Hillary Clinton generated another telling campaign moment Saturday as she waged her finger and angrily said, "Shame on You Barack Obama". Her statement came after increasingly effective attacks by Obama on the Clinton administration's North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) -- a pact that is widely despised by the working class Ohio voters upon whom largely rest her hopes for keeping her candidacy alive.
But it's the style and tone of her response that tells volumes about why her campaign against Barack Obama is gradually sinking.
Granted, her "shame on you Barack Obama" was aimed at her opponent, not the voters, but it is symbolic of the tone of her entire campaign, and that tone is what is heard by the voters.
Hillary Clinton tends to lecture. She tells voters to "get real". She wags her finger, and reminds them of the way they felt when their sixth grade teacher told them that if they didn't stop talking in class and turn in their homework, they would never amount to anything.
People respond to being inspired and uplifted -- called upon to live up to their potential. They don't respond to being shamed, scolded or hectored.
Inspiration makes people feel empowered. It gets them to behave differently -- or vote differently -- through positive reinforcement. It makes them feel that they can do and be more than they are. People like being in the presence of someone who inspires them. Barack Obama is all about inspiration.
Clinton's tone is anti-inspirational. A lecturing, scolding tone makes people feel un-empowered. People don't like to be lectured. That's because lecturing tries to change people's behavior through negative reinforcement -- by scolding them. The fact is that positive reinforcement trumps negative reinforcement almost every time.
And that's not some "softheaded" liberal notion. The research on business management and motivating employees is almost unanimous: inspiration and positive reinforcement get results. Negative reinforcement gets results too, but often unexpected and counter productive results.
In Clinton's case, her scolding, "get real", "shame on you" tone just enhances the doubts of the many Americans who feel negatively about her in the first place. They don't like the prospect of her finger wagging at them on the TV and being lectured and scolded for the next four years.
Voters like the brief glimpses of the generous, personable Hillary that they saw at the end of the last debate. But the "shame on you", scolding Hillary drives them right into Obama's inspirational corner.
Much of the blame for this grave political problem rests with the Clinton campaign's early decision that she would run as the "Margaret Thatcher", iron-lady of American politics. That might have worked if she had been paired against many, run of the mill opponents. But it was a fatal decision in a race against a master of inspiration.
Being the anti-inspirational candidate is even more disastrous in a context where the overwhelming majority of Americans want fundamental change. Barack Obama says: "Yes we can change the way things are done in Washington." However she intends it, Clinton's anti-inspirational, finger waging style translates to: "Get real, you don't really think things are going to fundamentally change, do you?"
The contrast of inspiration and anti-inspiration has also contributed mightily to Obama's superior field operations and fundraising. Of course, tapping into the promise this inspiration presented required excellence in execution as well. But in things big and small the Obama Campaign has executed flawlessly and out hustled the Clintonistas at every turn.
Obama's grassroots, Internet-driven fundraising superiority required an inspirational candidacy to work. And the Obama campaign harnessed the grass roots energy with precision, vision and sophistication.
Obama's spectacular field operation has been fueled by the massive influx of inspired volunteers. And its superior organizational skills successfully turned motivated volunteers into phone bankers and canvassers.
I'm not of the school that it's all over but the shouting. With all of her negatives, Clinton may very well hang on for weeks or months. But with every wag of Hillary's finger, Obama's odds get better and better.
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Your misspelling of "losing" ("Loosing") tells a lot about you. I.e., you can't spell and/or don't really care about quality or take pride in your work. A perfect receptacle for Obama's nonsense! Yay, you!
The reason why Obama is winning because he is not about this GOT-CHA politics, but chooses to debate the issues. Believe me, as all of us know, he could bring up all kind of Dirty things on the Clintons, but this is negative politicking, politics that tears you down and not build you up. Obama is not about this, he wants a more uplifting and unifying tone to dominate Washington, so we can get some things done. Time waits for no one and we must measure up to our times. We must find newer and more positive ways to do things and address our problems. It's called problem solving. And Obama has over 20 years of experience coupled with Judgement.
Many of the posters don't write their headlines. Are you so sure Robert wrote this one?
Obama is a "master of inspiration?" Perhaps. But what has he inspired his supporters to do? The irrational and emotional hatred they spew toward Hillary, or toward anyone who disagrees with them for that matter, has inspired me to remain undecided. Look, I happen to believe that both of these candidates deserve our respect and that as we choose one we need not trash the other. Yes, both camps may be guilty of trashing (who is worse depends on your preference I suppose), but I am not inspired by anybody at this point. I think I am so disgusted at the behavior of their supporters that I no longer care what these good candidates have to say.
