Thursday, January 31, 2008
Bill Clinton "Tones it Down"
In a recent post I suggested that it seems that Hillary and Bill are running as a team. Bill has been very involved in the campaign, defending Hillary and attacking Obama; however, in a recent article, Hillary on Bill: 'This Is My Campaign,' it seems that Hillary may have asked Bill to “tone it down” a little. ABC news asked Hillary if she asked Bill to back off recently and she didn’t deny it. The article discusses that reporters covering Bill have noticed him being much more passive and subtle in the past few days. He seems to be doing his best to focus on his wife’s candidacy and according to the article, “that’s led some to speculate that Clinton, who was acting as his wife’s chief attack dog—has been muzzled.” I think that Hillary began to fear that she might be criticized for having Bill so heavily involved with her campaign, possibly overshadowing the fact that it is her campaign and not her husband’s. She recently told ABC news that “…this is my campaign. It’s about my candidacy.” I think she is trying to keep things focused on herself as opposed to her husband and his former presidency. Obama has even suggested that we do not need a flashback to the past, providing George Bush as an example of a flashback to when his father was in office. I think that Hillary is trying to prevent criticizes such as this one and is trying as best she can to make this about her and only her, as opposed to heavily involving Bill Clinton in the issues.
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3 comments:
I agree that the Clinton campaign has been trying, ever since South Carolina, to lessen Bill Clinton's role. Hillary faces a difficult task here since, like you said, she doesn't want to let Barack link her in with the "politics of old" by joining her with her husband's presidency. She must stand on her own to accomplish this, but the truth is that her husband's attacks on Obama have been rather effective at times at getting concerns about the Senator out into the open. So she doesn't want to remove her husband entirely from the campaign, also given the intense popularity he still holds among democrats, but he can't become too much of a distraction. This is the dilemma Hillary realized last week after South Carolina, and this is the dilemma the campaign is reacting to now by reducing Bill Clinton's role and his voice on the campaign trail. Expect to see Bill lots more during the next few months, but with just a bit more restraint, in my opinion.
I agree with you. I definitely see why Hillary would want to "put the muzzle on him" so to speak. Even though I do think that they are indeed working as a team, I think they see the importance of not letting it interfere with Hillary's campaign. This week is crucial for Hillary, and the less scrutiny she recieve's the better.
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