Hillary kicks off her campaign publicly with the re-release of her book It Takes a Village.
It will be a daytime gabfest with Barbara, Rosie _ and Hillary.
New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton will be making the rounds of the morning shows next week, promoting the rerelease of her book, “It Takes a Village,” while getting some major television exposure as she weighs a likely 2008 presidential bid…
The Democrat will be interviewed Monday on NBC’s “The Today Show,” and will join Rosie O’Donnell and Barbara Walters on ABC’s “The View” on Wednesday. She’ll also do several book signings around New York…
“It Takes a Village,” Clinton’s book on child rearing, is being rereleased 10 years after it was first published in 1996. In a new introduction to the book, Clinton argues that technology, especially the Internet, has made the lessons of her book even more relevant.
“Today’s electronic village has certainly complicated the always difficult challenge of parenting and raising the next generation,” Clinton wrote.
Hillary is – obviously – trying to create the image of an American Mother or even An American Daughter (I hope for her that she won’t suffer the same fate Lyssa Dent suffered). Besides that, her approach is quite different from that of, say, Obama. Obama created a sudden mediahype, which was necessary because not many people took him serious as a contestant, that has changed dramatically. Everybody knows Hillary and everybody is fully aware of the fact that she is the Democratic favorite.
What she needs to do is to build slow momentum. No mediahype, at least not for the coming months. She must create the image of an American mother, wife and politician. A woman who understands the struggle of American mothers who try to juggle their job(s) with raising their children. Of course, there is more to it than that: she must also create a strong image of a moderate Democrat who appeals not just to Democratic voters, but also to independents. That too takes time.
Obama has created a mediahype which was, again, useful. Now, however, he has to disappear for a while, to make a slow comeback later. He has introduced himself, people take him serious, disappear, come back slowly… and see where the journey ends.
P.S.
Have a closer look at the photo the WaPo chose to accompany the article. Not exactly flattering is it?
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