Hillary Clinton The Democratic

Hillary Clinton, the Democratic National Committee’s candidate for President of the United States in 2016, ran in alignment with the DNC’s 2016 platform. Her focus was on improving the Affordable Care Act, expanding women’s rights, raising middle class incomes, and campaign finance reform.

In response to the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision, which enabled unlimited campaign finance contributions, Clinton guaranteed a constitutional amendment overturning Citizens United.

Clinton’s economic plan would have penalized corporations involved in moving jobs overseas by rescinding their tax benefits, incentivized profit sharing models for employees, environment and communities, placed an exit tax on corporations that moved their headquarters out of the U.S. for sake of tax savings, increased collective bargaining rights and opposed the Trans-Pac Partnership.

Clinton emphasized family issues, supported universal preschool, path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, same-sex marriage, equal pay for women, Common Core and protection of Israel’s sovereignty. She opposed Trump’s call for a Muslim ban and favored American influence in the Middle East.

Clinton’s campaign mirrored the same, strong liberal vector that proved to be successful for Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012. This mirror paid off for Clinton early on in the South Carolina Democratic primary. The campaign strategy emphasized Clinton’s experience and strong, consistent leadership in her previously help cabinet position as the 67th United States Secretary of State for the Obama administration from 2009 to 2013 and Senator of New York from 2001 to 2009. Strength, consistency and experience was felt to be a terminal threat to Donald Trump, whom the Clinton campaign assumed was perceived by most to be inexperienced, incapable and unfit for the Office of the President.

On November 8, 2016, Clinton lost the presidential election to Donald Trump, with 227 electoral votes to Trump’s 304. Donald Trump was the single worst presidential candidate in the history of the United States; this fact is difficult to argue against – even much of the right agrees. The aim of this paper is to discuss what went wrong; the primary failures, and to propose a hypothetical plan that would have shifted the tide for Clinton ensuring her seat in the Oval Office. The solutions proposed intersect each other, relate to each other and work as a cohesive whole.

The First Failure was in the branding of Hillary Clinton. We needed to see her as the opposite of what was presented. We didn’t need power and stability – we needed a real human being; highly capable, but admittedly imperfect, sensitive and genuine. What the public observed was a cold, institutionalized, defensive, bitter woman dressed like Dr. Evil, who lacked sincerity and heart. Hillary needed to be humanized. This humanization would have to start a ways back, with her willingly going to the cross, so-to-speak, over Benghazi. A heartfelt, sincere public apology for the breakdown that occurred, and the failure to accurately report the truth. A non-defensive, organic speech, not read from a teleprompter, outlining the inherent difficulties and challenging nature of the position that she held, including revealing the complexity of the circumstances, the challenges of compartmentalization, the previous flawless track record of her office’s ability to fulfill all the requests from Benghazi, and the unfortunate nature of the political realm for which she exists where truth is overshadowed and dismissed in the way of partisan politics. To propose a solution that would ensure this kind of mistake would never be made again. This public plea would have to be preceded by a meeting with Lindsey Graham, informing him of her intention to fall on her sword, in hope to end the divide; to de-politicize the situation for the sake of the Americans whom lost their lives, along with their families. If Graham were to agree, and the conservative media could be convinced to de escalate the scathing partisan reporting on Benghazi for the sake of those lost, this could be a launch pad to a rebranding of a new Hillary.

The Second Failure was the choice to go to war with Donald Trump. There should have been no attacks against Trump, as challenging as that would have been. You can run a successful campaign against an opponent and not have to mirror that opponent’s tactics. The ideology that is subscribed to at this level of politics is that of the grade school infantile ego. The infantile ego always responds and retaliates. It is always defensive. Yes, this is Trump, but it is also every other politician – including Hillary. This was the perfect opportunity to do something different, to stand out as something different against this radically inappropriate, loud mouthed, histrionic man that should never have made it this far. Yet Hillary continued her act, this act of hers that people were already so fed up over.

