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Hillary Clinton must build a real grassroots
As terrible as it may sound, it takes a special person to break the gender, class, race, ethnicity, etc. ceiling for a position that the masses are not ‘familiar’ in seeing him/her in. It should not be the reality, but it is.
President Obama did not have that characteristic out of the box. He managed it with a perfectly orchestrated grassroots movement by making himself accessible to university students throughout the country who encouraged their parents to consider him. I saw it first hand in Kingwood, Texas, a white conservative town. There were grassroots house parties put on by Republicans throughout the area. Then, Senator Obama got the opportunity to speak to people who otherwise would not have listened to him.
Secretary Hillary Clinton is an extraordinarily accomplished woman. She went up against Senator Obama and lost. She lost because President Obama successfully worked the grassroots which forced Wall Street and big money to hedge their bets. Secretary Clinton remained insular.
The country is poised for a change. It has been run by testosterone for too long with all the braggadocio that entails. Secretary Clinton is a woman with more international and domestic experience than anyone else running, Republican or Democrat bar none. Sadly, that is not enough for a woman. Her poll numbers are still great. She is beating every Republican in those polls. None of those polls mean anything.
Hillary Clinton was up in the polls on President Obama as well while he was building the grassroots. Right now Republicans are consolidating their base at the grassroots level. They even have their surrogates and candidates adopting progressive Democratic narratives. Republicans are now talking about income inequality and the poor. President Obama recently amusingly chided their new found love for the downtrodden.
The problem for Hillary Clinton is that while she has huge email, social networks, and mail campaigns running, there really is no grassroots movement. She is not working the land throughout the country like then Senator Obama did. Recently I wrote two pieces, one titled “Hillary Clinton backtracks but her interview in the Atlantic could be fatal to her chances for the presidency” and the other titled “Hillary Clinton can only win with the Obama coalition Rand Paul is now courting” for which much flak was taking.
Nothing Secretary Clinton has done those far changes the trajectory. In fact, she gave a speech at Emily’s List ‘Celebrate 30 years’ which seemed rather flat and scripted.
The unwarranted attacks that all Democrats can expect from the Right Wing will not stop. It comes with the territory. The misogyny will continue as we have a media that allows it. If one does not have a large base who will not only provide tacit support but physical support at the voting booth, one cannot win. It is for that reason this question will continue until she builds a viable grassroots and adopt a populist narrative. Can Hillary Clinton really win the Presidency in 2016?
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