Mark Penn Finally Fired
Late Sunday evening, the Clinton campaign confirmed that Mark Penn was stepping down as chief strategist in the wake of his dust-up with the Colombian government. That his tenure at the helm of the campaign ended because of a connection to a Burson-Marsteller client is not terribly surprising. But there were plenty of reasons, far better than this one, to have fired Penn many months before.
Penn presided over a top-down campaign in which, to the surprise of most observers, he was responsible for both crafting the message and polling its effectiveness. Normally frowned upon, such an approach often leads to self-fulfilling polling that validates the assumptions of the strategist, rather than providing an objective assessment. Perhaps that is the best explanation for a series of horribly misguided message strategies that Penn employed.
There was the now infamous inevitability argument, a message that ramped expectations to heights that Clinton could never have expected to meet. There was the change vs. experience message, one that helped validate Obama's persona as the change candidate. And of course, when times got tough, there was the "Let's get real" message. Showing a clear sign that the campaign did not understand its opponent, this message criticized Obama supporters rather than Obama himself, driving the wedge further between the candidate and the voters she needed to persuade.
But Penn chose not to confine his incompetence strictly to messaging, allowing it to invade all parts of the campaign strategy. His decision to forego caucus states demonstrated a glaring misunderstanding of the delegate allocation process. In a system in which losses must be minimized and wins inflated, Penn surrendered essential turf. It is equally surprising that someone who perceived his candidate as having enormous weaknesses in caucuses would have steered the campaign directly into the Iowa caucus. Had Deputy Campaign Manager Mike Henry's recommendation been adopted -- that Clinton forego Iowa -- she may well have earned the nomination months ago.
As a chief strategist, Penn consistently proved to be a disappointing spokesperson. His mannerisms and tone on television suggest an abiding arrogance; he is often described as unsavory and unpleasant. While on Hardball, he was chastised by Joe Trippi for invoking the word "cocaine" while talking about Senator Obama. When paired with Obama strategist David Axelrod, Penn seemed unable to control his disdain.
Even when he wasn't speaking for the campaign, he too often found himself at the center of the story. Private infighting with staff was often public and unprofessional, with uncomfortable details making front page news on multiple occasions.
Having not taken a leave from being Worldwide CEO of Burson-Marsteller, Penn set himself up for a number of potentially harmful situations for the Clinton campaign. His moonlighting for anti-union companies and other controversial organizations were an issue throughout the campaign, culminating this past week when he met with the Colombian Ambassador. The Colombian Embassy had hired Penn's firm to help pass a trade deal that Clinton opposes. Last night's resignation was the eventual result.
There were a number of reasons to fire Mark Penn, not the least of which was his obvious incompetence. But more than anything else, Mark Penn deserved to be fired because he viewed Hillary Clinton as just another client. Who wouldn't want a chance to elect someone president, a chance to leave a permanent mark and a lasting legacy? But for Penn, the Clinton campaign was just a client who purchased his services, no different than the Colombian government, or Exelon, or Blackwater.
So much of what was wrong with her was him.
Mark Penn should have been fired back in September and again in January. He should have been fired after Super Tuesday, and fired after the 11 contests that followed. He should have been fired before Texas and Ohio, and fired twice after. Instead, he wasn't fired until April 6th, two weeks before the Pennsylvania primary, when no change in strategy could possibly change the outcome.
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Too little, too late, to care. Bye bye Hillary.
Hillary is a LIAR again. Mark Penn is not fired. He was on the morning conference call. They just did a clever bait and switch. Take away his "title" so the hounds will back off. But Penn is just as involved in the campaign as he ever was:
FROM TPM:
Demoted Hillary Clinton strategist Mark Penn may no longer have the coveted title of chief strategist, but he remains a key member of the campaign's senior staff.
Mr. Penn took part on the campaign's morning message call this morning, as usual.
This afternoon, he is also scheduled to be on a call with Clinton and other aides to begin to prepare for Saturday's presidential debate in Philadelphia.
Mr. Penn "is still going to be very much involved," a senior campaign official said.
Indeed, it is not clear precisely what Mr. Penn's title-change
entails, other than a public rebuke, although the official said that
"there is a difference between being in charge and being one of many
voices.
