Understanding Hillary

[KMOD]

This is not a profile of Hillary Clinton. It is not a review of her career or an assessment of her campaign. You won’t find any shocking revelations on her emails, on Benghazi, on Whitewater, or even on her health care plan.

This is an effort to answer a question I’ve been struggling with since at least 2008: Why is the Hillary Clinton described to me by her staff, her colleagues, and even her foes so different from the one I see on the campaign trail?

I’ve come to call it “the Gap.” There is the Hillary Clinton I watch on the nightly news and that I read described in the press. She is careful, calculated, cautious. Her speeches can sound like executive summaries from a committee report, the product of too many authors, too many voices, and too much fear of offense.

The Iraq War mars her record, and the private email server and the Goldman Sachs paydays frustrate even her admirers. Polls show most Americans doubt her basic honesty. Pundits write columns with headlines like “Why Is Clinton Disliked?”

And then there is the Hillary Clinton described to me by people who have worked with her, people I admire, people who understand Washington in ways I never will. Their Hillary Clinton is spoken of in superlatives: brilliant, funny, thoughtful, effective. She inspires a rare loyalty in ex-staff, and an unusual protectiveness even among former foes.

http://www.vox.com/a/hillary-clinton-interview/the-gap-listener-leadership-quality

This is an awesome interview. It's a long read, but it's well worthwhile.

[seabeyond]

1. Bookmarking for after work. Nt

[Satch59]

2. My favorite read of the election so far....

So well done and underscores what a wonderful president she will be! Her whole public service career has led her to this amazing moment.

A must read!!!

[PatSeg]

3. Thank you for posting

I really like Ezra Klein.

[annavictorious]

4. "I want to be very clear here.

I’m not saying that anyone who opposed Clinton was sexist. (fair enough) Nor am I saying Clinton should have won.

Ezra Klein working hard to preserve his fauxgressive hipster cred. What an unmitigated ass.

This is a great read, though.

[ismnotwasm]

5. Yeah--but he brings up the damn speeches

And a couple other little digs. This reads like he wants to crawl into her head and she didn't let him. I personally DO think constant negative media attention affects the public perception of her.

He says this

Her explanation for the Gap is simple enough. “There’s a lot of behavioral science that if you attack someone endlessly — even if none of what you say is true — the very fact of attacking that person raises doubts and creates a negative perspective,” she says. “As someone Exhibit A on that — since it has been a long time that I’ve been in that position — I get that.”

I don’t buy it. Other politicians find themselves under continuous assault, but their poll numbers strengthen amid campaigns. Barack Obama’s approval rating rose in the year of his reelection. So too did George W. Bush’s. And Bill Clinton’s. All three sustained attacks. All three endured opponents lobbing a mix of true and false accusations. But all three seemed boosted by running for the job — if anything, people preferred watching them campaign to watching them govern.

He leaves out the pure sexism she faces too.

But this This cracked me up: staff privately complains about the missives she received from longtime courtier Sidney Blumenthal


Such a perfect way to describe him. Heh.


All in all a decent article--thanks KMOD!

[KMOD]

6. You and I already understand Hillary.

I think this interview is a great way to reach out to people who don't.

[ismnotwasm]

7. Yeah, looking at in that light you are right

It's not a hit piece at least, and it is very thoughtful. I might not care about speeches --or see CT everywhere--but there are people who do--and they are very, very vocal