January 20, 2007: Celebrity Hillary Announces: Will Her Celebrity Help or Hurt?
Today, Senator Clinton on Hillary's official exploratory committee site announced she's running for president. No surprise, but I just wonder if her celebrity overshadows her chances.
Do we think that we know too much about her? In our minds, is she the betrayed wife (or did she really know?), the dedicated senator (or scheming political operative), and the woman who comes off overly wary in the media (when I am amazed after what's been written and said, she comes off well at all). It's hard to imagine having so much about your personal life exposed, and still wanting to beat the drum and face the music, the cacophony of prying media and scandal-hungry population.
But maybe Hillary knows there are two options only: retreat from the spotlight glare or full steam ahead on what she wants to accomplish and, by doing so, use the attention for her purposes, instead of the other way around. The truth is that most of us have no idea of who she really is. Yet our perception of who she is seems to matter so much more in today's culture than her policies and legislative record. It's going to be fascinating to see how Hillary's celebrity works for and against her during the campaign.
posted by Dave Singleton @ 9:30 AM
2 Comments:
Dave,
I thought Hilary Swank cheated on Chad Lowe, not the other way around? And she has always seemed to like the spotlight. I bet her celebrity and 2 Academy Awards would really help her if she ran for president.
Cathleen
I think Obama's sudden celebrity hurts him more than Hillary's time-earned status. People have had a long time to make up their minds about HRC, and their opinions are probably set. But if Obama makes only a few wrong moves, he could be finished.
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