Livingston

Feb
25
2008

Is Hillary Making Gore’s Mistake?

Presidential elections feature the very best in PR strategy.  This one has already seen some brilliant maneuvers, most notably by the Obama camp, but also by Clinton and McCain.  But lately Hillary’s campaign suffers from a negative Rovian attack style criticism strategy, and a certain resolve to separate herself from hubby Bill Clinton, a mistake that Al Gore made.

See, Obama is masterful at deflecting and combating these types of attacks. He has his eye (or at least his messaging) on the country’s future and prosperity.  Notice that in his defense Obama brings it back to the economy. Obama rarely waivers from his focus, which is leading the country through reform towards a reinvigorated country.

This negative attack style hurts Hillary.  It reinforces her image as a cold person, and also reminds America of the current administration’s prolific attack style, which was a successful at first, but is now despised.

34202595 More importantly, Hillary seems bent on separating herself from Bill, insisting on demonstrating her own values as a leader.  I agree that she must be her own person, but it’s a mistake to separate herself from Clinton.  Aside from the fidelity issue, his administration has a legacy of economic prosperity, relative world peace and generally good government.

Al Gore made the same mistake in 2000. He separated himself from the Clinton administration, insisting on painting his run as a different effort. Unfortunately, his personality could not carry the day.

Ironically, George Bush (the first) won his 1988 election by doing the opposite.  His campaign was a promise to extend the good times and Republican leadership established under Ronald Reagan.

Hillary must be kidding herself if she wants America to believe that Bill Clinton and associated colleagues won’t have an influential role in her administration. Instead of focusing on her individual capability and attacks, some of her messaging should remind Americans of the 90s.  Specifically, messaging should invoke the economic prosperity and peace this country enjoyed during the first Clinton administration.

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by Geoff Livingston | PR |

8 Responses to “Is Hillary Making Gore’s Mistake?”

  • Ohio Poll Shows Obama Leading Clinton, Clinton Advisers Realize The End May Be Near - Liberal Values - Defending Liberty and Enlightened Thought Says:

    February 25th, 2008 at 8:37 am

    Kramer auto Pingback[...] Comments Is Hillary Making Gore’s Mistake? » The Buzz Bin on Clinton Defeated and BooedKaren on Clinton’s Experience Claims Debunked by Congressional [...]

  • Ike Says:

    February 25th, 2008 at 8:59 am

    Let’s not discount another factor: citizen fatigue. Her campaign, for all intents and purposes, has been operative since 2004. Some even believe it stretches back to the Senate run in 2000, and that Bill secretly submarined Gore to keep the waters calm for Hillary.

    One of Sen. Clinton’s biggest current obstacles is of her own making: naked ambition. From a sheer marketing perspective, it doesn’t play well against a consistently positive message focused on the consumer.

  • Eric Eggertson Says:

    February 25th, 2008 at 9:12 am

    Sometimes you can get too smart for your own good.

    I think Ike’s right about the ambition thing. If the main focus was saving America from a terrible peril, it would be one thing. But “elect me” isn’t all that pressing a call to action.

  • Geoff Livingston Says:

    February 25th, 2008 at 10:14 am

    Ike: Yes, I think we agree. Hillary is about Hillary, and not enough on America and prosperity, and I think that’s coming through. As Eric, said elect me is not really compelling.

  • Joe Zuccaro Says:

    February 25th, 2008 at 11:04 am

    “Specifically, messaging should invoke the economic prosperity and peace this country enjoyed during the first Clinton administration.”

    I disagree. She needs to be her own woman. Many people now realize that the economic prosperity which occurred during the Clinton Administration was due to in part to the Internet bubble and slack corporate accounting regulation/enforcement which burst and hurt a lot of people.

    Additionally, with hindsight we see the “peace” this country “enjoyed” was merely a lull before a storm. Determined enemies were plotting for years while politicians from both sides of the aisle were chasing relatively frivolous agendas. And because of this, we quickly found out how vulnerable we truly were.

    Hillary needs to invoke that she can steer us from the unilateral, “cowboy” image that the Bush Administration has cloaked the United States with, while avoiding the false sense of security we “enjoyed” while Bill was “efficiently” running government. She needs to show she can win back over our allies to help them get the backbone to stand up to the threats that face the free world.

    She needs to keep Bill out of the limelight. Every time he opens his mouth he comes across as negative and appears to bully Obama, and that just makes people gravitate towards the positive person that Obama is.

    I believe that Hillary Clinton can invoke a message of confidence and not fear regarding our global situation; she can send a message of economic healing that will be sound and rise above her husband’s rhetoric, rather than mimic it. That she can craft a value proposition to the American people that explains she has the savvy and is more qualified to run the most complex organization in the world.

    But at this particular point in time she has a tremendous uphill battle against an amazing momentum that Barack Obama has created.

  • Geoff Livingston Says:

    February 25th, 2008 at 11:36 am

    Joe: That’s a certain view of the economics and war situation, which is political. This is a discussion about the PR strategy. On paper, I don’t care what party you are in, economic efficiency certainly does not involve running a massive debt.

    Further, the Bill attack dog style is part of the over all Rovian strategy that Hillary is using. Make no bones about it, he is her puppet in this campaign. Thus the Bill Clinton emails about what a great pres, she’ll be etc. So in essence, it’s good cop, bad cop.

  • Joe Zuccaro Says:

    February 25th, 2008 at 1:38 pm

    Geoff, let me clarify, I’m not trying to be political, but obviously PR strategy must take into consideration peoples’ political views. Those statements are not necessarily my personal views, either.

    But whatever you call it “good cop, bad cop,” I think she needs to try something different and just be “cop”. People will hear and will listen if she honestly tries to reach out and they honestly want to hear her.

    Peace,

    Joe

  • A PR Professional’s Opinion on Hillary’s Tactics Says:

    February 25th, 2008 at 2:20 pm

    [...] why I want to direct your attention to Geoff Livingston’s post on The Buzz Bin: “Is Hillary Making Gore’s Mistakes?” Geoff has 14 years of marketing strategy experience; in short, the gentleman knows his [...]

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