Steve Syatt
Steve Syatt
SSA Public Relations
Encino, CA
As first lady, Hillary Clinton has been eyewitness to the country’s most
challenging domestic and international issues, stood alongside world
leaders and furthered the issues that matter to her, including education
and healthcare - she has transformed the role of first lady into a
position with political potential. Why, then, seek to create distance
between her first lady role and her senatorial candidacy? When she
separates her two roles, she appears torn between two separate agendas
This confuses public perception. A more viable and effective strategy
for her would be to capitalize on her first-lady experience - and be
seen carrying out her first-lady duties while campaigning for the US
Senate.
Meredith Halpern
Goalnetwork.com
New York
Hillary Clinton needs to start acting like a candidate. She should stop
being the issue and start defining the issues. Many New Yorkers would
agree with her positions if she could only communicate them better. She
has genuine expertise in education and healthcare, and her likely
opponent Rudy Giuliani makes it easy for her to differentiate herself on
all the compassion issues: family leave, gun control, homelessness,
mental health.
Giuliani has tried to make the drop in crime and the strong economy his
accomplishments, but the good news in these areas may work against him
since New Yorkers now consider these issues to be less pressing. Hillary
should focus her energies on the issues which she legitimately owns.
Rebecca Lieb
Siegel & Gale
New York
Hilary has a tendency to be too extemporaneous. She needs to stick to
issues and messages that constitute the core of her platform, such as
healthcare. Also, she can’t afford to be caught in situations this early
in the campaign that don’t endear her to the masses (e.g. kissing
Arafat’s wife, announcing she will march in the St. Patrick’s Day
parade). In situations such as these, she becomes reactive rather than
proactive. When Hillary addresses families or healthcare, she’s
knowledgeable and in her element.
She needs to build a campaign staff that will keep her ’on issue.’
Alan Towers
Alan Towers Associates
New York
I don’t think Hillary Clinton’s actions in Israel were a gaffe. To have
walked out of the room when Arafat’s wife said her inflammatory comments
would have been a good campaign decision, but it would have had huge
ramifications, given all her husband has done for relations in the
region. The real problem for Hillary is to define what she stands for
She is involved with politics in a unique way since she is married to
the president, but hasn’t come up through the political ranks or done an
apprenticeship. Hence she is not prepared to deal with some of the
negative issues that her rivals have already lived through. As an
individual, she can overcome that lack of knowledge, much in the same
way that Mayor Giuliani’s toughness is accepted, even though he isn’t
liked. Hillary needs to cut an agenda that is separate from that of her
husband.
