What type of an image should Ms.Clinton present to wingover the Democratic nomination? Well, though the question is simple, the answer is still elusive. Let us first run over some of the images displayed by her so far and their impact on the people.
To start with, there was the strong and experienced Hillary who would be as tough as a Thatcher and would be relentless in tackling terrorism and other evils governing the society; but, it failed to cut ice with the people. That was the end of image of ‘Change Agent Hillary’.
Then came the ‘teary-eyed’ Hillary which of course helped her in winning the primary in New Hampshire, but, soon, it became clear that she cannot cry her way to the democratic nomination on account of two reasons. This would project her as too weak to handle complex issues facing the country and the rigors of race are more complicated and a solution cannot be found by crying. That brought the end to this image.
Thus, a fresh exercise on the search for an image which would connect her emotionally with the electorate reflecting her competence and experience is underway The emotional content in this exercise has taken a prime place because of the fact that this is needed to counteract her competitor, Mr.Barak Obama possesses which instantly connects him to the people.
Consequent to a two roundtable discussion with an assorted group consisting of average people, experts and activists in Nevada, a new image of her seems to have emerged. This would be ‘I-Feel-Your-Pain Hillary’. This is similar to the strategy followed by her husband Bill Clinton’s ‘touchy-feely-message’ in his 1992 campaign.
But the similarity ends there, for she does not want to use the word empathy as was done by her husband, Mr.Clinton.. Instead, she would follow the former President Harry Truman’s famous phrases ‘the buck stops there’. What does this mean?In simple words she would like to project herself as a’ solution-provider’ as the one who is in ‘solution business’. This appears to be the best strategy for her to counter Mr.Obama and in other words, beat the other guy with his own stick. Mr.Obama had mentioned in the televised debate in Las Vegas on Tuesday that his weakness was not being a good office manager, though he limited this to keep a clean desk’.
But the thread was picked by Ms.Clinton and her team for furthering their arguments. It was projected that Mr.Obama had committed a worst sin, sounding that he would govern as bad as George W.Bush. A President cannot manage in a similar fashion as a Harvard Business School CEO in the sense that the CEO sets the tone, the goals and everybody would implement them. To be an effective President, one has to be hands-on, run and mange the bureaucracy. A Truman-like accountability is an essential characteristic. This was counter-acted by Mr.Obama and his team by saying that Ms.Hillary is running for the post of Chief of staff and not to the position of the President.
Coming back to the subject, with the new image of ‘I-feel-Your-Pain’ is expected to reflect her policy and persona. In this avatar, she would express sympathy, vow to fight for the people and may be by reflecting a middle-class image connect to the people in an emotive way and at the same time be a pragmatist by finding solutions to their problems. Would she succeed? Well that is million-dollar question.
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