Even liberals can’t resist criticizing Hillary Clinton’s first week on the campaign trail.
During an appearance on MSNBC’s “Up with Steve Kornacki” Sunday, liberal Forbes contributor Rick Ungar labeled Clinton’s meticulously-orchestrated first stops in Iowa the most “contrived-appearing campaign ever.”
“I wish I could sit here and say it’s been a wonderful week for Hillary Clinton, but it hasn’t,” explained Ungar. “All political campaigns are contrived, but the whole point of a good one is to contrive the campaign to not appear contrived, and I don’t think I’ve seen a more contrived-appearing campaign ever.”
“It’s just been horrible,” continued the liberal analyst. “I think she would have been way better served to come out and really start talking about the issues. She did sneak some issue discussions in, but they were pretty much missed amongst all the other crazy stuff that is getting all the coverage.”
The “crazy stuff” to which he referred ranged from Hillary’s outrageously-covered pit stop at an Ohio Chipotle to her tirelessly-pursued “Scooby” van that at one point was carelessly allowed to idle in a handicap parking spot.
Though her campaign strategy is to position the former secretary of State at ground level with regular Americans via small-group meetings and events, Hillary has seemed anything but authentic and personable in her first days on the campaign trail.
Millennials at Kirkwood Community College saw right through Clinton’s thinly-veiled attempt to appeal to the young vote when she visited the school’s satellite campus in rural Iowa last Tuesday.
Even worse, Hillary’s staff earlier that day drove carefully-selected ordinary Iowans to a coffee shop in LeClaire to participate in a staged roundtable discussion with the former secretary of State.
And, Clinton’s decision to dine at Chipotle has been widely viewed as a ploy to frame her as a “regular” American who feasts on fast food (and apparently doesn’t leave tips).
Contrived indeed.
