Hillary's Howard Dean Moment

In spite of her reported intense preparation for the final Democratic debate before the January Iowa Caucuses, Hillary Clinton may have experienced her "Howard Dean moment" with a bizarre, forced laugh when Barack Obama was asked how he could create change with former Clinton advisors now working on his foreign policy team.

"I'm looking forward to hearing that," Hillary blurted, as she continued to laugh at the question.

According to the Associated Press, Obama deftly "waited for the laughter to die down before saying, 'Hillary, I'm looking forward to you advising me as well,'" as the audience roared with laughter.

Click here to watch the clip.

In a rather mundane debate, this could likely be the clip that symbolizes the major difference between Senator Clinton and Senator Obama. It reinforces Hillary as calculating, unnatural, and disconnected, and Obama as confident, comfortable in his own skin, and perhaps most importantly, a winner.

The strange burst of unprovoked laughter reminded viewers of Hillary's seemingly strategic "laugh track" performance in late September (parodied brilliantly by Jon Stewart in this Daily Show clip) as she made the rounds on all the major networks, discussing her new health care plan. That moment signaled the beginning of a consistent decline in the polls that could dip even more after this latest gaffe.

There was the Al Gore "sigh" and the Howard Dean "scream." Now there is the Hillary "cackle." These moments certainly shouldn't be the deciding factor in an election, but they often bring to the surface deeper and more substantive concerns voters have about a candidate.

In Hillary's case the concern is clear: Do Americans want a president so calculating and poll-driven that even laughing is a strategy?

Comments

[Tellmethetruth]

Actually Obama came out the loser which is probably why this moment hasn't been replayed 800,000 times on TV.

Obama came across as clearly too incompentent to be President, reliant upon others for advice, those he was reliant upon were Clinton former advisers (Dick Morris) and when it was obvious he couldn't think of a response, immaturely lashed out a Clinton in a manner that spoke,

"If I am not good enough to be President, at least as a male, I am better than any female, and I will slap any woman who gets in my way."

Again the sexism which has so highlighted Obama's campaign showed in that clip. It was a turn off to millions of women watching in horror that this incompetent could only feel competent by attacking a female.

Anyone in November 08 but Obama.

www.joebiden.com

Joe Biden has never felt such a need. He has passed the Protection of Women Against Violent Crimes Act in 1994, a law he wrote and Bill Clinton signed into law, the greatest Civil Rights legistlation for women other than the civil rights act.

Obama's frail ego showed at that moment. Joe Biden when confronted with a similiar question that protrayed him in a potential negative light turned it around by answering factually, but with great humility.

[LeeFromVA]

Hillary made multiple mistakes in that one moment. Aside from the mean spirited cackle and subsequent bitch slap, she also brought attention to the fact that many people working to support Obama defected from the Clinton camp. Why aren't they supporting her? It also downplays her attack that he is inexperienced by pointing out that he is able to surround himself with good advice. Lastly, with her campaign doing so poorly, it undermines her pitch that she'll be ready on day one. He looks more ready than her. I'm surprised that she's unraveling so quickly. All she had to do was stay above the fray and she blew it. Her tactics really are old school. Obama comes off as an all around good guy. Attacking him just makes her look mean and desparate.

[mamacat]

May the best person win. Whoever the Democrat is who wins, I will probably vote for them. Any of them is miles and miles beyond anything (except maybe Ron Paul) the Republicans are offering.

[baudelairien]

I agree that "cackle," as a description of Hillary's laugh at the debate has unhappy connotations. But there's more than sexism at work.

People are reacting to an unpleasant note in Hillary's laugh that has nothing to do with gender, and everything to do with personality.

It wasn't a joyful laugh. It wasn't a giggle, a chortle or a chuckle. It rung malicious. And there aren't too many words for malicious laughter.

Take "snicker". "To laugh disrespectfully in a covert way." But there was nothing covert in the way that Hillary laughed. She was making a point of laughing. She wanted to make sure that people heard her laughing at Barack Obama. It was an awkward gesture, and it doesn't seem to have had the effect that she hoped.

The "Al Gore Sigh" is a more apt comparison, in so far as Gore inadvertently gave free rein to his contempt for Bush, and in doing so, crystallized an image of himself as pompous and condescending.