Why was this important detail left out? If Mark Penn is still participating in conference calls, dispensing strategic advice and polling, then he really wasn't kicked off the campaign, was he? He's still in the forefront, it seems, minus a proper campaign official title.
http://tpm
First of all, Clinton did not fire Penn. She "accepted his resignation" from his job of chief strategist. Even then, she did not entirely remove him from the campaign, she just made him, or his company at least, the pollsters for her campaign. That needs to be made very clear.
Clinton, after all her rhetoric about uncles and pastors needs to apply her own logic to Penn. He is not family. She needs to sever ties with him and throw him under the bus as she was crowing for Obama to do with Reverend Wright. Unless of course she's comfortable being hypocritical.
The real issue that needs to be looked into here is why she would allow him to stay on her campaign after his company worked for Blackwater. She was on the congressional oversight committee that had as part of its duties, the responsibility to provide oversight on war contractors like Blackwater. That one really reeks. Maybe it's just coincidence, but I think there needs to be an investigation to see whether she has a connection with Blackwater, and if so, how far that connection goes.
Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if Hillary is complicit in the Colombia deal just as she was in the wink and nod given to the Canadian government. I wouldn't be surprised if, just like Bosnia, Ireland, and NAFTA, she thought America was too stupid to find out.
"Unless of course she's comfortable being hypocritic
She's entirely comfortable with it. Exceedingly, luxuriously, extravagantly comfortable with it. That much at least should be abundantly obvious by now...
Burson-Marsteller lost the Colombia contrat due to Penn's association with Clinton. Penn was probably told to dump Clinton or lose his position at Burson-Marsteller.
The clinton campaign workers need to get together and fire Hillary; that's their problem.
This article is running in the Atlantic:
http://mar
It seems Penn is not as "resigned" as we're supposed to believe.
I bet Mark Penn was involved with this
"(AP) Prime Minister Stephen Harper's chief of staff said someone in Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign gave Canada back-channel assurances that her harsh words about the North American Free Trade Agreement were for political show, according to a report by the Canadian Press.
The report comes just days after a Canadian government memo stated Barack Obama's senior economic adviser told Canadian officials that the Illinois senator's own comments about NAFTA were for "political positionin
On Wednesday, the Canadian Press quoted an unidentified source as saying that Ian Brodie, Harper's chief of staff, made the comment last week to a crew for Canada's CTV television network during a press gathering to discuss Canada's budget. According to a person with knowledge of the incident, the source was a CTV journalist.
The Canadian Press story said a CTV reporter asked Brodie about remarks by Clinton and Obama that they would seek to renegotiate NAFTA.
"He said someone from Clinton's campaign is telling the embassy to take it with a grain of salt. ... That someone called us and told us not to worry," the journalist quoted Brodie as saying, according to the report. "
A perfect example of Hillary being "ready on Day One"!? If she can't even hire an effective political consultant and then lets him stay on when over and over he demonstrated how enept he was (as well as having a host of conflict of interest issues), is just another reminder of choices that George W. Bush made. He selcted a plethora of truly enept people (Gonzales, Rumsfeld to name a few) and then wouldn't fire them when they proved they were not equipped for the job.
Selecting intelligent, competent, skilled people is part of being President. Here is a glaring example of not only making a bad selection, but then letting Penn stick around long after he had proven to be a very bad choice. Not exactly an impressive leadership example for Hillary!
Blaming Penn for campaign problems makes no sense. Bill and Hillary are hardly "newbies" to politics. If they weren't in agreement with his direction they would have canned him long ago.
MARK PENN HAS NOT BEEN FIRED!
He has not resigned, he has not left the campaign. He has simply had his title changed. He is no longer "Chief Strategist," but he was on the campaign's media conference call this morning, he is going to be staying with the campaign (but only working on "polling," yeah, right), and he is going to be right by Hillary's side all the way to the end.
Bloggers, MSM, pundits... all so gullible. Does no one bother to read the statements that come DIRECTLY FROM THE CLINTON CAMPAIGN?
