Many in the political news media are suffering from “Hillary fatigue,” they say. Then they sit up and type out a story or do a TV hit speculating when she’ll announce her 2016 intentions.
It’s proving to be a cycle that serves as a placeholder until former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton officially declares or declines her candidacy.
Jonathan Capehart, a liberal columnist for the Washington Post, believes that to be the case. “The media is tired of her because they’ve been talking about Hillary 2016 since the day after the Obama 2012 re-election,” he told the Washington Examiner. “We won’t know if the general public is tired of Clinton until she officially announces. And that’s still a big if.”
The latest CNN poll shows Clinton remains a clear favorite among U.S. adults who describe themselves as Democrats or who lean Democratic. Support for her potential candidacy is at 65 percent. At a distant second is Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts with 10 percent.
“If Clinton’s book tour is a prologue, then we know there will be renewed interest,” Capehart added.
A recurring pattern is for an individual commentator or journalist to write or talk about Clinton shortly before or after mentioning the “fatigue.”
In his latest column, Politico’s Roger Simon says, “Hillary needs to announce for the presidency. Soon. The media have moved from Hillary fatigue to Hillary exhaustion, and this is not helping her.”
That comes four months after he said that Clinton is “not comfortable in her own skin.” And three months after he wrote on “why Hillary hates Iowa.” And just two months after listing “four things Hillary can do to win” in 2016.
“Three columns in two months does not seem a lot to me when it comes to Hillary Clinton,” Simon told the Examiner. “In any case, I don’t shy away from a subject because of how many columns I have done on it in the past.”
He admitted, though, that the news media “play a role” in Clinton fatigue. “But Clinton’s book tour, her speeches around the country, and now her plans for a listening tour are all designed to generate attention.”
Donny Deutsch, a regular talking head on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” said in late October there’s “Hillary fatigue” across the nation. The next month on the same show, he advised how Clinton should run her potential 2016 campaign (“[W]hen you’re on top, run it as if you’re going out of business”).
As far back as summer 2013, CBS Political News Director John Dickerson said, “the issue lurking behind Clinton drama is really one of Clinton fatigue.”
After Clinton’s memoir Hard Choices came out, Dickerson wrote a column dissecting the book as if it were a 2016 pamphlet: “As a campaign document, ‘Hard Choices’ presents the picture of a methodical, hardworking public servant.”
That’s not to say there hasn’t been a saturation of Clinton coverage since last year. The New York Times in August 2013 appointed reporter Amy Chozick as its full-time correspondent covering the Clintons, “particularly Hillary.”
Politico has its own de facto Clinton correspondent in Maggie Haberman. Eight of her most recent 10 stories are about Clinton, one of which was featured Wednesday on the website’s homepage. The Washington Post’s Wednesday print edition also featured a front-page story on Clinton. Haberman declined to comment for this article and Chozick never got back to the Examiner.
Richard Grenell, a media critic and former foreign policy adviser to 2012 Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, told the Examiner that the Clinton “fatigue” is a product of the culture among the Washington, D.C., press corps.
“The D.C. political media is insular, parochial and functioning like a high school clique these days,” Grenell said. “Regardless of whether or not they are bored with Hillary Clinton, they should grow up and do their job by treating her like a serious candidate. Hillary Clinton deserves their respect and serious attention, as does anyone who runs for office.”
Grenell added that “the political media’s inability to aggressively report on policy issues and leadership skills, and instead focus on shallow inconsequential issues, is part of the dysfunction in Washington.”
