Hillary Clinton (yawn) and Marco Rubio (yawn) join the fray

Just in case y’all had anything to say about these nonevents.

Above is her announcement video, below is his (which he released in advance of his announcement). Thoughts?

This morning, I was reading commentary on the Clinton announcement from yesterday, and the word was that she had learned that it wasn’t all about Hillary, that it was about us regular folks out here, which is why her video doesn’t show her until near the end — you know, when she says, Oh, yeah, all you little people? Well I’m getting ready to run for president… Or something to that effect.

My reaction to that is… no, it’s about you, Hillary. So don’t waste my time with touchy-feely stuff that reminds me of the recent gag video that contains Everything You Hate About Advertising in One Fake Video That’s Almost Too Real. You’re the one running. You’re the one who needs to explain yourself. Don’t try to distract me, especially not with faux populism.

As for Marco Rubio…

At least he spends the time explaining himself and his concept of the country. But then, he’s got more ‘splainin’ to do. I’m sorry, explaining. The Ricky Ricardo thing is probably uncool in this case. My point being that he’s less well known.

In any case, I got more meaning, more relevance from his than from hers. What did y’all think?

16 thoughts on “Hillary Clinton (yawn) and Marco Rubio (yawn) join the fray

  1. Doug Ross

    Can we really expect Democrats to be fired up about Hillary the way they were about Obama in 2008? I can envision so much Clinton-fatigue that it could end up being a disaster for her. What does she have to run on that makes her a better candidate now? She’s got more baggage from her time as Secretary of State and her blatant lies about her emails. Unfortunately, there isn’t anyone else in the Democratic Party to pick up the slack. They fear the Clinton machine or fear they can’t raise the money to compete.

    And the assuming Hillary wins, what next in 2020? She’s doesn’t seem up to the rigors of the office for eight years.

    1. Brad Warthen Post author

      I’ll agree with the point that Hillary’s announcement is more of a yawn than Rubio’s. I was just saying that neither was anything unexpected…

  2. Doug Ross

    Hillary has to get behind Obamacare at least 90%, right? The trouble with a party winning three in a row is trying to be different from the incumbent but send a message of “Stay the course”.

    1. Juan Caruso

      The field of likely candidates is already overcrowded, in my opinion, in order to later skew primaries as conventional establishment thinking has often proven necessary.

      There will be fireworks this time around the likes of which may be unprecedented in our lifetimes. The public mood is not prepared for any more Gore- Bush fiascos.

      The Democratich and Repblichan parties believe they can finesse their choices of nominee as usual.
      No, not going to happen this time. Prepare for an unexpected allegiance and another wild card development which neither Soros’s team nor the RNCs pathetic kingmakers yet foresee.

      Think the Bush-Gore voting challenge was fairly nerve-racking?

  3. bud

    Does it really matter who each of the party standard bearers are? The Dems are pretty much locked into a sort of populist approach that appeals to working class folks, women and of course minorities. Her biggest challenge won’t be the policies she stands for but rather the non-stop nattering of the right wing spin machine. Let me be clear, my own opinion has declined for Mrs. Clinton over the years. She’s much too soft of big finance and way to eager to pursue unnecessary foreign interventions. I also have some concerns about her handling of her job as Secretary of State. But folks like me have very little else to turn. I’ll probably vote for whatever competition she has in the Democratic primary. But she is looking more and more unbeatable, probably in the 90% range now. So it is what it is.

    The GOP is all about sticking to the official talking points. Whoever runs in the Republican party has a list of boxes to check off: Pro-life -check, pro big military – check, anti Obamacare – check, pro-tax cuts for the rich, etc, etc. ad naseum. They each have their own particular hot button concern but ultimately they all will cater to a very, very narrow set of “conservative” principals. In order to win over (fool really) voters who would be much, much better off with a Democratic they will have to use fear-mongering techniques. Fear of inflation. Fear of ISIS. Fear of big government, especially the IRS and the ATF. And most of all fear of the socialist, dishonest, weak on terrorist, incompetent, narcissistic, Hillary CLINTON.

    1. Brad Warthen Post author

      That evokes an image from family memory.

      My Dad was born in Kensington, MD, and lived there until high school, when the family moved to Asheville. The family lived in a house on Dresden street, two doors down from Connecticut Avenue — a house my great-grandfather (who was in the construction business) built for my grandfather when he got married, as he did for each of his children.

      When he was in junior high, Dad used to go out onto Connecticut and hitch rides to school. On more than one occasion he was picked up by a member of FDR’s Cabinet — I want to say Harold Ickes. He rode to school up front with Ickes’ driver.

      Anyway, one day the president rode by. He didn’t stop to give the kid a ride, but he looked right at him, the lone boy there on the side of the rode, and gave him the patented big grin and a wave. I have this picture in my mind of the scene that may or may not be accurate: I picture the president in the back seat of an open car with the cigarette holder pointed up jauntily from his grinning teeth. He’s wearing a hat of some kind…

    2. Kathryn Fenner

      What does driving a car have to do with qualifications? She’s had a Secret Service detail since 1993, if not before. If she drives and gets involved in a collision, can you imagine the, um, stuff storm?

  4. Mark Stewart

    Interestingly, Hillary’s entire campaign launch video was shot in NYC and Westchester County; most of it in the outer Borroughs of the City.

    That’s a pretty limited slice of America to represent. Did she recycle Senatorial campaign footage or something?

    The best part, however, was the shots of her speaking – standing at the side of her Westchester County compound that Bill bought after his Precidency. You know, the time they said left the White House with nothing – and then within 24 months had made tens of millions of dollars hucking themselves….

    Pretty patronizing stuff, I think. Though they say she has a cracker-jack team this time around (unlike last run’s dream team I guess), there hasn’t been much evidence of a significant amount of learning having occurred. She probably is just who she is always going to be…

    1. Bryan Caskey

      When I hit “Play” on her launch video, it started playing, but I immediately started looking in the bottom right of the screen for the “Skip Ad” button. After about thirty seconds, I realized that the schmaltzy video I was watching was not some sort of pre-video ad.

      This Hillary campaign is going to be hilarious. I’m really looking forward to it.

      1. Juan Caruso

        We can imagine how badly HRC will feel when the presidential red carpet is again pulled out from under her feet. This time she will be offered as consolation a high posting to the U.N. or Harvard.

        Otherwise, she will fade from public interest, a fact she must realize already.

        Hilarity will come from HRC’s frequent abuse and criticism of her erstwhile campaign strategists (including Bill?), people who should have known that her hellish temper would inevtitably flare. I look forward to this upcoming madness.

        1. Doug Ross

          That’s why more Democrats like Elizabeth Warren and Jim Webb should enter the race. Hillary is at her peak now. There is nowhere to go but down for her. Warren hitting her from the left and Webb from the right would damage her to the point where it would be anyone’s game. That’s when Joe Biden steps in and says he’ll serve as a placeholder til 2020. This is House of Cards season 4!!!

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