Finally emerging after two years of rumors and speculation, Hillary Clinton announced last Sunday that she would be running in the 2016 presidential race, marking her second attempt in becoming the first woman president of the United States. She introduced her goals and focus for her second run in her campaign video “Getting Started” that garnered much attention and feedback after it was released just after 3 PM.
A multitude of diverse people and their current life are highlighted in the video, which reflects Clinton’s sentiments of wanting to become the champion of “everyday Americans.” From a stay-at-home mom returning to the workplace after many years, to a pair of expectant parents, a job-seeking college student, and a same sex couple on the verge of marriage, Clinton promises to these people that she wants to run “so you can do more than just get by — you can get ahead and stay ahead.” Even on her Twitter account, she shoutouts this particular group of people. “Everyday Americans need a champion, and I want to be that champion,” she says. This specification calls attention to one of the key objectives in her campaign: to fight for those who have been just getting by during the States’ economic recovery.
However, regardless of her pledges, she still has a ways to go in terms of swaying public opinion and showing the warm, fun side of Hillary Clinton. It is both a blessing and a curse that she’s starting with such experience, having been a First Lady, US Senator, and Secretary of State. Her image is that much more difficult to reinvent, but she’s also gained a substantial amount of supporters due to her time in the political spotlight. The Republican National a Committee Chairman, Reince Priebus, talked about “Clinton’s air of ‘inevitability'” when speaking about her candidacy on CBS News’ Face the Nation, saying that she gives off an impression that she intends to “waltz into the White House.” That image is very much something Clinton and her team are definitely working to transform during her presidential candidacy, and it’s apparent what she says during her campaign video. Instead of going the “starting a conversation” route that she took in 2008, she tells voters that she’s “hitting the road to ear [their] votes.” In pursuing this goal of evoking a feeling of familiarity between the voters and Clinton, her advisers say her second presidential run is going to look less like her first but rather her run for the Senate seat from New York in 2000 where a listening tour took place and she even spent a few nights in supporters’ homes.
Her campaign reports to be planning to spend the next six to eight weeks hiring staff and reaching out to volunteers, before starting her first rally sometime in May. With an all-new campaign message and a renewed team, it’s time to see if perhaps second’s a charm for Clinton.
