Hillary's Theme Problem

You really gotta love politics. A couple months back the whole entire punditry was wondering just exactly how inevitable Hillary's candidacy really was. Now, Drudge is reporting that Hillary's campaign maybe through. Four years ago, Barack Obama was struggling to get the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate (I believe it was Blair Hull that was leading for a while before scandalous information was revealed about his divorce, and ironically Jack Ryan's campaign in the general election against Obama suffered a similar fate), and now he is on the verge of the Democratic nomination for President.

Now, I certainly don't believe the reports from Drudge. I don't think that even if Hillary loses in New Hampshire she is through, and I certainly believe that she will only go down with a political scorched earth strategy. Thus, this nomination is anything but wrapped up by anyone, however while the numbers in New Hampshire should concern Hillary there should be something much more concerning. Why is she running for President?

If you look at any of the major candidates, they all have themes to their candidacy. For a while, the theme the media helped construct was inevitability. The problem is that being the inevitabl candidate is not a reason to vote for someone. Obama has the politics of hope. He is hoping to ride a positive, uplifting and inclusive message to the White House.

John Edwards has his two Americas. He is looking to ride a populist message to the White House. Rudy Giuliani wants to ride effectiveness and leadership to the White House. Huckabee has a similar positive and uplifting message to Obama's. Fred Thompson is trying to be the only true conservative in the race. Mitt Romney is trying to ride a similar experience and effectiveness theme to the White House. John McCain is running as the principled, courageous leader who was not only was out front on criticizing the failed Rumsfeld strategy, but was the only one standing up and supporting the new policy that now has many backers.

What is Hillary's theme? She tried to ride a theme of experience, however I believe that didn't work well because she isn't all that experienced. Most of her experience comes as the wife of another individual that was governing. She has little to show for her own experience. She tried to ride a theme of being the toughest in the campaign, however this was no less silly since her husband went on the attack everytime she was challenged.

She has most recently tried to be the agent of change, however her opponents have quickly and accurately painted her as all too much part of the establishment. She isn't calling for the immediate withdrawal of forces from Iraq, and she isn't saying she wants to win in Iraq. Her foreign policy amounts to bashing the current policy. That isn't going to do much since every Democrat's foreign policy will center around bashing the current one. Her domestic policy is standard liberal and its differences between that of her rivals amounts to trivial nuance that most voters don't understand or get.

She tried a charm offensive only the main problem is she has no charm. I believe the real problem is that Hillary doesn't know why she is running for President besides her own lust for power. She has some standard liberal things that she wants to accomplish, however they are substantively no different than any of her primary opponents. Besides that, she doesn't have a theme like her opponents. Someone needs to know why they are supporting a candidate. I look at Rudy and see an accomplished and effective leader and that is the reason I support him. A Fred Thompson supporter sees the only true conservative in the race. Even Ron Paul supporters see someone that is beholden to the Constitution. Obama supporters see a fresh face that brings hope back to politics. All those themes I get, I don't see a theme there for Hillary.