Often we become so identified with our mask, a mask built out of fears and neuroses, we believe it is who we are and forget how to be anything else – the rift between the mask and the real self grows far and wide. This is what the public saw in Hillary. They might not understand the construct of what they are looking at, but the feeling it conjures is very real, and it’s quite unsettling. With the right direction in this regard, Hillary could have toppled Trump, by doing less, trying less, worrying less; removing the mask and just being herself. Taking the blows with stride, maybe even showing some emotion and hurt, but responding with character and not with defensiveness and not with retaliatory accusations. People do not like a bully. Turn trump into a bully and you turn most folks against him. The second your retaliate, he’s no longer a bully. It’s very difficult to hate a person that is getting pounded, a person that has taken responsibility for her error, a candidate that is being real and genuine and not mean and bitter like her opponent.

It might be assumed this transformation being suggested for Hillary is too far outside the realm of her capacity, yet this would be an incorrect assumption. In reviewing her private emails, it’s clear there are two Hillary’s; the public eye Hillary and the genuine “behind-closed-doors” Hillary. This comes at her own admission in one particular email; She admits this is the way it has to be in the realm of politics. This is in fact the status quo, and the suggestion for a presidential candidate to lose the duality and become one genuine personality is indeed a hail mary – potentially political suicide – yet in the way of Hillary, this is the only way to victory. Her acknowledging this mask she wears indicates she would be capable of shedding it. This country is ready to honor and support a politician brave enough to make this leap. Hillary would be the last one people would expect this from. Accounts from those that know her personally reflect there’s a heart behind the facade. Help her to show this heart and the votes will come.

This New Hillary would have to be dynamically applied as needed to situations needing repair. Not giving up too much in all situations, but just enough. Bernie Sanders needs some love and the American people need to see Hillary offering this love. A Bernie Sanders VP would be a consideration. At very least, some form of repair needs to take place in the public eye. Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Donna Brazile are problems. These two may be have to be casualties that require special handling.

The New Hillary conversion is not going to affect support from her base. They will love New Hillary even more. What she will gain are the millions of votes that went to Trump by those that would not have otherwise voted for him, simply because they “can’t stand Hillary.” She will also win over many on the fence – swing states votes, which will be covered under the Fourth Failure.

The Third Failure is the Hillary Victory Fund. The HVF is not in alignment with the New Hillary. The HVF is structured to funnel large donations through the states and back to the campaign and to the DNC. It’s too risky as half the country views this as money laundering, which in fact it is by most standards. It also creates a rift between the states and the national campaign. The states expect money and they don’t get it. Morale is lost.

Restructure the HVF. Remove the DNC from it. Allow the states to keep the funds, which will support the reconstruction of the local campaign strategy discussed in the next section. Do not permit money transfers from the states back to the national campaign.

The Fourth Failure was the swing states. Namely Michigan. There was a overall disconnect between the national campaign and the locals. The national campaign would not listen to the locals. They were relying on faulty metrics and ignoring suggestions based on what was being observed. The solution here is to humanize the ground game in Michigan and the other swing states. Send New Hillary and a team of national reps out to liaison with communities, district organizations and precinct campaigns. Determine where votes are. Adopt a grassroots effort using literature, door to door talks and lawn signs.

The Fifth Failure took place in I.T. The Clinton Campaign underestimated the online game and were blind to Russian attempts to manipulate social media. They had only 50 engineers and developers from Google, Facebook and Twitter using the outdated Timshel/The Groundwork platform for organizing data, email, donor tracking and analytics. Many more computer systems engineers should have been brought in. A troll farm should have been established operating on social media, promoting the New Hillary. A qualified outside IT firm should have been contracted such as Milan based Hacking Team to work with the campaign to identify threats and to implement advanced strategies using behavioral and demographic targeting, geodemographic segmentation and value modes type tools; advertising and social engineering custom tailored for the needs of the campaign. Identified threats in the form of foreign ads on social media could be dealt with through blocking agreements with Facebook and Twitter. This I.T. strategy would operate within the limits of the law.

To conclude, when we humanize Hillary, call off the attack on Donald Trump, take ownership of past transgressions, make amends with Bernie Sanders, implement a creative solution to Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Donna Brazile, restructure the Hillary Victory Fund, humanize and fortify the ground effort in the swing states and dominate I.T. with a massive, next-gen online strategy bringing in the very best computer talent, Hillary would be become unstoppable.Hillary Clinton, the Democratic National Committee’s candidate for President of the United States in 2016, ran in alignment with the DNC’s 2016 platform. Her focus was on improving the Affordable Care Act, expanding women’s rights, raising middle class incomes, and campaign finance reform.