Hilary Clinton is every bit as inspiring as the high school teacher you really hated. She isn't a leader, she's a scolder, who tries to get people to do things by shaming them into it. Choosing Hilary as the Democrat nominee for President ensures that Senator John McBoom-Boom will be our next Chief Executive.
Well, as the English say, Hillary's on the back foot!
Forced to defend her "perfect world"!
Reality and truth don't exist in her "Twilight Zone"!
Typo in TITLE Alert:
Losing not "Loosing"
This is a very sad performance. I always believed she was a bad candidate but I never thought she could be this bad. We are witnessing the collapse of a political dynasty and the only question left is will she take down the entire democratic party with her?
clintonistas only want to shoot down obama now. that's all they have going for them. it's pathetic.
"Shame on You" at your age. It's "losing". not "loosing". I see "loosing" in LOTS of comments, but expect factual and grammatical/spelling correctness in posts. Unless some else wrote the headline.
"Unless some else wrote the headline."
Can you spot the error? Heh, I'm a grammar fanatic myself, but we all make mistakes when we're trying to get our thoughts out on the intertubes...
Come to think of it, I betcha Hillary is a grammar zealot, too.
Yep. Never type while listening to someone talking. :)
Hehe, glad to see that I wasn't the only one annoyed with the typo in the headline :)
Mr. Creamer, I could not agree with you more, I hate it with a passion when someone points their finger in my face and scold me directly or indirectly for that matter.
Hillary is not my mother,my mother has passed on, and I am not looking for a new one. So she can take her condescending attitude back to the "Little Rock" that she crawled out from under.
Once she gets under that rock,maybe she can learn how to communicate with people. There is an old saying that I grew up with, the author is unknow so I cannot accredit him/her with it; "You can catch more flies with honey than you can vinegar".
Stop spewing the venom, and stop with the yellow pantsuits. Just because you're dressed like a bee, doesn't make you the QUEEN bee.
--- They don't like the prospect of her finger wagging at them on the TV and being lectured and scolded for the next four years. ---
Oh please! Clinton was not wagging her finger at the public - she was going after her opponent who was sending out Republicanesque attack ads that misrepresented her health care plan (and furthermore was damaging any future credibility that Obama would have on universal health care if he were to be the nominee).
Male politicians wag their finger when attacking their opponents all the time...does that terrify you with nightmares of having your father scolding you daily from the TV? I doubt it.
I'm glad she decided to go after Obama on this issue. Sure, I thought that her tone was rather harsh, but honestly I'm not sure if people would listen to her if she dripped with honey. Unfortunately, men don't respect "sweet" women in positions of power. Sweetness in a women is seen as a sign of weakness or subservience, and if she were too soft, everyone would be screaming that she wasn't strong enough to be president. That said, she still could've tried a better balance, but I empathize with her situation.
Ok - she was attacking Obama for attacking her on policy... Saying "he doesn't have the right" to attack her healthcare plan, since his plan isn't universal and hers is? (Even though - in my view - mandates don't make hers anymore universal than his).
This is "shame on you" style politics? And wait - I guess it's OK for her to attack his health care plan (Wisconsin mailer - "who will he leave out?") and OK to attack him on choice (the mailers in NH and CT and elsewher) - when he has a 100% pro-choice record?
It's not like he was attacking her based on whitewater or some other Bill Clinton era scandal - which would be sleazy...
99% of his campaign has been positive. I can't say the same for hers
I'm an Obama supporter for a variety of reasons, but I just want to point out that if we (the voters) refuse to vote for Hillary because "she makes us feel bad about our behavior," ummm... That says a lot more about who we (the voters) are than about Hillary Clinton or our sixth grade teachers.
Sure, it's a dumb way to try to win a popularity contest or a national election. But let's not forget that the underlying problem, here, is that we the people are churlish, petulant brats. "We don't like to be scolded; it makes us sad." Yeesh. I don't mind the Hillary criticism, but isn't this also a good time to remind us all to take responsibility for our own reactions and behaviors?
The presidency is a popularity contest. To win a general election, you need more than your browbeaten base. You need independents, swing voters, or whatever term you prefer for the so-called "independent thinkers" who are often swayed by crazy things like say human emotions.
So unless you're seeking the robot vote, it is political suicide to pick unpopular unlikeable candidates. Even a robot should understand that.
