"She may be the frontrunner in the presidential race, but Clinton still comes across as guarded, quibbling, and poker-faced under the TV lights." (The Daily Beast) | "Clinton’s first such performance, though, makes clear that there are no guarantees that such access will come with actual answers." (Slate) | "The first national interview of Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign did not go well." (Politico)She's at odds with the press, but she's trying to create the appearance of cooperation. Maybe she shouldn't bother.
Donald Trump, by contrast, is having a jolly time with the press -- he doesn't have antipathy toward the media, but he despises a lot of other people, and he's letting his rage flag fly, as in his latest TV interview, with NBC:
Donald Trump said Wednesday that he believes he will win the Latino vote....And the crowd (or at least his crowd) goes wild. Here's Breitbart's John Nolte:
Trump said that "there's nothing to apologize for" in relation to his controversial comments about Mexico....
"Hillary Clinton is not going to be able to create jobs, I will tell you right now," he said. "Neither is Jeb Bush going to be able to create jobs. I will create jobs and the Latinos will have jobs that they don't have right now. And I will win that vote."
... "Hillary's weak on immigration," he said. "I might be divisive on immigration, but she's weak on immigration, which is far worse."
... Trump also labeled Clinton "the worst secretary of state in the history of our nation."
... Trump dismissed the idea that his business has been hurt by companies backing away from him as a result of his controversial comments. ...
"This is too important. Yeah, I'm losing some contracts. Who cares?" he said. "They're weak and they want to be politically correct. Some of them have already apologized to me and said they made a mistake."
Trump killing it in this NBC interview. Pushing back on loaded questions...Interrupting to get his message out.
Watch and learn GOP.
— John Nolte (@NolteNC) July 8, 2015In a much saner, more rational way, Bernie Sanders is exciting crowds by defying assumptions that he's too old, too socialist, even too Jewish to succeed in a presidential race. He's running a responsible pure-progressive presidential campaign and Trump is just acting out like a spoiled, rich eight-year-old, but they're both punching above their weight, slugging away even though the political establishment regards them with contempt.
When has Hillary Clinton seemed to be a good campaigner? Answer: In 2000, an aggressive move by Republican Senate candidate Rick Lazio in a televised debate made a lot of people root for her. In 2008, she rallied a voter base after the early Obama juggernaut pretty much mathematically eliminated her from the race for the presidential nomination -- she found her voice and just kept fighting. She needs to turn this race into a fight in which she seems like the tireless underdog. She needs a foil. Right now, that's what's working for Sanders and Trump, in different ways.
Should she fight the media? Should she hit the Republicans even harder? I don't know, but she needs to do something to give voters a rooting interest in her.
