Thursday, December 13, 2007

Dissent Within Clinton Campaign Amid Falling Polls

I heard an hour long interview with Mark Penn about his book Microtrends a few months ago, and thought his ideas were intellectually interesting but questioned the applicability. Subsequent to that I heard of his close involvement with the Hillary campaign.

And according to this New York Newsday piece, Mark Penn is getting grief the those on the "Bill" side of the campaign. They have different ideas about how to run her. Penn thinks she should run as an "incumbent" (which to me just reinforces the sense that she's arrogant) and that she should not go negative on Obama because doing so would raise her already high "negatives."

I agree with that. It's ugly to hear Hillary say (or anyone say), now the fun part starts, emphasis on fun - as she did last week. See for yourself:


Okay, so strategy may dictate the need for going negative. People understand that. It's like a necessary evil. But it is unsettling to hear someone say so convincingly that the necessary evil is "fun." Steve G. Brant, a blogger for the Huffington Post, captures well the problem with this attitude. Check out the home page of the Huffington Post

No comments: