| combined to make it that way. Also: higher percentage of women than at the other events.
Hillary and community
Hillary used Keene's community as a stepping off point for talking about her past and what she inherited in values and opportunity from her own community and family. It was, I think, an attempt to humanize herself while weaving in a broader campaign theme. I think on the whole it worked, and I expect we'll see more of it in this campaign.
It did strike me that all this talk about community and the faith of our fathers is a subtle way for her to position herself as the "values" candidate. But against Obama's story I'm not sure how strong it is.
Ironically, the only person not talking about where he came from this campaign is "son-of-a-millworker" Edwards. I find that refreshing, actually. I zone out when candidates start talking about how they used to go down to the old five and dime and buy penny candy from Mr. Hooper.
Iraq
Not happy with her answer on Iraq, which skirted around the issue of how Congress could actually put teeth into a bill. If you think we shouldn't put teeth into a bill, or that we don't have the votes, talk to us about that. But don't tell us that since the president is freaking out about the non-binding resolution that it's somehow meaningful. This White House freaks out over any dissension, no matter how small. But that doesn't make small dissensions brave or meaningful.
Hillary is going to have to come to terms with Iraq soon, I think.
Health Care
Her strong point, and as Elwood noted, one that the crowd was primed for. And she worked it well. Part of her pitch is that she knows not only what you can design in theory, but knows from experience what happens when the corporations start misinformation campaigns to kill it. The pitch "Hillary the Seasoned Realist" was also pretty resonant. She admits she made mistakes in dealing only with the theory in the early 90s -- not focusing enough on what would happen when the disinformation campaign hit. By including people in the Health Care discussion early on she hopes to involve them in a way that that will make it harder for unnamed interests to derail the political implementation.
Trade
Now people will jump on me about this. But in answering a number of questions about trade, she dodged the issue that many of these trade agreements came about under the Clinton Administration. Free Trade with the Clinton White House approached religion. It was President Clinton, for instance, that raised the H-1B cap as the tech economy was starting to tank, arguably making the crash much more difficult for out-of-work engineers.
Yet, here in 2006, she backed conspicuously away from the unbridled free trade position in her responses, and seemed to indicate that Republicans were to blame for the current mess. Trade policy is stacked against America, she admits.
But is that entirely George W. Bush's fault?
Hillary's position on trade remains one of the most unclear aspects of her campaign for me at this point. But I think a good starting point would be for her to differentiate herself not from Republicans (who, let's face it, are nuts), but from some of the policies of the Clinton Administration.
Incrementalism
As I mentioned, one person in the audience said that she liked what she was hearing, but was a little worried about the "incrementalism". We need to be bold, this woman said.
This isn't so much about Hillary, but about this campaign cycle. Would that have been a question from a relatively unassuming Town Haller in 2004? 2000?
I suppose. But not nearly as likely.
This is going to be one of the defining themes of this primary.
Disclosure
I don't currently endorse any candidate. I would say my current order of preference for the three front-runners runs Edwards, Obama, then Hillary. But I think any of the three would make a great President.
Following our site policies, I try to be restrained in my criticisms of Hillary: which in my mind means in part asking questions for which I am willing to wait for a valid answer.
I know we're now getting into new territory here, and I hope we can do it without getting into food fight.
But as always, let us know... |
