Will the DNC reshape perceptions of Clinton?

Hillary Clinton’s focus this week lays on reintroducing herself to the Democratic Party and the American people. Former President Bill Clinton is scheduled to speak Tuesday night.

|
Andrew Harnik/ AP
Sen. Tim Kaine (D) of Virginia accompanied by Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks at a rally at Florida International University Panther Arena in Miami, on Saturday, July 23, 2016.

As Hillary Clinton enters evening two of the four-day Democratic National Convention, she and her campaign are looking for the opportunity to reintroduce herself as a person and as a candidate to both her party and to the American public.

Ordinarily, the Democratic and Republican conventions serve to aid the general population in further discovering the nominees as people and as candidates. This year, however, both Mrs. Clinton and Republican nominee Donald Trump faced a different scenario heading into their conventions in Philadelphia and Cleveland, respectively.  

"It's slightly unique for Clinton and Trump because they're incredibly well-known," Dan Pfeiffer, the former senior adviser to President Obama, told CNN. While previously candidates could spend the four-day conventions acquainting constituents with their personalities and policies, "for Clinton and Trump, because they're so well-known, you're reframing the narrative."

While Clinton has largely received and held the support of prominent leaders within the Democratic Party, including President Obama, first lady Michelle Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, former Vice President Al Gore, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I) of Vermont, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D) of Massachusetts, she has struggled to gain as powerful a foothold among American voters.

On Monday, a CNN poll showed showed that 68 percent of Americans believe that Hillary Clinton is neither honest nor trustworthy –her worst rating yet on that measure. The same poll showed that Mr. Trump’s lead over Clinton as the most trusted candidate on both the national economy and on terrorism had grown to double digits, and Clinton had even fallen from 57 percent to 50 percent on foreign policy – one of her specialities – since the start of the Republican convention. 

Embroiled in political scandals and faux pas from the Benghazi consulate attack, to her private email server, to recent emails leaked from the Democratic National Committee that showed a bias against her primary opponent, Senator Sanders, Clinton has often fallen flat in her attempts to connect with potentially new fans, particularly voters disenchanted with current politics and energized by Sanders' rhetoric of "revolution."

"They have become a stew of simmering grievances from the primaries about rules, process, money, fairness and democracy," Michael Barbaro and Yamiche Alcindor wrote in a New York Times analysis, addressing the Vermont senator's speech at the convention and the fiery, tempestuous response from his supporters.

In an article for the Huffington Post, S.V. Date wrote, "so ingrained is the anti-Hillary sentiment, crossing party and demographic lines, that even those too young to remember anything about Whitewater or 'Troopergate' know it’s cool to dislike her – even though they may not be quite sure why."

In contrast, Republican Candidate Donald Trump's trumpeting, sound-byte filled speeches have garnered a once-shocking amount of support among GOP voters, but has yet to gain ground with prominent party members such as former Governor Mitt Romney and both of the former Bush presidents.

Many voters' deep qualms about Trump's style, rhetoric, and personal character make Clinton's personality and tone at the convention all the more important as a chance to reintroduce herself to American voters. 

"The right-wing media has tried to portray her as something she's not," said Chuck Schumer, a Democratic senator from New York who served with Clinton in the Senate, told The New York Times. "The convention is a great way to undo some of that media image. People will see her up close. They will see her the way she is. I think their minds are open."

The Clinton campaign has marshalled a wide array of speakers to help her make her case, from celebrity comedienne-turned-staunch Sanders supporter Sarah Silverman, who urged Democrats to unite behind Clinton, to Lena Dunham, the writer and creator of the television show "Girls," who has helped promote Clinton to young voters, particularly women. 

On Tuesday evening, the husband to the nominee, former President Bill Clinton, will speak. His last 2012 convention appearance in 2012 he spoke as the last Democratic president before Obama and electrified the audience. In 2016, however, he'll be speaking about his own wife, and likely highlighting the day's theme: "A Lifetime of Fighting for Children and Families." 

Clinton's team may feel that that emphasis on her public service record, social progress, and inclusivity is one of her best bets to highlight differences with her opponent.

"The contrast between Donald Trump's convention where he 'alone can fix it' versus Hillary Clinton's convention is that we are stronger together," a Clinton official told CNN.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Will the DNC reshape perceptions of Clinton?
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2016/0726/Will-the-DNC-reshape-perceptions-of-Clinton
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe