Clinton Plans Major Contrast Speech

The Clinton campaign just sent out these excerpts of what it's billing a "major" speech Hillary Clinton plans to read in Youngstown, Ohio tonight and in New York tomorrow.

…Tonight, I want to talk about the choice you have in this election – and why that choice matters….

…This election is not about me or my opponent. It’s about you. Your lives, your dreams, your future.

Right now, too many people are struggling. Working the day shift, the night shift, trying to get by without health care, just one paycheck away from losing their homes. They cannot afford four more years of a president who just doesn’t see or hear them.

They need a president ready on day one to be commander in chief. Ready to manage our economy. And ready to beat the Republicans this November.

I will be that president.

This is the choice we face:

One of us is ready to be commander in chief in a dangerous world…

…One of us has a plan to provide health care for every single American – no one left out….

…Finally, one of us has faced serious Republican opposition in the past. And one of us is ready to do it again.

The contrast between me and our likely opponent couldn’t be more stark. John McCain is willing to continue the war in Iraq for 100 years – I will start bringing troops home in 60 days. He admits he doesn’t understand the economy -- I have a plan to turn our economy around and create five million new jobs. He wants eight years more of the same – I’ll deliver 21st century solutions to move this country forward again.

Both Senator Obama and I would make history. But only one of us is ready on day one to be commander in chief, ready to manage our economy, and ready to defeat the Republicans. Only one of us has spent 35 years being a doer, a fighter and a champion for those who need a voice. That is what I would bring to the White House. That is the choice in this election.

…It’s about picking a president who relies not just on words – but on work, hard work, to get America back to work. Someone who’s not just in the speeches business – but will get America back in the solutions business…

Comments

Both Senator Obama and I would make history.

Well, that's the truth. One of them will result in the first person of color elected to the presidency, and the other will result in the oldest white man yet elected to that office. America, what a country!

But enough about the race; back to my favorite topic. Marc, seriously: where's the value-added blogging? That's awfully credulous of you to post not only the speech with so little comment, but to use your sparse commentary to apply the spin ("major," "contrast") the Clinton camp wants to see applied.

Can Obama count on equal time from your blog, or can we go ahead and chalk this up to your last-ditch flailings to save Hillary's candidacy?

Posted by Jeff Larson | February 19, 2008 6:46 PM

This major contrast speech sounds exactly like what she has been saying for the last year. "Ready to lead on day one" is getting old, especially for someone who can't even put together a full delegate slate for Pennsylvania, or who didn't figure out how the primary process worked until a month ago.

Posted by Anonymous | February 19, 2008 6:46 PM

The sentences are crisp. The points are concise. The arrangement is crisp. But we've been hearing this for many weeks. Ready on day one, deeds and not just words, 35 years of dedicated service ... Hard to see what makes this a "major" speech based on this excerpt. She remains my overwhelming second choice.

Posted by JeffLord | February 19, 2008 6:48 PM

Leaking text of the speech in the attempt that the press focuses on that and not the actual results of WI?

Why isn't the press asking or analyzing "Why is Clinton leaking the text of tonight's speech to us?"

Posted by BK | February 19, 2008 6:48 PM

But what makes her think this "contrast" will work, when she's been saying the same thing ("Ready on Day One") this entire campaign?

It's not working, and Obama isn't even pushing that hard at the vacuous, unsupported assertions at the heart of her message:
*"35 years of experience of bringing change" includes 10+ a corporate lawyer at Rose Law Firm;
* Ric Fazio not exactly "serious Republican opposition";
* very few tangible accomplishments, besides bringing NY pork, that she can point to in the Senate;
* terrible campaign management belies her pronouncements of her own "competence.

Hillary, time to fire Mark Penn and get someone to come up with a more compelling message. Maybe then you can turn this around. Saying the same thing with more emphasis isn't gonna get you anywhere.

Posted by Ryan W. | February 19, 2008 6:51 PM

Hilary has become John Edwards! Wow. Not that its a bad thing if he's your kind of Democrat.

Obama, of course, appeals to all those up scale wine drinking elites who don't really care if the economy tanks due to his inexperience - they're set for life anyways.

With Texas and Ohio approaching expect the class war to erupt. Whoever Edwards endorses will probably come out the best of it.

Posted by Jesse | February 19, 2008 6:54 PM

That's a great way to get network coverage of a rally even if you lose, lol. And I still don't trust exits, but rather than have them pull away she'll hit Obama on his night hard and have the press talking over that rather than the results.

And since there's a couple hours til polls close and she's starting the speech at 8:30 they'll play her rally all the way through until they get the exit results confirmed.

It's a good game plan to deal with a tough night if necessary. And if she picks up a surprise win, she can do some interviews easily.

-Rhoda

Posted by Rhoda | February 19, 2008 6:55 PM

"Only one of us has spent 35 years being a doer, a fighter and a champion for those who need a voice."

Isn't this solely because Obama was 11 years old 35 years ago? Is Clinton a supporter of gerentocracies? Maybe a more interesting statistic would be the percentage of post-law school years devoted to public service. With that metric, Obama wins easily.

Posted by crazymonk | February 19, 2008 6:59 PM

So how is someone whose campaign has been scrambling to catch-up and is being out-organized able to make a case that she's ready on Day 1? Does having to tank your top advisor well into the campaign signal readiness?

Also: Is "ready on day one" a line that Senator Clinton wrote? I seem to recall hearing that in a couple thousand other places as well. Hmm....

And I'm guessing she didn't write the umpteenth new tagline, the "Solutions Business." It sounds like it came straight from the mouth of a focus-group attendee. Plagarist!!!!!!

Posted by MattS | February 19, 2008 6:59 PM

As others have said, looks like a spin release to me. Let's talk about tomorrow, not tonight.

Posted by evie | February 19, 2008 7:00 PM

Hillary's campaign is downright pathetic, and an embarassment to the Democratic Party. Her staff came up with that ridiculous 13-state strategy that didn't work, they mismanaged the $100 million ++ plus that they had in the bank, they forgot to read the rules on delegates in TX and PA, there has been internal squabbling that got leaked to the media...

Why should we expect that she would be a good Chief Executive if she can't even run a competent campaign? I'm surprised more of her supporters haven't figured this out and jumped ship already...

Posted by cousin vinnie | February 19, 2008 7:00 PM

Could someone please point me to some significant legislation authored by Hillary? I didn't think so.
Why isn't Obama hitting back and saying something to the effect that "claiming unnamed accomplishments doesn't mean you actually have any?" Why is the press not pinning her down over her vaunted "experience"?

Posted by John | February 19, 2008 7:00 PM

Nice rhetorical points, but I don't see how this is any different than the case she's made previously. She has no major legislative accomplishments, even on the level of Obama-Coburn or Obama-Lugar. The only things she's managed were the '93 healthcare reform and this campaign, and they've both been run disastrously. And she's demonstrated bad judgment on the most critical foreign policy issues of our time - Iraq and Iran. I'm amazed this argument gets any traction at all when you look at the record; chalk it up to name recognition and fond memories of the '90's economy, I guess.

Posted by John M. | February 19, 2008 7:02 PM

What a thrilling departure from her previous speeches in which the phrase "ready on day one" is only in every other sentence.

Posted by Kevin | February 19, 2008 7:04 PM

it looks like they're just going to get more negative against obama. who wants to bet that the first two negative ads go up in texas and ohio before the end of the week?

really, the clinton campaign has very little to lose at this point, and it's at the point now where only the natural market forces of campaigning (hard media reaction to attacks, obama's responses, voter disgust, etc) can keep them from booking a first class tgv ticket to the gutter.

Posted by david m. | February 19, 2008 7:07 PM

Just heard Wolfson say, in response to question: "Isn't WI tailor-made for Clinton? Why shouldn't she win there?". His reply: "Look, Obama has been predicting big victory in WI for weeks. This state has been set up for them."

Can't journalists actually add value and just ask a follow up? How about: "Why?"

Posted by BK | February 19, 2008 7:15 PM

I hope for her sake she doesn't talk it up too much as a "major speach", unless the section provided was a mistake. If she wants to really take back her support from Obama, she has speak directly to people that over the course of the past 2 months have begun to distrust everything out of her mouth. She seems to think that there are people out there that havn't heard:
"I’ll deliver 21st century solutions to move this country forward"
"ready on day one to be commander in chief"
"ready to be commander in chief in a dangerous world"
"one of us has faced serious Republican opposition in the past"
"spent 35 years being a doer, a fighter"
"Someone who’s not just in the speeches business – but will get America back in the solutions business…"

Seriously, at least this section of speach seems like a child filled words into a Hillary Clinton sloganeering Mad Lib. If they want a chance to win they need to give people a reason to vote for her, and although they seem to be pushing it, electability is not something they should bring up.

