Hillary Clinton sets out to redefine image as presidential campaign swings into full gear
Democratic candidate will need to convince voters who don't trust her to come to her side, professor says
Partway through her historic U.S. presidential nomination acceptance speech Thursday night, Hillary Clinton acknowledged that other politicians who have stood in the same spot at a convention podium over the years are sometimes new to the national stage.
"As you know," she said,"I'm not one of those people."
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And thereinlies one of the challengesforthe former first lady, New York senatorand secretaryof statewho after25years in thenationalpolitical spotlight is consideredone of the most polarizing political figures in the United States.
The Democratic Party's candidateis also deeply unpopular with some of the U.S. public.Polls following the Republican conventionhave shown, for the first time, thatClinton's unfavourable ratings are worse than her Republican rival Donald Trump although the two ofthem have the worst ratings forpresidential candidates in modern history.
And Clinton seemed to hint at this issuewhen she said: "I get it that some people just don't know what to make of me."
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That statement seemed to be one of theunderlyingmessages during the convention you know Clinton but you really don't know the trueClinton.
And it may be whyshe,her husband Bill Clinton,U.S. PresidentBarackObamaand manyother speakers during the four-day convention set out to redefine her as she tries to convince Americans that she is best suited for the presidency.
"Her obstacles include public fatigue with eightyears of a Democratic administration and distaste for the Clinton dynasty," said Barry Burden, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and director of the Elections Research Center. "She will also need to convince voters who don't trust her to nonetheless come to her side by November."
Part of that effort at the conventioninvolvedfocusing on the threat Democrats sayDonald Trump would pose to the countryas president.
But there was also much time spent on informing the public aboutHillaryClinton the woman, thewife, themother and before politics thefierce social activist. Most significantly, herqualifications to lead, her political experience, her toughness and her resiliency were also common themes stressed throughout the week.
"I think her strongesttrait,even withsome Americans who don't like her very much, is that she's tough," said Brad Bannon, a Democratic strategist.
Trump received a convention bump in the polls and Clinton, no doubt, will be aided by the Democratic event in Philadelphia. By all measures, it was a well-orchestrated affaircompared to the Republican convention in Cleveland the week before where a number of controversies served to distractfrom themessaging.
Unhappy Sanders supporters
But when the Democratic convention kicked off on Monday, it looked as if it might facethe same problems as the GOP, forced to deal with aloud, angry contingent of delegatesunhappy with their party's choice.
It was the Bernie Sanders supporters, whose continueddismay over the nomineewas only intensifiedby theWikiLeaks release of thousands of embarrassing emailsof senior party officials.Those emailsrevealed that key party membersfavoured Clinton over Sanders as the presidential nominee and appeared to consider ways to discredit the Vermont senator during the primaries.
Some of those Sanders supporters who vowed to never support Clintoncontinued to be loud,vocal and disruptiveduring the convention.But Sanders helped squash some of the unrest byendorsing Clinton in a rousing speech on Monday and, later during roll call, asking that all his delegates be allocated to his one-time political rival.
Yet many believe that it was First LadyMichelle Obama'swell-receivedand emotionalspeech, in which she heaped praise uponClinton,that helped lower the temperature.
"I really think when she spoke Monday night that really changed the mood of the convention," Bannon said.
On the second day, it was Clinton'shusband, former U.S. president Bill Clinton, who took centre stage,and who sought to portray his wife as a person, not a politician.He mostly left Trump alone, and instead recountedhiscourtship of Hillary, but notably,never directly referencing his marital troubles.
'Best darn change-maker'
He was her biggest cheerleader,recitinga resume of her accomplishments, referring to her as"the best darn change-maker I ever met in my entire life."
The former presidentsought to change the narrative about her, suggesting that her politicalopponents have painted her as a cartoon character.
"What's the difference in what I told you and what they said? How do you square it? You can't. One is real, the other is made up."
By the third night,the attacks on Trump ramped up, with Clinton'svice-presidential candidate Tim Kaine, Vice-President Joe Biden and President Barack Obama all coming out swinging against the New York real estate mogul.
'He has no clue'
"He has no clue about what makes America great. Actually he has no clue, period," Biden said in his passionate speech, adding thatno major party nominee in U.S. historyhas ever known less orbeen less prepared to deal withnational security.
Obamaaswell sought to take down Trump, whom he referred to as a"homegrown demagogue" who, he suggested,isnot fit to be commander-in-chief.With Clinton, Obamasaid,there has never been a man or a woman more qualified to serve as president.
Finally, on Thursday night, in the speech billed as the most important in her political life, Clinton sought to tell her life story. It was in part personal, talking about her family and her advocacy for children's issues. Much, though, was devoted to her policy platform and what she intends to do in her first 100 days in office if she becomes president.
Yet she wasperhapsmost effective, if effectiveness is measured bymemorable lines,when she turned her attention to Trump. She railed against her opponent, questioning his temperament, asking Americans to "imagine him in the Oval Office facing a real crisis.A man you can bait with a tweet is not a man we can trust with nuclear weapons."
She said that she,like many, thought "he couldn't possibly mean all the horrible things he says" and that "someone who wants to lead our nation could say those things, could be like that."
"But here's the sad truth: There is no other Donald Trump.This is it."
It's a strategy, said Bannon, tomake this campaign a referendum on Donald Trump, who is unlikelyto pull any punches going after the Democratic nominee whom herepeatedly refers to as"Crooked Hillary."
"Because theyfeel if they make Donald Trump bethe focus point ofthis campaign, they'll win," Bannon said.
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