Organizing for America | List Server Admin: a dangerous strategy on the part of Hillary

a dangerous strategy on the part of Hillary

By Ron Amundson - Feb 24th, 2008 at 12:20 pm EST

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Hillary is a smart lady, but egads, talk about a dangerous move on the part of her campaign.

Pros:
1. Appease major supporters, to counter the somewhat concessionary stance taken in the last debate.
2. Capture a ton of free airtime, provided it can be spun correctly. Such tactics can be a highly effective PR move and historically such approaches work more often than not in business, although doing so in politics, especially on the presidential level is a major unknown. Face time + positive spin is huge though.
3. Potentially create some level of dissention and confusion in Obama's ranks.
4. Rally exisitng old guard supporters who thrive on division, strife, and fighting, the old win at all costs crowd.

Cons:
1. Can pose a serious credibility issue internationally, with long term ramifications. Ie when negotiating in crisis situations, knowing she has the suitcase with the button... this is not good. It could haunt her for years. Sure, today, everyone knows it was scripted, but... not very good judgment, as 3 years from now, the video will be remembered, not so much the strategy. (youtube is good and bad politically)
2. It can cause division and upset in the party as a whole. We need to be working towards unity, rather than division as the convention approaches. It could also serve to polarize the ranks within her own campaign. I don't even want to think of the internal mess it must have created. Sympathy vs outrage, rather than rallying as one.
3. Its unlikely the spin aspect can counter the damage to a much needed presidential stature and voice. Ie, this could be a repeat of Howard Dean all over again... or it could show how good Maggie Williams is, and she is good, really good.
4. This sets the stage for her to make some "in the corner calls" in a debate... and that could backfire very very easily on her. Perhaps that is the plan though, should be interesting.
5. If Barack's supporters are on board because of his message and substance, it will be easy for him to rally the troops. If not, then no.... again, the community dynamics, both in 2.0 and 5.0 will be fascinating.
6. Baracks response was very presidential, thus likely building his credibility even more so.
7. The ad creators blew it, by using a quote which ended up being retracted. Bulleted quotes, from govt source material or even her campaign even though diluted, would have carried significantly more credibility. Now, they have to be in risk management mode... Not such a bad thing, as they need to be real careful in the general election anyhow. Still the timing is not so good.

Ultimately, this seems to be the first part of a "bet the farm" strategy... and within the first 18 hours, public opinion on many sides seems to indicate its not working. However... this will likely require 96-120 hours to make a realistic call. It would be prudent to expect more of the same as time progresses.

Thus, this is the time to make your voices known, make the 5.0 transition as Paramendra calls it, and let the world know we are behind Barack's message of hope, and YES WE CAN.

Get the full story... not the spin, actually look at the real flyers not the commentary. Go look up the background as to what the real points of dispute are... again, not the commentary. I did so, and I'm not going to post it... as doing it yourself, gets the message ingrained, and when you are on the phone, if asked, it needs to be a natural response, and not a scripted one.

Its also likely, a new video campaign is in the works, both to preach to the choir, (us) and to the voters in TX, OH, VT, and RI. Funds need to be raised. Either donate on your own, of if you feel this blog entry was helpful, help me raise money for Barack, $5 at a time on my profile.

We also need 2.0 content to rally our troops. Whether it be blog entrys, user video on youtube, podcats, blog comments on supporters pages, of just responding to folks on your friends list. We can bring about real change, it is time to roll.

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