Bill Hurts Hillary; Cease and Desist to Follow
Another great poll by the punctual pundits of perpetual percentages (acting on behalf of TIME) report that President Clinton’s appearances on wife Hillary’s campaign trail are hurting Hillary’s presidential bid more than helping.
According to the random sampling of 1,000 voters, 19% said they were less likely to vote for Hillary due to President Clinton’s involvement compared to the 9% gain in support ( TIME, Feb 07, 2008).
Startingly, few in the Clinton camp seem to have anticipated that the first viable female candidate for President, who for months has been waving the sex card by compelling women to vote on chromosome more than issue and reason while appearing on predominantly female demographic talk shows anticipated people would be disheartened to see her leaning so much on her husband’s reputation than her own merit.
Can they really be surprised? Look at Bill. Eight years of President, major surgery, very active with charity fund raising putting everything aside to work tireless to get Hillary elected. I don’t follow the Clintons around with a handy cam and a notebook but from my point of view Bill’s working much harder than Hillary out there on the trail. Maybe it’s because he looks absolutely exhausted. Maybe because he’s on the news more than she is. But the fact remains that the image presented is that Bill is campaigning for President with more energy than in 1992 and he’s not even on the ballot.
The backlash of this campaign strategy and Obama’s strong support with female voters suggests a weak link in the Clinton campeign strategy: just as one can be a sailor and not understand oceanography, a woman who’s lived her life sheltered from Americans may not understand womans issues in America.