Posted by KevinQ | February 19, 2008 7:19 PM

What the hell is this about Clinton "reading" a speech? Politician's speeches are normally read, at least in part, off a teleprompter, but no one ever uses the locution "read a speech" to describe that. The implication is clearly that the great Obama (pbuh) can thunderously deliver speeches like a normal male politician, but weak little Hillary can only read them.

Maybe it's an accident. Maybe it even started as a typo in the heading of the memo that Ambinder "accidentally" incorporated into the post. But you, Marc Ambinder, really need to change that now. When you use nonsense locutions to defame a candidate, you can stop pretending to be reporting.

Posted by asdfs | February 19, 2008 7:25 PM

I think the notable difference in this speech is she's attacking him on his preparedness to be Commander in Chief - the fear card. That is one area where she has polled ahead of him pretty consistently (although I think tonight's early exits show that isn't the case in WI). The debate Thursday could get ugly...

Posted by buchel | February 19, 2008 7:26 PM

Maybe she left out some of the good parts, but there's nothing 'major' about the speech excerpt. It all looks pretty familiar. And she repeats some of the same old misleading statements. She has faced serious Republican opposition, but only as First Lady. She has never faced serious Republican opposition when she was on the ballot.

Why does Hillary insist that Obama doesn't work? He's been hitting the campaign trail just as hard as she has. He has 'worked' as Senator and state legislator, etc etc. Being an outstanding speaker does not preclude being a hard worker as well.

Posted by Madboy | February 19, 2008 7:39 PM

listen, I am with Obama all the way until the election is over. but one thing for hillary if she wants to win, that speech she's about to give is not going to work. It advances the negative perceptions people have of her. For instance, she say its not about her and that its about the american people, yet if that's the speech she's going to give: its all about me, me, me, i'm entitled, i should be president because i have the experience, i don't make speeches. She needs to connect with American people emotionally, because the majority of their anxities are emotional, not intellectual.

Posted by toussaint | February 19, 2008 7:54 PM

listen, I am with Obama all the way until the election is over. but one thing for hillary if she wants to win, that speech she's about to give is not going to work. It advances the negative perceptions people have of her. For instance, she say its not about her and that its about the american people, yet if that's the speech she's going to give: its all about me, me, me, i'm entitled, i should be president because i have the experience, i don't make speeches. She needs to connect with American people emotionally, because the majority of their anxities are emotional, not intellectual.

Posted by toussaint | February 19, 2008 7:54 PM

Huh? What's major about this?

This is just more of the same from Hillary.

It seems her campaign is about ambition and not about ideas. Is there a single big idea in her entire campaign? She just doesn't get the vision thing.

I have no doubt she could win a competency campaign against George Bush, but trying to convince people Obama doesn't know what he's doing is just not gonna work.

When you argument is, I work hard, he doesn't, you're just throwing in the towel.

She'd be better off crying again and begging every woman for their vote. It would be pathetic and sad, but it would be more effective than this garbage.

Especially giving a so-called "major" speech with nothing major in it, the day after getting spanked by her opponent again.

Isn't this speech just gonna be drowned out by good press for Obama's 10-0 streak?

Me thinks yes.

Posted by Jimmy James | February 19, 2008 7:57 PM

This is "major" in the same sense Bush kept giving "major" Iraq speeches: re-warmed lines that have been delivered a hundred times already.

Not looking good for the Clinton campaign.

Posted by dByrd | February 19, 2008 8:02 PM

This is different? Is it even rhetorically different? So she says, "One of us..." Well, that's not much different than before.

Posted by Elrod | February 19, 2008 8:05 PM

Can somebody PLEASE tell me how she gets to 35 years of relevant experience?

Let's see...

7 years as a U.S. Senator
8 years as First Lady (given her involvement, I'll give her the benefit of the doubt)

And then what? First Lady of Arkansas? Partner at a corporate law firm in Little Rock?

This "35 years" line is an absolute myth.

Posted by TH | February 19, 2008 8:25 PM

She really is out of ideas, isn't she?

Posted by horizonr | February 19, 2008 8:28 PM

"This election is not about me or my opponent. It’s about you. Your lives, your dreams, your future."

And how much you desperately need me! Don't you see how MUCH you need me? I'll be ready on Day One! I already know where the linen closets are, you see. Also, I left a jar of quarters somewhere in the White House that I'm impatient to recover.

I'm a hard worker. You can count on the fact that if I'm at my desk, I'm not playing Solitaire, I'm busy at something. You don't need to worry about what exactly it is... I'd prefer if you didn't, really. (Make my tax returns public? HELLO?!) Think of the laziest person you work with. Think of how happy you'll be to know that your President is nothing at all like that person!

Speaking of laziness, I don't want to be negative, but I have it on good authority that while I was working hard in my first job out of law school, Senator Obama was sitting around doing nothing. He didn't even go to the bathroom for himself! Now, I'm certainly not going to say it's because he's black, but it doesn't exactly inspire confidence, does it? Who knows when the President might decide its back to diapers for him?

Senator Obama's only real strength is making speeches. But let's face it: any shoe-shine boy can learn to pretty up some sentences. It comes in handy for ducking work, after all. (Which I don't do.) Even Senator Obama's campaign is a joke: he's spent the last year doing nothing but fuck up my plans, while I'VE been busy daydreaming about being the President!

So, please: when you head to the polls, try to remember just a little bit of the time-honored racism that has made our country great, and remember that a perfectly innocuous white woman is really, really wants to be President instead.

Thank you.

Posted by Nate | February 19, 2008 8:36 PM

Marc Ambinder: Campaign stenographer.

It's fine to be for Clinton. I read TalkLeft all the time and think it's a decent site. But what you have to do is at least do your damn job instead of just passing along Clinton campaign press releases.

Posted by Zephyrus | February 19, 2008 8:40 PM

Obama's response

Obama camp responds to Clinton speech
Posted: Tuesday, February 19, 2008 8:34 PM by Mark Murray
Filed Under: 2008, Obama

From NBC's Mark Murray
"We agree with Senator Clinton that there is a choice in this campaign," says Obama spokesman Bill Burton in a statement. "It's a choice between a candidate who's taken more money from Washington lobbyists than any Democrat or Republican running for President and a candidate who hasn't taken a dime of their money in this election. It's a choice between a candidate who's called NAFTA a victory and supported permanent trade with China and a candidate who will end tax breaks for companies who ship our jobs overseas and give them to companies who create good jobs in America. It's a choice between a candidate who voted for the war in Iraq and one who opposed it from the very beginning. It's a choice between going into this election with Republicans and Independents already united against us, or going against John McCain with a campaign that has already united Americans of all parties around a common purpose."

"The choice in this election is between more of the same divisive, say-or-do-anything-to-win politics of the past and real change that we can believe in. That's the change that Barack Obama offers, and that's why more and more voters across America are choosing him as our next President."

Posted by joan | February 19, 2008 9:08 PM

How is anything here major or new? This is the same old, tired message that persuades no one and bores most.

Posted by wj | February 19, 2008 9:33 PM

"Both Senator Obama and I would make history."

Shouldn't it be "Either Senator Obama or I would make history"? I understand what she's trying to say, but it hit me funny. What do you all think?

Posted by Phoebe | February 19, 2008 9:59 PM

"Both Senator Obama and I would make history."

Shouldn't it be "Either Senator Obama or I would make history"?

She's campaigning for Veep!

Posted by Led | February 19, 2008 10:16 PM

Not a single vivid line, striking image or reason to believe. This is a typical Clinton speech - dry, dull and seemingly endless. There is one mercy, however. Insomniacs need no longer pay for medication. To that extent, Hillary has done something for the cost of healthcare. An inadvertent benefit, true - but still, it's something.

Posted by maraschion | February 19, 2008 10:53 PM

"This election is not about me or my opponent. It’s about you. Your lives, your dreams, your future." Memo to Hillary: IF ONLY YOU HAD TOLD US A LITTLE BIT SOONER...

Posted by Matt | February 19, 2008 10:53 PM

This is the same old speech she has been giving for the past few weeks. Her speechwriters and her campaign manager should be fired.....oh wait. She already did that. She needs to quit.

Posted by Mary | February 20, 2008 6:47 AM

Hard work?! What hard work has she done lately?

I only see Obama working hard -organizing, rolling up his sleeves and getting what needs to be done, done! Now that is hard work.

Just look at his campaign organization if you need an example of hard work. He was quietly organizing camp Obama teaching people to caucus while while" she who was inevitable" was inevitable.

Solution!

Posted by bsd | February 20, 2008 9:11 AM