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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Hillery is not smart | Report to Admin

By La Susa Feb 24th 2008 at 12:51 pm EST

Hillery is not smart....
She seems to expect special treatment because she is a woman. Saying to the press "Im a mother first, then a candidate." Dosn't she know how to play hardball? In the real world women who work along side with men, earn respect, it's not something that is granted on a favortism or popularity basis!
In the last debate in Austin, she personally attacked and insulted me, and my intelligence for being a Senator Barack Obama Supporter.
She seems to have little or no back bone, as she can't seem to defend herself, hiding behind the remarks made by her husband.

Re: Hillery is not smart | Report to Admin

By Ron Amundson Feb 24th 2008 at 1:08 pm EST

Perhaps a better way to frame my thoughts is selective intelligence. I've read a ton of her health care legislation, some of which Barack co-sponsored. She is quite well read in that arena, and well I may disagree with her conclusions, I still conclude she is pretty sharp.

However, time and time again, she exercises bad judgment. Building a campaign staff based upon loyalty to her, but without the ability to work well with each other in unity toward 1 goal was a huge strategic error. Insulting others, as well as demeaning her own staff, is yet another. There are just too many bush league neophyte mistakes... both in strategy and management, and thats before they even get rolling.

Yet, I go back to the legislative record, and thats a different story. While no where near as on the ball as Barack, she is far from being a token voice.

I guess ultimately, different folks have differing skills and strengths. As a senator with a good operations staff, she can and will do well... but such a long term string of errors and bad judgments, no way should she step forth as president, much less so is she anywhere near being prepared for day 1, as her campaign sloganeering wants to portray.

Obama '08 | Report to Admin

By alyce rocco Feb 24th 2008 at 7:18 pm EST

"she personally attacked and insulted me, and my intelligence for being a Senator Barack Obama Supporter."

I was not planning on supporting Hillary, not so much for her yes vote to Iraq, but her response to Code Pink and our email campaign. Code Pink is mothers, daugthers, sisters, wives, friends of our troops, peaceniks like me and ladies from Iraq.

I also can not support Bill for a 3rd term in the White House via a "co-presidency". Their viscous attacks on Obama now has me going from no feeling to active hatred. Is it smart to alienate your citizens when you are trying to get their vote?

I have also done a lot more research than ever before~thank you the power of the internet. If the race was between Edwards and Obama when my turn came to vote, I might have voted Kucinich. I do not think he has the mainstream appeal to get elected, but Obama is not as much of a dove as I would like.

For the first time since this began I read about why she will garnish wages. The young, healthy college students money is needed to pay for the care of the elderly. Mandated with penalty is not for me. It discriminates against people who use alternative means of health care. It does not make health care more affordable, but just adds another bill to budgets stained by rising prices of everything~let us go back to her vote on the war in Iraq...

...and Bill's Dubai profits, shall we. Now she is either smart like a fox or dumb as a bunny. I am not all that sure if Obama is aware of the real reason's for the invasion of Iraq, but at least he spoke against it and did write the counter resolution to the Iran Resolution that Clinton voted yes on. (his to slow down that rush to invade Iran)

Common sense intelligence: in debt to China to pay for Iraq, do not invade another country, creating more terrorists to fight off the imperial Christian terrorists the USA.

Re: Obama '08 | Report to Admin

By alyce rocco Feb 24th 2008 at 7:25 pm EST

Yes she is smart in playing to an audience and it seems to work. Or else she is mentally unstable, given to mood swings and a pathological liar. I have no proof of bought judges (by money, loyalty or other persuasions) but she and Bill have too many scandals behind them for me to trust anything but ulterior motives from her.

Anyway...stopped by to comment on a comment you left on my criminal blog post. I wrote that in an effort to bluff the guy to scare him into stopping his post after post after post Sinclair posts.

I think every person that would go to that much trouble should be looked into by the FBI. Obama has already had death threats and the person that is that desperate or obsessive could be a real threat. I do believe he is the same one that shows up after an Obama win or lose posting ugly and racists images, one after another.

Frustrating because I wanted to do some reading before going to sleep and he irritated me.

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