As part of the relaunch of her 2016 campaign, Hillary Clinton has released a new biographical video titled “Fighter.” It focuses on six episodes in her life: 1) Her work for the liberal activist group Children’s Defense Fund beginning in 1973; 2) Her attempt as First Lady to pass universal healthcare in 1993; 3) Her “human rights are women’s rights ” speech at the United Nations Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995; 4) Her work on behalf of the Children’s Health Insurance Program in 1997; 5) Her advocacy of healthcare and other treatment for Sept. 11 first responders; and 6) Her decision to accept President Obama’s offer to become secretary of state and subsequent work on behalf of gay families who work at the State Department.
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Chris Matthews famously described the Democratic and Republican parties as the “mommy party” and the “daddy party.” If there is an ultimate expression of the concept from the Democratic side, it is the Hillary video, a shortened version of which would be: Hillary cares about children, she cares about women, and she cares about health. Even the segment touching on the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks has nothing to do with the war on terror or efforts to keep Americans safe that resulted; rather, it is about the health of the first responders — an important and necessary concern, but not the biggest issue raised by 9/11.
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Another message of the new video from Clinton would be: I haven’t moved left, I was always there. One of the few people to speak on camera on behalf of Clinton is Marian Wright Edelman, founder of the Children’s Defense Fund and an activist who long ago realized it is easier to push liberal causes if they are framed in terms of children’s’ well-being. (Interesting fact: Edelman’s husband, Peter, is one of only two officials to resign in protest from the Bill Clinton administration; he did it in opposition to welfare reform, perhaps the top policy achievement of the Clinton years.)
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One final, striking note is that beyond an eight-word mention of her diplomatic work as secretary of state — Clinton “mended relationships with countries that had been frayed” — the video does not include a single Clinton accomplishment since her Sept. 11 first responder work more than a decade ago. Some Republicans have expressed an eagerness to portray Clinton as a candidate of the past. As it turns out, her own campaign video does some of the work for them.
