PHILADELPHIA — The staff at the Democratic National Convention is very good at handing out props. Is Michelle Obama about to speak? Hand out the big cardboard sticks with MICHELLE in vertical letters. Is Meryl Streep about to congratulate the audience on making history? Make sure everybody has a HISTORY sign. Did anyone say STRONGER TOGETHER? Of course there’s a sign for that. And is Bill Clinton about to attempt to sell his wife, in national office or the national spotlight for a quarter-century, as a “change maker”? Distribute the CHANGE MAKER signs.
But convincing voters that Hillary Clinton is a CHANGE MAKER could be a lot harder than handing out placards.
The most recent Wall Street Journal/NBC poll asked respondents which of the following two descriptions of a candidate came closest to their preference. The first was “Someone who will bring major changes to the way government operates even if it is not possible to predict what the changes may be.” The second was “Someone who will bring a steady approach to the way government operates even if it means fewer changes to how things are now.”
A solid majority, 56 percent to 41 percent, favored change over steadiness. Other polls have had much the same message. The problem is, Clinton, facing the flamboyant and unpredictable Donald Trump, has sold herself as the very soul of steadiness.
Last month, Clinton beamed while Elizabeth Warren praised her “steady hands.”
After the Brexit vote, Clinton said uncertainty in the world “only underscores the need for calm, steady, experienced leadership.”
On Monday, the first lady told the convention to trust Clinton’s “steady and measured” approach.
And a few days earlier, Clinton’s pick of Tim Kaine as running mate was praised as — you get just one guess — a “steady” move.
But what if steady is not selling? Then Clinton will become a CHANGE MAKER.
There’s an obvious tension between steady Hillary and change maker Hillary. But there is also a tension between change maker Hillary and the message from the Obamas, both of whom are arguing that things are going pretty well in the country. The problem with that, for someone running for office today, is that somewhere around 70 percent of voters believe the nation is on the wrong track.
It all makes change maker a harder sell than steady hand.
“Change maker is laughable,” wrote the Republican strategist Curt Anderson, in an email exchange after Bill Clinton’s speech. “It’s a desperate and transparent attempt to deal with Hillary’s biggest obstacle to being elected — the fact that 3/4 of the voters believe the country is headed the wrong direction. The wrong track is a ball-and-chain on her campaign.”
“The Secretary of the Status Quo is the embodiment of same old, same old,” wrote Dave Carney, another GOP strategist. “Real change under Hillary is impossible, other than her positions like TPP.” The last was a dig at the statement Tuesday from Clinton confidant Terry McAuliffe that Clinton will flip-flop on the giant Pacific trade agreement after the election — a kind of worst-case-scenario headline on a night devoted to the CHANGE MAKER theme.
If there is anyone who can sell change as steadiness, or steadiness as change, it is Bill Clinton. After his speech Tuesday night, there was some difference of opinion on whether he still has the old magic. But to convince voters that Hillary Clinton, running for what amounts to a third term of the Obama administration, is in fact a change maker will perhaps require more magic than Bill ever had.
