Saturday, June 07, 2008

Why Did Clinton Lose?

Why did Hillary Clinton lose the Democratic presidential nomination?

The press is all over themselves today trying to figure it out. There so-called experts blame everyone from the pitiful fundraisers to her vote on Iraq to her husband, and more.

Maybe. But I think she lost for one simple reason, and it is completely encapsulated in this picture:


This is perhaps the fake, forced expression I can imagine. Completely ingenuine.

And yet, how many times have we seen this on this campaign? Every other day, it seems.

There is not a genuine sentiment in this picture. I do not believe it's how Mrs. Clinton looks when she is truly expressing astonishment.

This is, rather, her "I'm-on-camera-and-must-look-astonished look," and everyone knows it.
It is so obviously fake. It is clearly a lie. It is very off-putting.

You'd never catch Bill Clinton making this kind of face. Or Barack Obama. Or even John McCain.

This is why it's a good think Hillary lost. She just doesn't have that necessary, magical quality. She would have gone through her White House years fighting off all of the right-wing conspiracy that overwhelmed her husband, with the disadvantage of insincerity to boot.

It would have been a disaster, and we all now it. In fact, we now it by the sake of a very thin smile.

1 comment:

MT said...

Photos create an illusions by giving a duration and prominence to things that could have been subliminal in real time and/or significantly colored by the context. Especially given the accusations of bias in the reporting on Clinton in the main stream media, video would be a more credible sort of evidence.