THE HILL GAME – AT 11:46 A.M. ET: An excellent New York Times piece outlines the emerging Hillary Clinton campaign strategy – consisting of a cynical attempt to scare the Democratic base into voting, but very else. Look for cries of "racism" and "war on women." That kind of thing. From The Times:
WASHINGTON — Hillary Rodham Clinton appears to be dispensing with the nationwide electoral strategy that won her husband two terms in the White House and brought white working-class voters and great stretches of what is now red-state America back to Democrats.
Instead, she is poised to retrace Barack Obama’s far narrower path to the presidency: a campaign focused more on mobilizing supporters in the Great Lakes states and in parts of the West and South than on persuading undecided voters.
Mrs. Clinton’s aides say it is the only way to win in an era of heightened polarization, when a declining pool of voters is truly up for grabs. Her liberal policy positions, they say, will fire up Democrats, a less difficult task than trying to win over independents in more hostile territory — even though a broader strategy could help lift the party with her.
This early in the campaign, however, forgoing a determined outreach effort to all 50 states, or even most of them, could mean missing out on the kind of spirited conversation that can be a unifying feature of a presidential election. And it could leave Mrs. Clinton, if she wins, with the same difficulties Mr. Obama has faced in governing with a Republican-controlled Congress.
Already, it is causing consternation among Democrats in conservative states that could be given short shrift by her campaign or bypassed altogether.
COMMENT: The Obama coalition is based on identity politics, and has failed at governing. Clinton, an even more divisive figure than Obama, is pursuing a two-nation strategy rather than a one-nation strategy. It is bad for the country, bad for her party, but may work for her.
And in Hillaryland, anything that works for the Clintons is fine.
June 7, 2015 |