Don't Count Hillary Out Just Yet
With Barack Obama on his tenth consecutive win for the Democratic nomination, rival Hillary Rodham Clinton hit Obama with criticism of a previous speech. In the accusation, Clinton claimed that Obama plagiarized a speech given at a Democratic Party dinner in Wisconsin late Saturday. The plagiarized content was from a former speech given by the Governor of Massachusetts, Deval Patrick. After shrugging off the criticism, Clinton’s campaign used YouTube to post the plagiarism so viewers could witness it themselves. Obama replied to these criticisms with a reference to past support for the North American Free Trade Agreement. These attacks are only the start to a vigorous battle for the Democratic Nomination.
Hilary’s new form of campaigning goes against the stereotypical way women generally run for office. Her negative criticism is used directly and almost used to make her gain voters and diminish Obama’s credibility. This criticism seems to not be making much of an impact since Tuesday night Obama won both Hawaii and Wisconsin. Her stress of plagiarism might not be as powerful as she hoped it would be. It is even more interesting that she chooses to use in her negative ads her criticism of Obama not challenging in her in a previous debate. This advertising might have not mattered in Wisconsin, but will probably be more significant in Texas and Ohio. Clinton has also provided working class citizens a commercial featuring many different occupations with the common theme of “She understands. She’s worked the night shift too.” This will also be played for the upcoming primary elections and is also featured on YouTube.
Obama’s speeches have become more and more critical of experience and the political battles that have been fought for the good or bad and regardless if the lawmakers agreed with this or not. His new mass following character that has been developing with the theme quote “We are the ones we’ve been waiting for”. This words make an enthusiastic aura but when realized it was written on his website and was not his words brings questioning to the table. Should we have a president who doesn’t account for other people’s words? This modern day movement of Obama seems to be the new cult.
I don’t think one should count her out of the nomination just yet considering if she wins Texas, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, she will probably win the nomination. The Wall Street Journal reports that Hillary Clinton’s campaign raised “about $15 million online in February’s first 15 days”. Again this criticizes Obama’s record high fundraising from January. This is a statement that should make it clear Hillary is not out of the race just yet.
It will be interesting to see what both candidates decide to use against one another. The negative advertising hasn’t proved as an important characteristic in determining the nomination just yet. Over the next two primaries, I’m sure there will be a major change in the negative advertising as the competition only grows closer and closer. Voting for president is a privilege and responsibility and although both candidates provide an intelligent and inspiring atmosphere, the question is, who will get the job done?
Hilary’s new form of campaigning goes against the stereotypical way women generally run for office. Her negative criticism is used directly and almost used to make her gain voters and diminish Obama’s credibility. This criticism seems to not be making much of an impact since Tuesday night Obama won both Hawaii and Wisconsin. Her stress of plagiarism might not be as powerful as she hoped it would be. It is even more interesting that she chooses to use in her negative ads her criticism of Obama not challenging in her in a previous debate. This advertising might have not mattered in Wisconsin, but will probably be more significant in Texas and Ohio. Clinton has also provided working class citizens a commercial featuring many different occupations with the common theme of “She understands. She’s worked the night shift too.” This will also be played for the upcoming primary elections and is also featured on YouTube.
Obama’s speeches have become more and more critical of experience and the political battles that have been fought for the good or bad and regardless if the lawmakers agreed with this or not. His new mass following character that has been developing with the theme quote “We are the ones we’ve been waiting for”. This words make an enthusiastic aura but when realized it was written on his website and was not his words brings questioning to the table. Should we have a president who doesn’t account for other people’s words? This modern day movement of Obama seems to be the new cult.
I don’t think one should count her out of the nomination just yet considering if she wins Texas, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, she will probably win the nomination. The Wall Street Journal reports that Hillary Clinton’s campaign raised “about $15 million online in February’s first 15 days”. Again this criticizes Obama’s record high fundraising from January. This is a statement that should make it clear Hillary is not out of the race just yet.
It will be interesting to see what both candidates decide to use against one another. The negative advertising hasn’t proved as an important characteristic in determining the nomination just yet. Over the next two primaries, I’m sure there will be a major change in the negative advertising as the competition only grows closer and closer. Voting for president is a privilege and responsibility and although both candidates provide an intelligent and inspiring atmosphere, the question is, who will get the job done?
posted by talon | 11:30 AM
7 Comments:
I think it will be interesting to see how much longer Hillary will last, and if she ends up pulling out with wins in Texas and Ohio tomorrow. On another semi-related note, I wanted to make a comment about the Hillary campaign utilizing YouTube to criticize alleged plagiarism on Obama's part, and to post up positive videos on Sen. Clinton's behalf. This form of media is really making a name for itself in politics, and perhaps could be serving as a less organized or deliberate form of "ad-watching." YouTube is an extremely popular site, especially with younger audiences, so it would be interesting to see if there are any effects to using this form of media.
From our discussions in class about language theory and women in politics, it seems that women are not supposed to attack their opponents character but their poilcies instead. It will be interesting to see if she holds up like this or if she starts to attack Obama's character more then she already has. I want to see if her attack on Obama leads to negative thoughts on Clinton because she is a woman and women are not supposed to use actions like that according to the language expectancy theory.
As I am watching the debate, we can see that Hillary still has resilience and the bias that the media seems to have toward Obama. It will be interesting to see how this plays out in regards to actual turnout and results in the primaries. Hillary seems to get less rebuttal time and seems to be expected to not speak out. She is really trying hard to toe the line, per the language expectancy theory. The Drudge Report photo of Barack Obama is also interesting in the mix, that a report known for its bias is being given credence even though most people don't quite take it seriously except for Drudge devotees. The picture is of Barack Obama in an outfit that looks Middle Eastern, and could be associated with terrorism
I agree that the plagiarism criticisms goes against language expectancy theory because it is a personal attack against Obama. It doesn't look like the issue has gained traction at least at this point. Hillary was probably hoping it would play out as it did in 1988 when presidential candidate Joe Biden dropped out after some plagiarism allegations surfaced.
I was watching MSNBC the other day and there was a political analyst telling Dan Abrams, the anchor, that if Clinton were smart she'd pull out of the race now because it would save her a lot of heartbreak down the road. I thought this was interesting considering she does not seem to be wavering at all. Though she has lost many states to Obama she is still going strong with her campaigning and criticisms of of her opponent (or "partner"). Also, the races are so tight. It looks as if the numbers could go in either direction for TX and OH according to the polls estimating the primary. I think she would be foolish to drop out since there is a chance she could catch up to Obama.
Hillary won't pull out. This thing is going to the bitter end. There is nothing "April fools" about it. she means business.
I completely agree with your argument that Obama has a cult like following. It is as though he is a rockstar. With young people, supporting Obama is practically become the cool thing to do. If he does beat Hillary out and becomes the Democratic Presidential nominee it will be interesting to see if the "youth vote" will actually come out. Who knew saying "hope" over and over would attract so many followers.
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