Hillary, too, may have accidentally exposed a less flattering side of her personality in this exchange. It's probably no fluke that she did it in a moment of apparent advantage.

[EspressoAtNoon]

That Jon Stewart "Daily Show" clip is hilarious. He definitely called her out on her phony, premeditated "cackling".

Frankly, if I was Obama I wouldn't want to take any advice from Hillary once he's President. After all he doesn't take money from Federal Lobbyists, so why the hell would he want to take advice from "Mz. Special Interest Panderer"?

[gulopartisan]

This is groping for straws. I listened to the clip. The question was a zinger, and anybody in Clinton's position would have laughed. The laugh was not a "cackle," which is higher in the throat (ask a singer), and it sounded perfectly natural, perfectly appropriate, and just normal. If it had been Biden or Dodd, no one would even have noticed.

What is it about the media, that they are so desperate to smother voters under the lowest common denominator? We know there are voters out there who are going to vote against Hilary "because she cackles," "because she's blonde," etc. All right? WE GET IT! Many of them vote the cackle because that is the only thing they know about her -- the trivial, torqued garbage the media obsesses with, not the substance of their campaign. Those comfortable voting the cackle are not the majority; they just do what they can with what they have.

So the media busts its butts to deliver more meaningless fluff, to draw the eye away from the substance buried in it. They've eliminated Biden, Dodd, and Edwards from the race -- three candidates who could be the President VP Obama could get some experience and traction with. And we are left with the two most vulnerable candidates, worthy or not, and the Republicans pumping up the whisper campaign about "cackling lezzie" Clinton and black, coke-snorting Osabama.

The Dems have been political nerds for fifty years. And the frat boys are going to pants us again.

[sassafra]

people are naive if they suppose that obama's comment wasn't "cooked up" in a mock debate and armed and ready to deploy when the opportunity arose as it did during the actual debate.
obama's just as managed as hillary, except to obama's credit he's seeming to be a bit more honest than the "i didn't inhale" crowd hillary hangs with.

[JimK2]

Obama or Bloomberg?.

[JimK2]

There was the Al Gore "sigh" and the Howard Dean "scream." Now there is the Hillary "cackle."

Using Republican talking points, how proud that makez me to be a democrat and surrounded by so-called democrat's with the ethics of the republicans.

[JimK2]

Playing this up "Hillary's Howard Dean Moment", the left using republican tactics. Worked for the Republicans to get rid of Howard Dean. Obama is the republicans ace in the hole.

[JimK2]

"Howard Dean Moment", You mean where the Republicans spun Howard Dean's remark and killed any chance of the democratic victory in 2004 and gave us Kerry.

If you don't see "club for growth" ads (your not) in Iowa against the front runner Obama, that means that Obsma is the Republican choice.

Tucker Carlson, Joe Scarborough, Nora Odonnell, Chris Matthews are pushing Obamaa because they want him to win and go up against the Republcans.

[eNewsReference]

This was one of the lighter moments of a boring debate...I don't know if it was a Howard Dean moment, but the nervous laughter revealed some desperation... http://www.enewsreference.wordpress.com

[PanMetron]

P.S.

"Cackle" is misogynist. Shame on you.

Go Hillary, give 'em hell.

[PanMetron]

Why is this Hillary's "Dean moment"?

When he got the question, Barack was stuttering and having a hard time formulating his response. He's done this in previous debates as well; he looks tongue-tied.

Secondly - in his quick "retort", he admitted to needing her advice, in addition to that of all of the former Clinton administration that make up his staff!

Nothing to see here, just the same stuff that each camp will spin either way, but Hillary's laugh and (relatively quiet) interjection wasn't any less genuine than Barack's mock-progressiveness or unwarranted moral pretension.

Keep those spinnin' wheels turnin', media pundits desperate to prove your own importance and get hits on your blog. Yes that means you, Mr. V. Your signal-to-noise ratio is currently even lower than that of politicians.

[RusStyles]

Hill is history and good riddance! This will be a serious hoe-down between Mr. Ed and Obama...Either horse could win. If Obama wins he needs to try to convince Biden to be his sidekick. Joe clearly has the FP chops; up on economic issues as well. If his ego can handle working under a younger (black) man, then they'd be a shoe-in.

Obama-Biden '08