Reince Priebus, chair of the Republican National Committee, appeared on Steve Malzberg’s show on Newsmax TV to comment on a speech Hillary Clinton gave last week in Boston at a rally for Democrat gubernatorial candidate Martha Coakley. You can watch the interview
here.
The line in Clinton’s speech that drew everyone’s attention came (gift wrapped) when she said don’t let anybody tell you that corporations and businesses create jobs. This is obviously untrue, but much worse than that because it is impolitic. In response, Priebus told Newsmax viewers this proved Clinton was “not that good at politics.”
A few days later, at another campaign event, Clinton claimed she was speaking in shorthand and clarified her position. “Let me be absolutely clear about what I’ve been saying for a couple of decades,” she said. “Our economy grows when businesses and entrepreneurs create good-paying jobs here in America, and workers and families are empowered to build from the bottom up and the middle out — not when we hand out tax breaks for corporations that outsource jobs or stash their profits overseas.”
I think everyone can agree this is an improvement. But let’s come back to Reince Priebus’ assessment that Clinton is "not that good"at politics. Speaking as a political scientist, I have to ask compared to whom? Compared to her potential opponents for the presidency? I think it makes more sense to say that Clinton is "not as good" at politics. And she’s not. Compared to Obama or Bush or Bill Clinton, she’s not as good. I mean, she’s a very good campaigner and fundraiser, but not a great communicator.
As we have seen, however, it takes more than that to make good government. In Federalist No. 62, James Madison said good government implied two things. The first thing is the happiness of the people (the very definition of good politics.) Second is having the know-how to accomplish the first thing.
That is to say, you can have good policy without good politics, but you cannot have good government without both.
Although Clinton is more of a policy wonk than a political animal, she is both. And it only works if you are both. Hillary Clinton is both. This is why she will make a formidable candidate, and also why Priebus and other Republicans should be less dismissive.
Jack Godwin is an award-winning political scientist whose appeal spans the political spectrum. He is the author of three books on politics, most recently "The Office Politics Handbook," and is now writing his first novel, a political thriller set at the end of the Cold War, the golden age of spy fiction. To view more of his reports, Go Here Now.
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