Friday, April 22, 2016
Thursday, April 21, 2016
Hillary Clinton: pro's and con's
"In another up-and-down, anything-can-happen primary season, Hillary Clinton has shown herself to be a strong candidate—and a much happier one. Will she finally, at long last, make history?"
The 2016 presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton has served as
secretary of state, senator from New York, first lady of the United States,
first lady of Arkansas, a practicing lawyer and law professor, activist, and
volunteer. As first lady, Hillary tenaciously led the fight to reform the American health
care systems and avidly spoke for women’s rights. Shortly after winning the
U.S. presidential election, Obama nominated Hillary Clinton as secretary of
state. She accepted the nomination and was officially approved as the 67th U.S.
secretary of state by the Senate on January 21, 2009. Also a best-selling
author, Clinton’s memoir Hard Choices where Clinton shares the difficult
decision made during her reign as secretary of state.
Today, she is the front runner as the democratic candidate with 1446 delegates and 502 superdelegates, followed by her major opponent, Bernie Sanders, with only 1200 delegates.
Hillary Clinton, pro's and con's of a future (potential) president:
The Pro's:
- She knows how Washington DC works because she has served as Secretary of State in the Obama administration,
- She would be the first woman president (I am not a real fan of the argument but many American citizens seem excited about the perspective of having the first American woman president after the first American black president)
- great knowledge and experience
- served as first lady in the USA during her husband's presidency
- she has a lot of endorsements (U2, Beyonce, Barack Obama )Hillary Clinton's list of endorsements
The Con's:
- Age: If Mrs. Clinton wins the polls, she will be the eldest woman head of state
- Unsolved scandals such as the email scandals (Clinton Email Scandal ) and the specter of other scandals (such as her financing packages, her Wall Street banks endorsements (Goldman Sachs paid her $220K for a speech lately))
- she has trust issues within the democratic party ( seen as too sharp, too fake)
- inconsistent in many political areas
- seen as "too liberal"
If you want to have more details about how to nail a marketing ad, have a look at: Hillary Clinton campaign ad
Thursday, April 14, 2016
The Trump hurricane
The Trump hurricane
Donald Trump’s presidential campaign feels whimsical, like a practical joke or publicity tour gone awry. But it turns out the Donald is running a long way. A new report in Politico suggests Trump has been plotting this election for years, and he knew exactly what he had to do to succeed.
Trump knew all that his celebrity and media power were sufficient to support his campaign. Although they didn’t believe him, Trump told the Republicans in that room in 2013 that he would dominate the race without spending much on paid advertising.
His ability to control the narrative, to dominate the coverage, is all it takes. Trump’s amorality coupled with his gift for self-promotion has turned the Republican presidential race on its head. He’s made the race about him, and anytime he isn’t the main story, he lurches back into the headlines with an outrageous comment about women or Muslims or Mexicans or disabled people – anything to win the news cycle.
Here is a summary (ironically, delivered by Hillary Clinton) on Trump’s most outrageous comments :
The biggest takeaway here is that Trump is indeed a professional showman. And whatever else he is, he’s not stupid. He doesn’t believe half the absurdities he utters on the campaign trail either. Everything he’s done and said was designed to dupe the media into funding his marketing strategy.
Trump’s a TV man; he understands the landscape. He knows interesting is preferable to informed or reasonable or lucid. Trump’s free-wheeling approach means he could say literally anything at any moment, and that’s the kind of thing people want to watch. The pitch about Mexicans being criminals and rapists, for example, was entirely improvised during Trump’s announcement speech, and while it was an egregious thing to say, the sheer craziness of the remarks won him a week’s worth of headlines and catapulted his campaign.
Trump’s strategy is nearly perfect. On the one hand, he’s tapped into a vein of resentment in the country, and in a way no serious politician could. And on the other hand, he’s free to say whatever he wants, no matter how controversial, because doing so breathes more oxygen into his campaign. Even more advantageous, he’s entered the race at an ideal time. The public — for good reasons — no longer trusts Washington. Trump maybe is « a man who can’t fix anything » (quoting Bernie Sanders), « like Kim Jong Un, a buffoon and a danger » (quoting Arianna Huffington, co-founder and Editor in Chief of the Huffington Post Arianna Huffington Intervention ) or even « a man with tiny fingers » (quoting John Oliver, star host of Last week Tonight with John Oliver John Oliver on Donald Trump ) (yeah, Donald Trump has a problem with his fingers , which CNN called TRUMP’s Achilles Heel : CNN Video ),but people make bad decisions when they’re anxious or angry, and Trump is offering them an alternative to the status quo. This is what demagogues do, and it usually works.
As a candidate, Trump appears uncontainable. His risk tolerance is unmatched, and that gives him a freedom no other candidate enjoys. He can offend anyone, promise anything, and circumnavigate the entire process without ever having to apologize. It also forces the other candidates to play his game, to react to the tone he sets and the issues he raises.
Everything Trump does has to be seen in the broader context of his media-centric strategy. No one should ask if Trump believes what he says; it’s impossible to know. If he does believe something he says, it’s a happy coincidence, because his campaign is an experiment in modern marketing, not an expression of his political worldview.
If you want to know more about the american election, I really advise you to check those references :
* See you on 19th, for the NY primary.
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