Clinton Losses Her Main Campaign Advisor….What’s a Girl to Do?
Reading in the New York Times I came across an article regarding the Clinton campaign. Mark Penn a long time associate of Bill and Hillary (since 1996) has officially resigned as the chief political strategist for Hillary Clinton. The reason behind his withdrawal stems from the enduring struggle of the Clinton campaign in the resent months, dwindling accounts, and the continued lag in polls behind Barack Obama. Penn’s resignation could not have come at a worse time with the Pennsylvania primary on April 22.
Penn’s plan for the Clinton campaign was to emphasis her experience (which doesn’t account for much these days) and strength (yea right!). Penn also advised Hillary to focus her time and energy on larger states, but as has been seen in past primaries the small state victories for Obama has allow him to gain a seemingly unstoppable momentum in this election. Its not known for sure whether Mark Penn was asked to step down or if his resignation was the final straw for him in a wilting campaign.
My question to this blog is do you feel that the reason that the Clinton campaign is struggling is due to Hillary’s choice to follow Mr. Penn’s advise without getting other opinions or is her demise the result of a trusted colleague not having her best interests at heart?
I believe Hillary when into this campaign with the assumption that she would do well with her political advisor and friend in her corner, but unfortunately this has come back to bit her in the butt (excuse my frankness). Mark Penn being a close associate of the Clinton’s for some many years should know what it takes to have a winning campaign. Perhaps in 1996 the part he played in the Bill Clinton’s election was to show the more personable side, but for Hillary this formula was kicked to the curb. The change in tactic may have been to ensure that her gender would not be an issue if she presented her self as a tough opponent; this obviously isn’t working. Unfortunately for Hillary even though Penn has been removed its probably too late for Hillary.
In my opinion, campaigns too often resort to firings in an attempt to show that they are “doing something.” On the other hand, I don’t really know how much control over a campaign a “chief political strategist” has. Does the candidate have to do what they say? Or almost?
mssamuels, a question … can you say more about what you mean in your parenthetical remarks? (“to emphasis her experience (which doesn’t account for much these days) and strength (yea right!).” Why, in your opinion, does Clinton’s experience not account for much? Are you arguing that she is not strong? Why not?
| Posted 1 year, 7 months agoBeing that I was a strong Clinton follower advocating for why I think she should have won and now being an Obama followerer I can see why her polls are diminishing. Obama in this race has been nothing but respectful, honest, upfront, and had truth behind much of what he has been saying. Clinton seems to only piggyback off of what he does, follows his lead first, and then gets mad when he wins by saying something mean or ridiculous like “he has no experience.” Well The past 40 or 50 presidents had no experience being in office and functioned, some better than others, but they did it. It’s all a matter of opinion but I feel Mr. Penn left her campaign because he may be the kind of guy that only sticks around when things are looking on the up and up. You know that kind of friend that’s only there to reap the benefits or he got out because he felt that his contribution had ran its course.
In the end i am not quite sure; however, I feel it’s unfortunate what is happening to CLinton’s campaign and I hope it gets better for her but not that much better because it’s OBAMA all the way!
| Posted 1 year, 7 months agoI think that some of Hillary Clinton’s struggles in this campaign is a result of her following Mr. Penn’s advise to focus mainly on the larger states. However, I also beleive that Hillary’s campaign has been run based on criticism of the other democratic candidate which to me is not the right way to run. I also think that Mark Penn should have kept the same strategy used in Bill Clinton’s campaign to show the more personable side because honestly I dont feel like I know Hillary.
| Posted 1 year, 7 months agoWell I don’t think that the reason that Clinton may be having some troubles with the polls is solely due to Peen’s strategy. I mean I just believe that its popular vote that is deciding the leading nominee. However it is kind if unusual that Sen. Clinton seems to be losing a lot o f people in her campaign…I wonder what’s going on with that.
| Posted 1 year, 7 months agoInteresting and sad for Hil…its funny how you chose to word your questions leaving us with only 2 possible choices…personally I think its Hiliary’s fault that she is not winning. I don’t know much about Penn’s record but once she saw that his strategies were not workin in Jan. she should have been looking for other campaign managers. I do not know him and would not like to pass judgement on his character….I more so think that he just mis-strategized. I will tell u this honestly WOMEN WHO ARE TRYING TO OBTAIN A POISITION OF POWER CAN NOT BE PERSONABLE OR IN THE LEAST BIT SENSITIVE OR THEY WILL NOT BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY. Hence, her gender more-so than her personally acutally has hindered her progress
I would not blame her campaign manager though it is his responsibility to succeed…I would blame her for not watching the trends in Dec., Jan., and even Feb. and changing campaign managers sooner.
| Posted 1 year, 7 months agoI’m really not sure. It could be a combination of both but one will never really know. There are three sides to a story- his, her’s, and the truth. Hilary needs to step it up because she is losing supporters left and right ( which is good thing since I’m a huge Obama supporter) !
| Posted 1 year, 7 months agoI don’t really know because I don’t really know which ideas where her or his so I can’t say whose fault it is all I know is that her campaign strategies haven’t been working as for as I know he may have been giving good advice and Clinton may not have been listening which is why he decided to leave. I just hope that whatever happens she decides to use more grown up techniques rather than they pettiness that she has been using previously.
| Posted 1 year, 7 months agoI agree and think that’s a good point jaustin because in reference to as much as we know about Obama we do not know the same of Hillary unless she thought we already did since she’s been a public figure for quite some time.
| Posted 1 year, 7 months agowell price, although i tired to be impartial to the topic and let the readers form their own opinion, its a blog, and this is were holding your tongue isn’t necessary. My remark about Clinton’s experience comes from me reading a few articles a few weeks ago that compared the experience clinton “said” she has and were the records show her actual role in domestic and foreign issues. Reading those articles i learned that she didn’t lie, but exaggerated her roles to boost her political resume so to speak. As far as my “yea right” in regards to Clinton’s strength, I feel that being in this arena of polics an individual must be very tactful in strategy and not go about finger pointing to distract the public from the real issues. I think strength comes from a persons actions and not a correlation with gender. Not saying a woman cannot be strong, but honestly she’s been running her campaign like a high school girl running for homecoming queen.
| Posted 1 year, 7 months agoMaybe Hillary being a “know it all” has been hard to work with in regards to advisement etc.?!?
| Posted 1 year, 7 months agoI don’t believe that Clinton’s campaign woes are a result of those two options. I feel that Clinton is the chief authority over what is in her campaign. That being said, I’m sure she wouldn’t allow anything to be in her campaign that she did not approve of. Her campaign managers may have some type of influence over her thought process, but overall I feel that she makes the final call. So if she feels that anything went wrong with her campaign, I feel that she is to blame.
| Posted 1 year, 7 months agoUnfortuanely for Hillary it seems as if everything is coming apart at the seams for her campaing. I am also unsure or slightly confused about the “power” a chief political strategist has over a candidate. I mean ultimately they are chosen by the candidate correct? so are they somewhat like a publicist? with aadvice to give, but the final decision is made by the candidate. Anywho I’m not sure as to why Clinton’s campaign is struggling, of course this resignation is not going to be helpful, but it seems that alot of the votes Clinton was depending on to make this nomination a success have fallen through, and that is not something anyone could have predicted.
| Posted 1 year, 7 months agoI believe that the Clinton campaign is struggling because of poor advising and just poor past actions on Hilary’s part. I dont think him advising her to focus on the larger states had too much of an impact. I think that just meant shetalked more about winning larger state primaries but I dont think she ignored the smaller states.
| Posted 1 year, 7 months agoI do think that Hiliary’s campaign has not served her well, and if anything has contributed to her fall in the polls. I have no idea how much this might be due to Penn’s guidance or Hilary’s own doing, but the tough opponent thing, which I agree with you may have been to slight the gender issue was a bad strategy. Now I don’t think that Penn didn’t have her best interest at heart, which was to win the nomination and the election because if anything that would strengthen and further his career and unless he had some huge desire to sabatoge the Clinton’s at the risk of ruining his own career, which is highly unlikely, I don’t think that he hopped onboard without having her best interest at heart. I don’t want to blame Hiliary’s problems solely on her advisors, because her husband didn’t help and her not being as personable and charasmatic as Obama has nothing to do with Penn or anyone for that matter.
| Posted 1 year, 7 months agoShe just messed up. The End.
| Posted 1 year, 7 months ago