Danger. Danger. Hillary is walking into the Kerry Trap.
A long, long time ago -- the Democrats swaggered into 2004 supremely confident they were going to throw the bums out.
The Primary process was a series of compromises and shrugged shoulders. Ok, so maybe John Kerry wasn't the candidate they'd hoped he'd be. Maybe he was a flip-flopper. Maybe the Democrats couldn't figure out what they stood for.
But it was all good.
Kerry would win because he was a Democrat, and after 4 years of George Bush the polls said that his unpopularity and the quagmire of the war in Iraq would sweep him out of office.
Democrats were enthusiastic about winning -- but lukewarm in their support of John Kerry.
And it wasn't just average folks.
I spent the better part of 2004 directing a documentary about the Kerry campaign that you haven't seen.
We had two camera crews on the airplane, on the press buses, and living inside what political insiders call 'The Bubble.'
What we saw, and videotaped, was deeply troubling.
And since then, I've kept most of that footage in a desk drawer. I was afraid that releasing it would somehow be unfair. Like kicking a guy when he's down. After all, 2004 was a close race. But then, I began to think about 2000, and 2008 - and it began to eat at me.
Now I've decided its unwise to keep what we saw and we we heard concealed.
Secretly, late at night - in hotel rooms and in campaign vans - the opratives at the highest level of the campaign didn't much like the candidate or the platform.
Mike McCurry - brought in as a seasoned pro to fix the deeply broken Kerry press operation - ruminated about how he'd signed up because "when the candidate asks you to serve, you don't say no." But then - with the resignation of a political war horse who can see the future in a crystal ball - he said: In the end, we can introduce him to America, but "in the end you have to connect with people, and thats one of the things thats harder for John Kerry to do."
Ouch. McCurry knew it was unlikely that Kerry would be able to seal the deal.
He wasn't alone. Other Clinton loyalists who'd signed on to the Kerry campaign for the election cycle were equally bleak in their assessment. Jim Loftus, the chief press operative under Stephanie Cutter couldn't answer the simple question "what do you like about John Kerry." He didn't duck the question - it stumped him.
He was however, willing to express the feeling among the campaign that "the New York Times is out to f*ck us". See for yourself.
And David Morehouse, - who'd worked with both Bill Clinton and Al Gore's Campaigns, was unable to explain even the basic platform planks that made up the Kerry agenda.
Why? Because the Democrats had decided to run by being the anti-George Bush... and count on the anger and frustration of the electorate to solidify a majority. Any position or point of view risked alienating someone, and so it was to be avoided.
So deep was the denial about the Democratic party's fatal compromise - that my film "Inside The Bubble" was deemed shocking and unwatchable by those few Democrats that saw one of the few closes screenings we held before I put the project in my desk drawer.
But in the past few weeks - something happened.
My phone started ringing. And not just from friends and neighbors. Some of my friends rather high up in the Democratic party, and even a few of the well known faces from the Kerry campaign.
They were scared. They had a desperate feeling that it was groundhog day. That increasing the Clinton campaign had shifted from a candidacy of ideas to a platform of platitudes. It came home to roost when Hilary did what is fast becoming her 'double flip flop' - at first supporting drivers licenses for illegal immigrants, then didn't, and then wasn't sure.
My friends each said that the Democrat's 2004 amnesia had to be cured. Call after call - asking me to pop the bubble, remind Democrats that 2004 wasn't that long ago. Heck - think back to the 2000 election if you want to get reminded that the Democrats have been guilty of not getting engaged enough in the issues and ideas that can wake the electorate.
So - i'm going to do it.
I've taken the film - with all its painful memories and jaw dropping campaign faux pas' - and decided it's time to pick the scab. Open the wound. Face the pain.
It's time to show the film.
Now - here comes the hard part. The campaigns that are most likely revel in the ineptitude and hi jinx that is captured in the film are the ones that are already building a head of steam as they preach to the faithful and look to create the ultra-potent exlixer of religion, patriotism, and fear. Watching Rudy Guliani exploit 9/11 and turn fear-mongering into a high art should be enough to scare the Republicans and Democrats alike. But somehow, fear sells.
So - "Inside The Bubble" is up for grabs. CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, Sundance, IFC, A&E, CBS, ABC, NBC. Heck, for that matter iTunes or YouTube or MySpace could well be the film's home.
And frankly - it doesn't matter what network decides to show it. One will. Why, because there's a hunger in this country for an honest look inside politics, and painful as that may be - people aren't going to sit back and watch the ultra-polished debate pablum without demanding more.
People are desperate for a look inside the broken political process, and that outweighs the instinct to bury our head in the sand.
Then - hopefully - Hillary will become a real candidate. And the Republicans will put up a candidate who isn't a complete contradiction.
And voters will get to choose between campaigns with clear points of view and passionate perspectives, not pole driven fictions that aim to look presidential and say little.
We've had one of those elections before - and we know how that turns out.
CLIPS:
More clips:
LINK: Inside The Bubble clips