Why is Clinton reshuffling staff?

All of the newspapers are shouting from their headlines that Clinton is reorganizing her staff after crushing defeats this last weekend. Like this one from the Wall Street Journal;

Sen. Hillary Clinton replaced her campaign manager yesterday, the first step in what could be a broader shakeup in her campaign, after Sen. Barack Obama won four weekend contests, turning up the pressure on the one-time Democratic front-runner.

The intensifying race between the two leading contenders for the Democratic presidential nomination has put a premium on fund raising, strategy and organization — three of the key responsibilities of a campaign manager.

Maggie Williams, a long-time confidante of Mrs. Clinton who served as her chief of staff when she was first lady, will become campaign chief, succeeding Patti Solis Doyle. Ms. Williams, who was closely associated with Mrs. Clinton at a time when the administration of President Bill Clinton was in frequent partisan conflict with the then-Republican-controlled Congress, is viewed by staffers as a long-time, loyal defender of Mrs. Clinton.

But what no is asking, or answering, for that matter, is why does the smartest woman in America need to change her message and her messengers? It’s the same thing that John Kerry and Al Gore went through during their presidential campaigns – but no one ever points out that it’s all just mental masturbation. If a candidate has principles and sticks to them, and the voters aren’t attracted to that candidate, what good is changing your message? It might get you elected, but voters won’t like you if act on your principles.

Unless of course you think politics is all about fooling people, of course. And we all know that’s EXACTLY how Clinton sees voters – a bunch of moronic goofballs who can fooled. I saw my first Clinton ad yesterday – and the part of it that struck me the hardest was her statement that she brings 35 years of experience to the job.

By my count, in January 2009, she will have eight years of experience in politics, less than 1/4 of the time she claims in the ad. Now, she does have 35 years of fooling voters, so that’s probably what she was talking about. I think 27 years of being someone’s wife is hardly experience.

But that’s what reshuffling a campaign staff does – fool voters to vote for someone they wouldn’t ordinarily. I also saw on CNBC this morning that the Silky Pony Breck Girl had talks with the new Clinton staff – always the opportunist, always the ambulance chaser.

All the while, Bill Clinton is busy at DC and Maryland churches camapigning from the pulpit, while the media doesn’t bother batting an eye with their usual “separation of church and State” rhetoric;

The former president’s comments came after he addressed more than 2,000 churchgoers at the Temple of Praise in Southeast Washington. He also visited Greater Mount Nebo AME Church in Bowie, while his wife campaigned elsewhere in Maryland and Virginia yesterday.

Which begs the question, who is it that really thinks the voters are drooling goofballs?

Category: Politics