It's a title change, folks... nothing more, nothing less. I'm holding out for Olbermann to be the one guy who's awake enough to point this out tonight.
IT'S TRUE !!!! -
he is still in the campaign
here is the link:
http://mar
If you're waiting for Kieth Olberman to be the sharp shooter that's ahead of the curve on this one, you're going to be twindling your thumbs for a while. All though I do agree with RIBassist, everyone has two cents to share on an Obama lovers would be scandal, and all it boils down to, is he's not taking the lead position through the home stretch, they're changing horses in the middle of the race and every ones fishing for the scandal when all he's doing is getting demoted.
Mark Penn's relationship to the Clinton is very much like Karl Rove's relationship to Bush/Cheney. Like Karl, Mark is still very active as a consultant. I believe that his being removed from the "Chief Strategist" role is nothing but window dressing. Hillary has been caught in so many "untruths" and apparent policy conflicts that because of Mark's personal roll in pushing for the "Free Trade Agreement" in conflict with her anti free trade campaigning her campaign felt the need to give the appearance that Mark Penn was out of the picture. All political motivation!
This morning Mr. Bush was at his presidential dias, telling viewers that the Senate must pass the Columbia "Free Trade" bill, so "other nations will know that America honors its pledges."
The stark raving lunacy of the moment made wish I could throw a shoe at the TV. The guy who steals elections, whose press folks smeared the departing Clinton-Gore staffers as "trashing" the White House WITH OUT ONE PHOTO OF EVIDENCE..
THAT and an entire year of LIES-to-War that were DEBUNKED by the NIE, by IAEA inspectors on the ground in Iraq, and torture, and Abu Ghraib, and vast wartime coruption - THAT is what is meant by "EXPERIENCE" in Washington, and HRC and her own pet Karl Rove, (Mark Penn) are all about MORE of that agenda.
She was "furious" when she "found out". Yes, and I am the queen of England. I believe she knew about her strategist's day job. If she didn't, as she says, who wants a president who is not aware of what her staff is doing?
Too bad the Clintons are so tied to Corporate America. What is disgusting, are her claims to be an advocate for "blue collar workers"
Fifty million for Clinton's speeches. And we all though Obama was all speech and no action. I guess speeches are not only important, but very profitable.
If Penn is fired why was he still on this AM media conference call? My sense is fired is the wrong word. He's been relocated. Instead of driving the bus he's just calling out the turns.
I never appreciated how intelligent I must be untill I saw how downright silly and superficial the majority of people are. Mark Penn is a "Clinton" Birds of a feather and all that. Penn is a seller of things that have need of being repackaged as they lack intrinsic value and cant "sell themselves" A good product will "sell itself" and doesn't need a multimillion dollar shine up to attract buyer interest. The "Clinton" brand is such a product. After 20 some yrs of marketing its finally dawning on many that as Carl Berstein said in his book "A Woman in Charge", Ms. Clinton has a "troubled relationship with the truth". She's had trouble convincing the liberal elite(amongst others) that to maintain thier credentials as those who"really care" about the state of Black Americans they should reject the first credible Black candidate for president and elect her. Dodging sniper fire and all the rest is what you get with a "Clinton" product. Well the Clintons came to washington and entered politics to do good ("Clinton' product) and they have done very well as we've finally seen with thier recently released tax returns.
The Clintons are kind of like Microsoft, except that they're like Microsoft after people start to figure out how much more fun and less trouble Ubuntu Linux is. Is it just a coincidence, that Obama's middle name is Ubuntu???
---
TV and I aren't seeing each other any more.
He just lost his title, and probably is being paid more for the inconvienc
But of course....
He won't be doing this or that..... but he will be providing polling and advice....
not really fired...
Just out of the line of fire for doing what they do..
dutchess2.
This is like Rove being "FIRED" from the white house.
I mean, the guy is double dealing behind your back, and you change his title?
Is this the leadership you want in Washington?
also, I don't understand why you aren't upset about your donations being mismanaged by a campaign that is trying to get elected somebody who made $100 million in a few years?
I mean, if she REALLY believes in her campaign, why doesn't she fund part of it?
No, a loan that you charge interest on to your campaign doesn't cut it.
