.
In general, we Americans vote for people 'we just plain like'. Go ahead and look at the list again.
RIGHT OR WRONG we have tended NOT to want to listen to policy talk. (I think this is a mistake, but the human instinct to gravitate toward those we like is built into every living creature's DNA). People just plain LIKED Reagan. They just plain LIKED GW and old Bill, people lied him so much the Washington power structure couldnt get rid of him even after spending millions of dollars and years trying - he came out virtually unblemished. Why? because the public JUST PLAIN LIKED HIM!
(Sometimes our instinct work out well, as in the case with old Bill. Sometimes...(GW)...well, need I say more?)
Poor Mitt Romney (who probably had better credentials to be the Repub nominee than McCain) is sitting at home today. NOT for lack of money or organization but (IMO) in part because he didn't come across as likable. No warmth, sincerity. He looked and felt like...an automaton. Capable (and proven) in terms of his fiscal ability to rescue troubled economic situations, he's NOT in the race today and is probably the only one who could've turned the deficit around in short order. He was accused of being (among other things) cold and calculating...ambitious...power hungry...would stop at nothing to win the presidency (sound familiar?).
Even Hillary (some have argued) won in NH after a showing of her more warm, 'vulnerable' side. (that's not the only reason but it didn't hurt her).
Bottom line: we TEND to vote for who we 'just plain like'. From a psychological standpoint we TEND to discount the negatives in those we like and magnify the negative in those we don't like. This is why an Obama attack campaign is probably futile.
Hillary's problem is that her strongest assets (her claim of a superior policies and better experience) are arguments that have to appeal to the HEAD not the HEART. We have NEVER in this country chosen a president from our HEADS. Democratic or Republican. Good administration or bad. And frankly, I'm not so sure we're all that different than anyone else in the world at any time in history, you know? I'm no world historian but maybe no one anywhere has ever made decisions any other way. Think about it: The best and worst leaders have always been placed in power because people liked them (with the exception of the ones who took over by pure force and intimidation).
People rally behind people they LIKE. Likability is an intangible quality that we assess instinctually in people we meet every single day.
Its a challenge for Hillary because her natural personality is (IMO) not an automatically 'warm and fuzzy' or 'likable' one. Her own people have admitted this and tried to counteract it in the past. I think they would've done well to keep her on that 'likability' track they tried early on, even though it really didn't have the 'ring of truth' with her (which may be why they abandoned it) and now it may be too late to try it again.
I'm NOT saying Hillary isn't a nice person. I'm absolutely sure she is. Its unfortunate that she can't translate that into 'good vibrations' with people more effectively. But people can only be who they are. Its a conundrum.
Again, I'm not suggesting this its right that we have this natural affinity toward folks we 'just plain like', I'm only suggesting that its how we humans make (and have made) judgments about people for millenia.
THEN in comes a person like Obama who would give even the most likable person like Bill Clinton a run for his money on the 'likability scale'. Its really hard to compete with it.
I don't have the answers for Hillary or her camp. I think at this point she can only continue to press away at the minor policy differences between herself and Barak, try to appeal to people's heads and hope the people who are listening agree with her logic, analyses and policies. (Thanks Texas Democrat for your outline of the Clinton Health Plan in another thread. I promise I'll look into it. But between us, I'm not confident that either candidate will be able to quickly fix this issue in the next four years. Besides we have a huge deficit we need to get rid of, pronto).
Hillary has her work cut out for her if she's going to be successful at turning this thing around. No question about it. Too bad her campaign managers just don't have a better understanding of human nature and what DRIVES people.
-
Take Heart
[Read the article: How Obama won Wisconsin ]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]@setme!
I think the lack of true discussion in this thread is mostly due to reality setting in...maybe its getting to the point there's really not a whole lot to fuss about.
And the very numbers you posted virtually remove the necessity for any intelligent discussion. It just is what it is.