aNewDomain commentary — She’s ahead in most polls by roughly three to four points. Given her opposition, however, Hillary Clinton ought be doing a lot better than that.
First, consider Clinton’s many structural advantages over Donald Trump.
Top Democratic Party officials are so supportive of her that some even cheated to defeat her primary opponent, and hundreds of leading Republicans – including the speaker of the house and the last two presidential nominees – have declared war against Trump. And Clinton’s been wildly outspending him in televised political advertising. She has campaign field offices in most counties; Trump doesn’t have any in most states. The news media despises him.
Now consider her personal advantages.
Compared to Trump, a novice who has never having run for political office, Clinton has a wealth of experience. She has served in the cabinet, presented herself for the Senate twice, run for president and weathered countless scandals and political storms. Whereas he rants and raves incoherently, her experience has schooled her on how best to debate, crisis manage, issue sound bites and carefully calibrate her every phrase for maximum impact and minimum risk. Trump’s main advantage is the perception of authenticity – and it’s a big one, having gotten him where he is now – but it has come at a huge price as all his years of running off at the mouth on and off camera are coming home to roost weeks before Election Day.
Trump has big problems, no question. He has infuriated women, who make up more than half of the American voting population. And he has insulted one out of 10 male and female Americans: Latinos, some of whom are registering to vote just to cast a ballot against him. And let’s not forget Muslims.
Given all that, why is he doing so well? And why isn’t she doing better?
Part of Hillary’s problem is personality. Truth be told, she really isn’t “likeable enough.”
“The vote for president is a ‘feel’ vote,” Chris Cillizza wrote in The Washington Post. “Do you think this person is someone who understands you and the problems (and hopes and dreams) you have for yourself and your children?” Polls have consistently shown that most Americans think she doesn’t.
It’s not all sexism, either. Clinton yells into microphones and overly enunciates. Her voice is objectively irritating. Then there’s her incredibly ugly, unbelievably hideous wardrobe: it’s hard to like someone when her outfit makes your eyes burn.
But let’s face it. Hillary Clinton, probably like you and definitely like me, can’t do anything about her personality. At 68, that stuff is baked in. Still, there’s a lot she could do to close the deal against Donald Trump — to widen her within-the-margin-of-statistical-error lead to a chasm, the insurmountable landslide that her institutional and other advantages would have guaranteed a better candidate.
It’s about policy, stupid.
Recommendation No. 1: Guarantee Bernie Sanders a high-profile position in the cabinet.
Even after the Democratic convention in which Sanders endorsed her, more than a third of Bernie voters – roughly one sixth of the electorate – still weren’t behind her.
Annoyed that Clinton didn’t grant any significant concessions to the party’s progressive base, many of them will vote for Jill Stein or stay home. I’ve been prognosticating about American politics for decades, and I’ve never been more certain of a prediction: A firm guarantee that Bernie Sanders will have a seat at the table for the next four years would singlehandedly put an end to Trump’s chances.
Recommendation No. 2: Promise to be a one-term president.
One thing that drives voters crazy is politicians who spend most of their time in office weighing every decision against their future reelection campaign. Nothing would do more than to allay voters’ worries that she is a slave of her Wall Street masters than to turn herself into a lame duck on day one — and free herself of the burden of worrying about 2020.
Can anyone really imagine her finishing out the presidency at age 77, the same age as Ronald Reagan was? Finally, few presidents get much done during their last four years. Reagan, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush all saw their second terms tarnished by scandal.
Recommendation No. 3: Turn her weaknesses into strengths by promising to finish her own unfinished business.
One of Hillary Clinton’s biggest weaknesses is her support of NAFTA and other job-killing “free trade” deals. She can’t run away from her record, so why not embrace it by calling for a major national jobs retraining and financial assistance program for people who lose their jobs to globalization, as well as a $25/hour minimum wage?
Similarly, her awkward reluctance to concede that Obamacare is too expensive should be replaced by an acknowledgement of what everyone already knows – the Affordable Care Act should have at least included a “public option” – and that she will add one in January.
Clinton could also claimed that she learned a valuable lesson from her email scandal; she could promise to be the most transparent president in history by putting a live camera in the oval office and the cabinet, and promising not to conduct government business (other than national security matters) in private.
Recommendation No. 4: No more optional wars.
You know you’re on the wrong side of an issue when Donald Trump is the calm reasonable one. On foreign policy, Hillary Clinton has quite the reputation as a warmonger. She voted for wars against Afghanistan and Iraq, even though neither had anything to do with 9/11. Secretary of State she encouraged President Obama to finance the Islamist fundamentalists who turned Libya and Syria into hell. Now she’s saber-rattling with Russia. Americans hate these endless wars. And they do us a lot more harm than good.
Hillary Clinton should issue in October Surprise: if elected, she should say, she will never deploy American military power anywhere on earth other than to directly defend the American homeland.
I know she probably won’t take my advice.
But here’s the thing: She will definitely win if she does.
For aNewDomain, I’m Ted Rall.
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