In response to the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision, which enabled unlimited campaign finance contributions, Clinton guaranteed a constitutional amendment overturning Citizens United.

Clinton’s economic plan would have penalized corporations involved in moving jobs overseas by rescinding their tax benefits, incentivized profit sharing models for employees, environment and communities, placed an exit tax on corporations that moved their headquarters out of the U.S. for sake of tax savings, increased collective bargaining rights and opposed the Trans-Pac Partnership.

Clinton emphasized family issues, supported universal preschool, path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, same-sex marriage, equal pay for women, Common Core and protection of Israel’s sovereignty. She opposed Trump’s call for a Muslim ban and favored American influence in the Middle East.

Clinton’s campaign mirrored the same, strong liberal vector that proved to be successful for Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012. This mirror paid off for Clinton early on in the South Carolina Democratic primary. The campaign strategy emphasized Clinton’s experience and strong, consistent leadership in her previously help cabinet position as the 67th United States Secretary of State for the Obama administration from 2009 to 2013 and Senator of New York from 2001 to 2009. Strength, consistency and experience was felt to be a terminal threat to Donald Trump, whom the Clinton campaign assumed was perceived by most to be inexperienced, incapable and unfit for the Office of the President.

On November 8, 2016, Clinton lost the presidential election to Donald Trump, with 227 electoral votes to Trump’s 304. Donald Trump was the single worst presidential candidate in the history of the United States; this fact is difficult to argue against – even much of the right agrees. The aim of this paper is to discuss what went wrong; the primary failures, and to propose a hypothetical plan that would have shifted the tide for Clinton ensuring her seat in the Oval Office. The solutions proposed intersect each other, relate to each other and work as a cohesive whole.

The First Failure was in the branding of Hillary Clinton. We needed to see her as the opposite of what was presented. We didn’t need power and stability – we needed a real human being; highly capable, but admittedly imperfect, sensitive and genuine. What the public observed was a cold, institutionalized, defensive, bitter woman dressed like Dr. Evil, who lacked sincerity and heart. Hillary needed to be humanized. This humanization would have to start a ways back, with her willingly going to the cross, so-to-speak, over Benghazi. A heartfelt, sincere public apology for the breakdown that occurred, and the failure to accurately report the truth. A non-defensive, organic speech, not read from a teleprompter, outlining the inherent difficulties and challenging nature of the position that she held, including revealing the complexity of the circumstances, the challenges of compartmentalization, the previous flawless track record of her office’s ability to fulfill all the requests from Benghazi, and the unfortunate nature of the political realm for which she exists where truth is overshadowed and dismissed in the way of partisan politics. To propose a solution that would ensure this kind of mistake would never be made again. This public plea would have to be preceded by a meeting with Lindsey Graham, informing him of her intention to fall on her sword, in hope to end the divide; to de-politicize the situation for the sake of the Americans whom lost their lives, along with their families. If Graham were to agree, and the conservative media could be convinced to de escalate the scathing partisan reporting on Benghazi for the sake of those lost, this could be a launch pad to a rebranding of a new Hillary.

The Second Failure was the choice to go to war with Donald Trump. There should have been no attacks against Trump, as challenging as that would have been. You can run a successful campaign against an opponent and not have to mirror that opponent’s tactics. The ideology that is subscribed to at this level of politics is that of the grade school infantile ego. The infantile ego always responds and retaliates. It is always defensive. Yes, this is Trump, but it is also every other politician – including Hillary. This was the perfect opportunity to do something different, to stand out as something different against this radically inappropriate, loud mouthed, histrionic man that should never have made it this far. Yet Hillary continued her act, this act of hers that people were already so fed up over.

