Is Hillary Going to be Kerry 2.0?

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

Follow Steve Rosenbaum on Twitter: www.twitter.com/magnify

Comments

[lafrance]

I'm hoping that my party awakes from it's kool aid induced haze and realize that Hillary is our weakest candidate. and her campaign and supporters shouting about sexism and victim for days doesn't help her at all. It makes her look like she wants special treatment and it undermines all her claims of strength.
However, I feel Obama is the choice. He needs to put to rest the lie of inexperienced when he served 11 years as a senator. 8 at state level and 3 in the federal.
clinton divides her own party. almost half the democrats cannot stand her and alot of those will not vote for her.
recipe for another in a string of losses.

[BUSHsurvivor]

Sad to see the dems attempting to shoot themselves in the foot once again....result will be 12 years of rethug destruction!

Oh, way to go progressives!

In the general...just vote democrat!

[MrLion]

The Democratic Party establishment suffers from a loser mentality, and Hillary Rodham Clinton is Exhibit 1B (her husband is Exhibit 1A) of an establishment Democrat.

If she's nominated, expect her campaign to run the equivalent of "small ball", a prevent defense, and Dean Smith's Four Corners rolled into one. It's a losing strategy 99 times out of 100. This might be the 100th time, not because of any ingenuity on Team Clinton's part but because the Republicans are so loathed and their field of candidates so incredibly flawed.

[feelfree]

Flip-flopping isn't solely a Democratic trait.

I don't have a problem with Mrs. Clinton not having a clear answer on drivers licenses for illegal aliens in NY and I don't care if her communications as First Lady are ever released. I think its unrealistic and naive to expect a single political player to have the solution to every problem. I understand what she has to say about healthcare and Iraq. Her positions on these two most important situations is most important to me.

Hillary Clinton is not John Kerry. Obama appears more like Kerry in that he lacks aggressiveness and does not have the toughness to withstand the Republican machine. In the debate he implied that Republicans were obsessed with Mrs. Clinton because they could slime her and be divisive. This may be true, but he has to know that they will rip Obama and this country to shreds if he becomes the nominee.

[larry278]

Here in the boonies her Hillaryship still has boosters but Hillary's boosters are blissfully unaware that John Edwards is running too. This region is on the eastern edge of fly over country & miles away from the beltway. While ignorance may not be bliss-it's popular.

[Kendo Nagasaki]

Hillary is a Republican. The only difference between hers and Bush's are the issues of gay marriage and abortion.

People are fed up with dishonest politicians whether they call themselves Deomocrats or Republicans. They are also fed up with this bloody war, the diminution of middle class incomes and the unafforbility of healthcare. It is high time for some major real changes. Cut the posturing and lets have some action.

[JaneaneTheAcerbicGoblin]

Hillary is relying on 2 things. One, that the voters will be so sick of the GOP that they'll vote her in, and the Democratic base will vote for her because of her gender. Her playing the gender card recently confirms my suspicions. This is a terrible strategy, and in many ways, it sounds like John Kerry's.

[elisalucia]

The transparency of the internet is revealing how closed off candidates really are. Hopefully, this will eventually lead them to open up more and (as you suggest) speak candidly about what they intend to do if elected, so that voters can make accurate decisions as to what they are actually voting for.

But for now, it seems, canditates are merely using the internet to secure alot of Facebook "friends" and to raise shit loads of cash from small donars. (As discussed here- www.internetevolution.com/author.asp?section_id=536&doc_id=137090)

[altohone]

But, but, but... the very same people are annointing Hillary as our choice.

Their polls say so.
The pundits say so.
The Republicans say so.

What's to worry about?

[laurenc]

Oh my God, Steve, THIS is why Hillary is absolutely a disaster. No one REALLy likes her. She is JUST like Kerry. Please please Democrats in key states: give us John Edwards. Give us a fighting chance at the White House. Dammit, we deserve it!!

[dr4Will]

Hillary will win because jerks like you are against her-arayo!!

[mjkblog]

Goodie. Let me be the first to say...

I hope to hell she does go down in her own arrogant flaming diva-swan dive.

Only let her do it in the primary, so the country doesn't have to pay for it this time.

The difference in the 2008 primary is that Democrats DO know what we stand for now, we DO know what we want, and we know it is NOT 4-8 more years of the DLC ramming their "centrist" triangulation down our progressive throats.The party base was ambivalent about Kerry, and he lost. The party base does not support Hillary Clinton, and she will not win without us. This time, we can and will choose to go elsewhere.

[SamThornton]

Steve, I went through the videos. Jesus. I assumed all political operatives were possessed of some degree of basic stupidity but the reality far surpasses even my own worst imaginings.

Based on what I see here, if this is the kind of team he's able to put together, John Kerry shouldn't be put in charge of garbage collection in the smallest town in America.

If this is the kind of team put together by any candidate, we need to revoke their right to run for public office.

Making sausage and making politics may both be un-pretty, but the latter is truly puke-worthy.