The Hillary Clinton presidential campaign is planning on relaunching (or reintroducing, or reengineering) its candidate this fall, reports the New York Times. Reporter Amy Chozick says the former secretary of state will attempt to “show her humor” and “show her heart.”
Clinton will also stop using a phrase that so far had been a central part of the Democrat’s message. Here’s the Times:
The phrase has been a part of Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign from the beginning. It made its first appearance in her announcement video in April. “Everyday Americans need a champion and I want to be that champion,” she said.
Clinton used it in her June 13 campaign launch speech in New York, too, saying one of the issues she would fight for as president would be making “the economy work for everyday Americans, not just those at the top.” Clinton also said in that speech she would be “reforming our government and revitalizing our democracy so that it works for everyday Americans.”
Clinton and her campaign continued to use the phrase throughout the summer, on social media and in appearances. Clinton herself repeated the mantra just a couple of weeks ago at an event in Las Vegas. “I want to be champion for everyday Americans and go to bat for you to make sure you have opportunities you deserve to have the best life you can have,” Clinton said.
The problem with “everyday Americans,” as the Clinton campaign seems to have finally figured out, is that it’s a poorly manufactured catchphrase. It’s not specific enough to have any clarity—are “everyday Americans” middle class? Nonpolitical? Ordinary? And it’s too trite to transcend or excite—it’s not Obama’s “the ones we have been waiting for” or Henry Wallace’s “common man.”
“Everyday Americans” was cloying and meaningless, and the campaign is right to get rid of it. But the same might be said of the candidate herself, who won’t be so easy to dispatch.
