If Hillary Clinton watches this Frank Luntz focus group, she’s got to be tearing her hair out. To my ears and eyes, she had the substance part of the program knocked, but Obama seemed more authoritative, more presidential. Classic contest of style v. substance and, in the television age, style always wins. But Luntz’s group doesn’t even give Clinton credit for substance, which is a killer. And unfair. But it seems, understandably, that Democrats are far more interested in, as Obama says, “turning the page” than in the mastery of policy details.
What’s the old line about second marriages: The Triumph of Hope over Experience? Well, that what we’re witnessing in this election. The sad thing, at least to me, is that Hillary Clinton has run the most substantive campaign of any of the Democrats and, if she goes down, it will be because of factors beyond her control.
The ultimate conundrum: If she were not associated with that other Clinton presidency, she would seem a fresh and exciting possibility–the first woman President, and someone far better prepared than the guys to do the job. Then again, if she were not associated with that other Clinton presidency, she wouldn’t be in the Senate or on the stage.