Often we become so identified with our mask, a mask built out of fears and neuroses, we believe it is who we are and forget how to be anything else – the rift between the mask and the real self grows far and wide. This is what the public saw in Hillary. They might not understand the construct of what they are looking at, but the feeling it conjures is very real, and it’s quite unsettling. With the right direction in this regard, Hillary could have toppled Trump, by doing less, trying less, worrying less; removing the mask and just being herself. Taking the blows with stride, maybe even showing some emotion and hurt, but responding with character and not with defensiveness and not with retaliatory accusations. People do not like a bully. Turn trump into a bully and you turn most folks against him. The second your retaliate, he’s no longer a bully. It’s very difficult to hate a person that is getting pounded, a person that has taken responsibility for her error, a candidate that is being real and genuine and not mean and bitter like her opponent.

It might be assumed this transformation being suggested for Hillary is too far outside the realm of her capacity, yet this would be an incorrect assumption. In reviewing her private emails, it’s clear there are two Hillary’s; the public eye Hillary and the genuine “behind-closed-doors” Hillary. This comes at her own admission in one particular email; She admits this is the way it has to be in the realm of politics. This is in fact the status quo, and the suggestion for a presidential candidate to lose the duality and become one genuine personality is indeed a hail mary – potentially political suicide – yet in the way of Hillary, this is the only way to victory. Her acknowledging this mask she wears indicates she would be capable of shedding it. This country is ready to honor and support a politician brave enough to make this leap. Hillary would be the last one people would expect this from. Accounts from those that know her personally reflect there’s a heart behind the facade. Help her to show this heart and the votes will come.

This New Hillary would have to be dynamically applied as needed to situations needing repair. Not giving up too much in all situations, but just enough. Bernie Sanders needs some love and the American people need to see Hillary offering this love. A Bernie Sanders VP would be a consideration. At very least, some form of repair needs to take place in the public eye. Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Donna Brazile are problems. These two may be have to be casualties that require special handling.

The New Hillary conversion is not going to affect support from her base. They will love New Hillary even more. What she will gain are the millions of votes that went to Trump by those that would not have otherwise voted for him, simply because they “can’t stand Hillary.” She will also win over many on the fence – swing states votes, which will be covered under the Fourth Failure.

The Third Failure is the Hillary Victory Fund. The HVF is not in alignment with the New Hillary. The HVF is structured to funnel large donations through the states and back to the campaign and to the DNC. It’s too risky as half the country views this as money laundering, which in fact it is by most standards. It also creates a rift between the states and the national campaign. The states expect money and they don’t get it. Morale is lost.

Restructure the HVF. Remove the DNC from it. Allow the states to keep the funds, which will support the reconstruction of the local campaign strategy discussed in the next section. Do not permit money transfers from the states back to the national campaign.

The Fourth Failure was the swing states. Namely Michigan. There was a overall disconnect between the national campaign and the locals. The national campaign would not listen to the locals. They were relying on faulty metrics and ignoring suggestions based on what was being observed. The solution here is to humanize the ground game in Michigan and the other swing states. Send New Hillary and a team of national reps out to liaison with communities, district organizations and precinct campaigns. Determine where votes are. Adopt a grassroots effort using literature, door to door talks and lawn signs.

The Fifth Failure took place in I.T. The Clinton Campaign underestimated the online game and were blind to Russian attempts to manipulate social media. They had only 50 engineers and developers from Google, Facebook and Twitter using the outdated Timshel/The Groundwork platform for organizing data, email, donor tracking and analytics. Many more computer systems engineers should have been brought in. A troll farm should have been established operating on social media, promoting the New Hillary. A qualified outside IT firm should have been contracted such as Milan based Hacking Team to work with the campaign to identify threats and to implement advanced strategies using behavioral and demographic targeting, geodemographic segmentation and value modes type tools; advertising and social engineering custom tailored for the needs of the campaign. Identified threats in the form of foreign ads on social media could be dealt with through blocking agreements with Facebook and Twitter. This I.T. strategy would operate within the limits of the law.

To conclude, when we humanize Hillary, call off the attack on Donald Trump, take ownership of past transgressions, make amends with Bernie Sanders, implement a creative solution to Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Donna Brazile, restructure the Hillary Victory Fund, humanize and fortify the ground effort in the swing states and dominate I.T. with a massive, next-gen online strategy bringing in the very best computer talent, Hillary would be become unstoppable.