Things I Don’t Like About Hillary Clinton’s Campaign
February 28, 2007
I’ve been doing enough bitching and moaning about how Hillary Clinton’s campaign hasn’t been doing enough to court social media. So I thought I’d just come out and make a list of all the things she needs to do to improve her campaign online.
- Make all Hillcasts embeddable. — Making them downloadable as high-res Quicktime files was a good first step, but given your propensity for retaining control of the conversation, I would think that you’d want to centralize access to the files. If you’re worried about bandwidth, invest in bigger servers. You’re going to need them anyway.
- Enable trackbacks on your blog. — Sure, I’ll leave a comment from time to time, but often what I was originally going to say to respond to your post turns into a blog post of my own. Make it easy for me to post on my blog, link in, and let you know that I’ve said something about you. If you rolled your own platform — and it looks like you did — consider switching to Wordpress, or if you’re looking for something more enterprise-oriented, Blogtronix or Expression Engine. All three platforms accept trackbacks and kick some serious ass in general.
- Don’t require me to be a member of “Team Hillary” to post a comment. — I’m not sure I support you yet. So far, I like what you have to say, but I’m still on the fence, mostly because I’m not sure I trust you. You’re only going to get hardcore supporters to read and comment on your blog if you automatically sign them up for your campaign/fundraising team when they really just want to leave a comment. If you care about the conversation as much as you say you do, you should open the doors wider and allow people to leave comments without setting up an account. You can still retain complete control over spam (Akismet) and moderate all comments before they appear.
- Start leaving video comments on other people’s blogs. — I haven’t heard of a single person who has actually heard from you or any of your campaign staff reaching out to engage with other people on other websites. You should start posting some video responses on YouTube. That will really get the conversation going.
- Don’t be so scripted on camera. — All of your Hillcasts are done with professional makeup, lighting and sets. Get out from behind that stylized desk and take us for a walk around your campaign headquarters. Walk down the street with a camera guy and ask regular Americans what they care about. Answer their questions off the cuff and on the spot. You can always edit later if you’re afraid that your remarks will be taken out of context.
I’m sure there are a bunch more opinions, and I’ll offer them up in due time. But these are just a few of the ideas I have. I think I’ll probably cross-post this or some version of it to my work blog — where I talk about these things all the time — in the morning.
I thought all of your suggestions were good. You have a great grasp of what it takes to be a good web 2.0 citizen. (Take that with a grain of salt as I am really new to this game.)
The only one I have an issue with is the one where you suggest she ditches the makeup. I shudder to even think what lies beneath that 2 inches of pancake makeup!!
Dan: LOL! She’s actually looking pretty damn good these days. I think being a Senator agrees with her.
I was thinking about this post this morning. I also think it’’s high time that we get someone besides a white male in the oval office, but the last thing I want to see is someone getting voted in just for the sake of voting them in. I know you wrote in another post that you really want to like Hillary. If you have to work that hard at liking her as a candidate maybe she’s not up to the task. Wouldn’t you rather wait until the right woman wanted to run for office that would do your gender proud? Hillary is morally corrupt and I really doubt that the country can survive ANOTHER four or eight years of someone like that running this country. We really need a strong candidate to follow up this louse of a president and if it takes crossing party lines to get one I’m willing to do that. We can’t afford to vote for “good enough” this time around.
Dan: You know, you’re absolutely right! I shouldn’t support someone I have to work that hard just to like. I certainly shouldn’t be trying to like her just because she’s a woman.
It’s time to look elsewhere.
[...] of LinuxNewb 1.0 left an interesting comment on my post about having to work really hard to like Hillary [...]
JUST A REMINDER: WHAT IS PAST IS PROLOGUE
“The problem was with Bill Clinton, the scandals and rumored scandals, the incubating ones and the dying ones never ended. Whatever moral compass the president was consulting [Hillary] was leading him in the wrong direction. His closets were full of skeletons just waiting to burst out.†FBI Director Louis J. Freeh
Set the Wayback Machine for 23 August 1995: a hot day in the nation’s capitol. But on California’s Central Coast, a constellation of events was about to unfold. Bill Clinton picked up the telephone. Vandelay Industries; Art Vandelay speaking, said Bill. It was his Chief of Staff Leon Panetta, calling from a payphone in Monterey. Vandelay, huh, I’ll Art Vandelay you … muttered Panetta. Bill held the receiver at arms length and gazed at the tasteful floral arrangement that adorned the Oval Office. Leon’s disembodied voice filled the room. What now, asked Hillary. It’s that damn college, mouthed Bill. Hillary nodded; just tell Leon he’ll get whatever he needs. There was, no getting out: http://theseedsof9-11.com