In the September issue of Atlantic Magazine, Joshua Green provides an incredibly in-depth report about the problems and divisions within the Clinton campaign leading to the fall. What may be even better than the article, "
The Front Runner's Fall," Green scanned in volumes of the
email he relied upon to write the article.
Rarely do we get a look at the author's non-artistic proofs to see how the author wrote the article. This could be a very interesting pedagogical tool for teaching argumentation.
Green's method:
To find out, I approached a number of current and former Clinton staffers and outside consultants and asked them to share memos, e-mails, meeting minutes, diaries—anything that would offer a contemporaneous account. The result demonstrates that paranoid dysfunction breeds the impulse to hoard. Everything from major strategic plans to bitchy staff e-mail feuds was handed over.
What would be useful about these non-artistic proofs is that this evidence does not concern after the fact justification to a large public in the way that an interview is a newspaper article would.
Instead, Green provides is with the emails from major players in the campaign as they attempt to persuade one another over the direction of the campaign. This could be a great resource to see how the arguments developed internally, especially in relation to what arguments and strategies were selected, as well as the consequences of those arguments.
Again, I cannot explain how amazing this resource is. Check it out. Click on the summaries to examine the actually documents.
After a quick read, here are a few thoughts:
1) Not running in 2004. I thought this would be her best bet since 2004 presented a weak field. It would have been close though, maybe too close for because of war. Yet, according to the article, polling numbers were there. One of the main problems of her campaign is she never could master
kairos.
2) Target audience: women, lower & middle income, and play defense with men and upper class. A memo by Penn suggests to tap into the consciousness of sexism:
"1) Start with a base of women. a. For these women you represent a breaking of barriers. b. The winnowing out of the most competent and qualified in an unfair, male dominated world. c. The infusion of a woman and a mother’s sensibilities into a world of war and neglect
To counter this theme of division, Penn focuses on the Lower and Middle Class to show you care, you are one of them, and you support their goals. Additionally, Penn's strategy was to, "Contest the black vote at every opportunity. Keep him pinned down there," meaning make Obama defend this vote to cut in his base and... prevent him from expanding. Green notes that this is the coalition that worked for Clinton and this memo, "reinforces rather than confronts the Clintons’ biases."
3) The odd connection between Edwards and Clinton, especially in light of his recent allegations... Edwards says his vote on Iraq was wrong but Clinton does not. This is tragic for her. Edwards hurts her in Iowa, which hurts her nationally.
I do not believe in what ifs, especially about Iowa since the people there were not going to vote for her. He populist personae for Pennsylvania would not translate there because of demographics and ideology. Her best bet would have been to avoid Iowa as it proved too costly. But Edwards did hurt here there in perception...
One interesting point on the press and the Clinton campaign (and there are many) that concerns the pre-Iowa time frame: "The more the Clinton team became paralyzed by conflict, the more it was forced to rely on the press to write negative stories that would weaken Obama—to, in effect, perform the very function it was unable to do for itself." The failure of Clinton was the failure to drive the narrative. This explanation doesn't occur, well it doesn't occur here. Well, maybe because focusing on Obama's 3rd grade essay "I want to be President" is the reason. Poor judgment.
And the beginning of the end was Iowa. No matter how the media tried, the race was not competitive throughout the primary.
Update II:
This article has a terrible ending. Maybe it is because of space requirements but it is still terrible.
One more link to (must. make. it. through. post.) CNN. Because the new Bigfoot Discourse seems to be capturing a slice of the public imaginary, including, admittedly, on the most inexcusably banal level imaginable, Harrogate's.
Some of Harrogate's Readers are going to be shocked at the following effusion, but: WAY TO GO AP! That there's a priceless photograph. (O how Harrogate wishes there was a photograph circulating of WALL-E in handcuffs, too!).
Granted, she probably worked out like a madwoman and was hungry a lot of the time (breastfeeding doesn't burn that many calories, ladies). I have "no doubt" that Gwen will be baring her famous abs at some point after the birth of baby #2 as well. Good for her. I will eat an extra slice of pizza on her behalf--and I won't run an extra 5 miles to burn it off!