The panel on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” Friday discussed how Hillary Clinton’s failure of a book tour coupled with negative media attention indicates that the former secretary of State’s potential presidential campaign will be rocky should she decide to run.
The MSNBC panelists specifically spotlighted Clinton’s recent comments about the media in response to former New York Times executive editor Jill Abramson’s assertion that Hillary unrealistically expects all female journalists to “be 100% in her corner.”
“I think maybe one of the points Jill was making is that I do sometimes expect perhaps more than I should,” said Hillary on NPR’s “On Point” last week. “And I’ll have to work on my expectations, but I had an excellent relationship with the State Department press that followed me for four years and enjoyed working with them, and whatever I do in the future, I look forward to having the same kind of opportunities.”
“Morning Joe” panelist Mark Halperin cautioned that Hillary will get torn apart by the media in her expected presidential campaign if she doesn’t prompt reporters to change how they portray her. He called Clinton’s relationship with the media “the most important issue determining whether she’ll be president right now.”
“She needs to find a way … to change the narrative about how she’s being covered,” Halperin affirmed. “Right now, she’s destined to get horrible coverage if she runs for president.”
“Meet the Press” host David Gregory said that Hillary’s “baggage” — her opinions about the media over the years and such — influences the way that she’s covered in the press and is difficult to shake.
“If you go back to her presidential runs, what has surrounded her is the idea that she’s this formidable and perhaps unstoppable force,” Gregory continued. “And, I think, the media will always look to kind of pick that apart, especially if there’s vulnerability and if you don’t live up to expectations.”
He also cited Hillary’s “open disdain for a lot of the media culture and members of the media” as a reason for which she’s having trouble forging fresh relationships with the press now.
Panelist Donny Deutsch commented specifically on the disappointing sales of Hillary’s book, “Hard Choices,” explaining that the memoir’s appearance as a lot of “academic reading” turned off potential consumers. Yet, he admitted that the poor sales could also be a result of Hillary fatigue, a concept that he’s alluded to before.
“The troubling thing … is just simple fatigue,” Deutsch expanded. “It’s just, you know, you see her picture and you want to turn the page at this point. … Beyond the fact of her very very contentious relationship with the media, are Americans just tired of looking at her — I don’t mean from a physical point of view — and I think that’s the big issue.”
He added that, because of Clinton’s poor relationship with the media and the American public’s Hillary fatigue, “The right Republican candidate can beat her.”
“The book’s relative lack of sales is a caution for anyone who wants her to be president,” Halperin followed up. “A book tour is like a presidential campaign: You package the product and you try to get people excited about it.”
Halperin said that Clinton needs to repackage herself if she’s ever going to “create a ton of excitement.”
David Gregory added that Clinton will also need to make it more clear where she “distances herself” from Obama to generate such excitement, considering America’s disapproval of the president is so high right now.