You know Hillary is very smart, self assured and driven - however if she wants to represent all or the majority of the people, she must present them with a package that represents all or the majority of them - she is not doing that - I would love to have a female president but one who is not only smart, but who connects with people - she does not -
what a bad temperament she displayed - don't disagree with her or she'll attack you, tell ya what she "expect of you" and then rub your head and say good doggie -
Nobody wants her to be nice - just be for real which she has no idea of how to be -
Yes, but the cynical voice of unwavering fatalism does not excuse our own complicity in this. We are the swing voters, the independents, and the so-calleds that fall for shiny-toothed smiles and "make us feel good about ourselves" campaigns.
Hillary is losing the popularity contest: her fault. The presidential election is a popularity contets: our fault. You'd think that by the time we hit voting age we'd have enough experience with our crazy, mixed-up human emotions to be able to control them long enough to pick a lever in a voting booth based on crazy things like say foreign policy.
That's why they call her Hill the Shrill. It's not the so called "Hillary haters" who are running her discombobulated campaign, giving uninspiring speeches, galvanizing half the country, it's Hillary. Let's face it she's no Bill Clinton. Bill Clinton in 1992 was inspiring, smart, funny, warm, a people person, a leader of a generation ,a great speaker... in some ways Obama is the Clinton 92 of 2008 without the baggage. Before anyone says ...well without Hillary...Bill could never get elected. She came up with "a place called Hope". Well no one denies Hillary it's a great politico behind the scenes but she a terrible campaigner. Yes she's smart but she doesn't connect. She's great on "paper" and that's why she was seen as the nominee for four years(she been trying for close to ten) but people want a personality change away from the Bushes and the Clintons. Obama is a really good campaigner that has tapped into this "change" ground swell. He is NOT the second coming(fill in the blank)as Hillary is not the next Eleanor Roosevelt or Golda Meir as some have hoped. Hillary's failures are Hillary's(or the great right wing conspiracy or Obamaactics or misogynists or maybe HERSELF)
though i am undecided in this election, clinton's anti-inspirational campaign's repeated whining about the obama-supporters acting machine-like, robotic, cultish, or messianic reveals a contempt for his supporters that is as soulless as it is offensive.
it seems the gist of clinton's argument is that we should ridicule obama's supporters because they are enthusiastic and filled with passion, filled with the fervor to join with others to try and make this a better country. how insulting. perhaps clinton thinks the founding fathers should be ridiculed for their enthusiastic passion for democracy in 1776?
aren't people who are filled with passion filled with life? without passion, there is only a dull kind of numbness. a kind of numbness that ignores its leaders when they betray their constituents(fisa). a kind of numbness where some think it is 'cool' to be dead to the world, letting someone else tell you what to think and do.
i guess when clinton-supporters try and decry obama-supporters as belonging to a cult they are actually projecting the passionless and mindless delusional support they themselves bestow upon their cult idol: hillary clinton.
hmmm, i am beginning to wonder: because clinton repeatedly denigrates passionate people, does that mean the clinton-idolators are actually passionless zombies, unable to conceive of supporting/obeying anyone else other than hillary clinton, while simultaneously bent on converting all to their cold sterile so-called way of life?
Well Obama supporters haven't shown much love to Hillary supporters so where is this so-called inspiration and passion that comes from Obama's message. Personally, I've witness just as much hatred coming out of the Obama camp.
Read Taylor Marsh or Hillaryclinton.com and tell me what you think! (I'd say they are zombies)
Don't go there any more....
Kept falling asleep!
I stopped reading Taylor Marsh awhile back. Even when I was still undecided, I found it difficult to read her. It's like a defensive exercise. She throws whatever she can think of at the reader, in rapid succession, not necessarily examining the validity of any argument, just intent on finding one that will work. Leaps and twists in her exposition have to be canceled out. If I try to follow the thread of her argumentation, I lose my orientation.
I used to enjoy reading Ms. Marsh. However, for her, Clinton vs. Obama is war. I'm sure that after the 2008 election is over, Ms. Marsh's work will again be something I can enjoy. She has a lot to offer. And I don't mind that she has lost perspective. But I prefer to keep mine.
if I am scolded justifiably, it is my instinct to take heed. if I am scolded irrationally, it is my instinct to despise the scolder and have contempt for their foolishness.
Excellent. HRC has enough shame to smear on everyone.
I think you mean "losing," not "loosing." I guess you could say she's losing, but has also recently come loose.
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Posted February 25, 2008 | 01:01 AM (EST)