Bill Clinton Gets it Right: The Real Reason Hillary Needs the Nomination
by Hannah Lachow and Hannah Kahn
MILFORD, NH– We can’t help but beam walking out of the small gym. We keep zooming in and out of our selfies, happy to have proof of what just happened.
We somehow weaseled our way into Former President Bill Clinton’s event at Milford Middle School. We had always heard about his brilliant public speaking skills, but during the event we didn’t really get it. He was endearing, sharp, and relaxed, yes, but compared to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, he lacked an umph in his voice.
It wasn’t until hours after we snapped that selfie that we realized where his genius resides. We both came out of the rally with an enhanced positivity surrounding the Clinton campaign, but also with a new negativity hovering over Sanders and his supporters. Bill did an excellent job framing the “political revolution” as fueled by disillusionment rather than hopefulness. His rhetoric was far from subtle, but he never named Senator Sanders by name. In a Voldemort he-who-must-not-be-named style, Clinton painted Sanders and his supporters as bitter, almost anarchistic.
Yet Bill Clinton claims that he “gets it.” People have the right to be angry. He went on to explain that despite this understanding, logistics are a necessary component of being Commander-in-Chief. “When running a revolution, one can’t be too careful about the facts, I guess,” Clinton jabbed.
His subliminal strikes hit home with us, but we thought we were just being fooled by the endearing Bill Clinton everyone talks about. We argued about which one of us Clinton’s eyes were fixed on the entire time. Apparently, Bill Clinton’s charm comes with infinite pairs of eyes: all seven of us who attended the event felt like he was speaking directly to us.
MANCHESTER, NH — Fast forward 24 hours. Waiting for Bernie Sanders to come on stage at the Palace Hotel, we realized there was more than just rhetoric to Bill Clinton’s message.
We were so used to the Simon & Garfunkel, holding hands on a rainbow farm vibe. And we fell hard for that, not gonna lie. As left leaning teenage girls, how could we not play his commercial on repeat? But as the speech progressed, Bill Clinton’s prophecy held true. Supporters booed at the slightest mention of Wall Street, cursed out the one percent mid-speech, and even shouted out their student loan debts, voices wrought with indignation.
The discontent filled the theater in a way that we hadn’t seen at any Clinton event. Sanders employed chagrin while Clinton spoke of empowerment. Both were effective in gaining momentum, but once these attitudes reach the White House, we need our President to have more of a plan than just being fed up.
Like Bill Clinton said, we get it. We could write a whole article on all of the domestic issues our country faces — it would sound an awful lot like a Bernie Sanders speech. The fact is, though, that resentment needs to turn into a movement like the Clinton campaign in order to make that change come to be. While the first step certainly is analyzing the state of our country for its problems, Sanders hasn’t formally addressed plausible solutions or how he will actualize them. The Sanders campaign has done a great job highlighting issues that typically fly under the radar, but has yet to ask (let alone legitimately answer), “What can I do to help?” the question Bill Clinton feels characterizes his wife’s campaign.
While anger is a prime motivator for change, we can’t let it blind us from seeing the already existing infrastructure that works. That frustration should be channeled into empowerment in order to form practical, incremental change, rather than succumbing to it and scrapping our system in its entirety. Hillary Clinton is the only candidate who can address the issues and, through pragmatic policy, make the change we need over time.
As the man who knows Hillary best, Bill Clinton summed up her campaign’s positivity:
“All that matters is that she’s the best change-maker I’ve ever known, and best prepared by achievement…and she’ll do it all with a smile on her face.”