She's taking advantage of poor people in the US to get her ass nominated, but not putting her money where her mouth is.
What do you want to bet that, when it's all over, not only her donors, but the small businesses that worked for them will be stiffed as well. And NO, it's NOT common practice not to pay your bills.
I think that you are right dutchess2. Mark Penn lost one of his titles, but he's still there and he's probably still the goto guy.
Hillary needs saving and Hillary knows that after the Health Care debacle, etc. Penn provided Bill with the strategy that saved his presidency and Hillary knows it.
Does that guy look like he has taken one to many trips to the Democratic trough, or do I imagine it?
No, you're right. You're just nice and diplomatic about it. He turns my stomach and he'll be her downfall. She needs to get rid of the bum.
So there was a conflict of interest, but, to say "He finally quits" suggests that there was a great population which have been demanding his resignation for months. I find this entire campaign process so unfair to the White Woman and little scrutiny for the Black Man. It has destroyed careers from one camp to another and Axelrod who is on Obama's payroll calls Hillary a hypocrite for something one of her advisers had done. The Obama campaign waits and prays for any signal they can use to discredit Senator Clinton and the media is none to sad to help.
I think once again, Alex Baldwin got it right. We are still afraid to hold the black guy accountable, but go after the white woman, we need to keep the story going. Hillary has been a dream for 24 hour cable. They have nothing to talk about, so they pick on Hillary. CNN called the release of Hillary's tax returns "Breaking News"! PLEASE!!!!
BS. This isn't about the "White Woman vs. the Black Man," and anyone who makes it out to be comes across as racist and none too bright. Hillary's been, time and again, her own worst enemy, confirming the fears of millions that she was the dishonest and immoral manipulator that her detractors made her out to be. The lies about Bosnian snipers, the fake medical horror story, her insinuations about Obama's religion, her arrogance and belief in her entitlement to the presidence, her close friendships and religious affiliation with some of the right's worst figures -- Hillary's done more damage to herself than Mark Penn could ever do. Also, that she would remain loyal to someone like Mark Penn, who both personally and professionally seems to be an enormous bag of sleaze and nastiness, says volumes about who Hillary is and what she values.
Release of a candidate's tax returns isn't breaking news? It's hard to imagine what, during a campaign, would be so described if not this.
You know what's sad? You describing Sen. Clinton and Sen. Obama as the "White Woman" and "Black Man" respectively. You should pray to get over your hang-ups about race. This is 2008 and using race to characterize people is so 1950's. I agree Sen. Clinton's tax returns weren't breaking news, but I would suggest that CNN is not about race issues but about filling up 24 hours worth of time. As far as the Obama campaign waiting for anything they can use to discredit Sen. Clinton, wouldn't you honestly agree, that Sen. Clinton has and is discrediting herself without any help from any other campaign. I mean the Obama camp didn't know or make Sen. Clinton tell the Bosnia whooper, she did that on her own. To be fair, please rethink your opinions with an open and colorless heart and mind. We are so trying to get beyond the race issues in America, JOIN US!
The Obamas released their tax returns a long time ago, and it got lots of coverage. What cave you living in? And yes, it is hypocrisy to employ, for years, a top campaign official who is simultaneously working in opposition to a position the candidate has taken (even though the current position is the opposite of the previously held position). Would you prefer to characterize it as stupidity? Or just plain lying?
I'm sure you were just as upset months ago when the "Inevitable Hillary" mantra was all they could talk about. Face it: she made the horrible decisions and ran a bad campaign. And if the media really had it in for her in deference to the "Black Man," why does NOBODY have the guts to simply step up and report the fact that Hillary simply cannot win. This race has been over for weeks and she refuses to pick up that 3 a.m. phone call notifying her. She is reduced to waiting and praying that a colossal Obama scandal will somehow break before the last primary, that's the only way she wins. Seems to me, if there was a concerted anti-Hillary media effort, ol' Wolfgang at CNN would be shouting this fact from the mountaintops. And Clinton tax returns would not have been "Breaking News" if she'd released them sooner.
It's ALEC Baldwin. And if that's who you have to rely on to make your point....
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