Watching the claims and counterclaims of the presidential candidates in the United States this past week has been both a political apparatchik’s nightmare and a spin doctor’s dream. As expected both sides claimed victory at the first debate for presidential candidates.
As a political apparatchik, you look at the mistakes, the opportunities lost, the facial give-aways, the forgotten words and scripting—and that is just your own candidate. And all the time, you are admitting that the opponent was at the top of his or her game.
But the political spin doctor sees if differently. You have to analyze the total picture. What had effect? On both sides? What phrase had legs? What were the distractions? What will the gurus, analysts and commentators decide they have seen three or four days later? The spin doctor has to see that future and it is not as easy as some of them make it out.
Sitting here in the catbird seat, safe from the daily grind and involvement in the American scene, it is easy to see where the protagonists are standing. A wily Hillary Clinton is doing deep breathing in her corner, waiting for the next opportunity to inflict pain on her opponent. A flustered and frustrated Donald Trump is barely listening to to-day’s advisors. He claims victory and yet aches for revenge.
Hillary Clinton is savouring the successes of her intense preparation for the first-round debate. She knows there was no knockout. There were some good blows landed. Trump lacked the experience and briefings to ward off the traps he fell into. What Clinton achieved was to reassure her base.
But Trump’s greatest enemy continues to be his ego. His most obvious gaffes in the debate were his rude comments that helped Hillary hang him high as a misogynist. He accepts what he sees as the pandering of politics to the voters but fails to follow through. He knows Hillary is hurting with her studied and accurate advertising targeting him. He personally hates the repetition of television advertising but hardly wants to spend his own money to make a countering campaign happen. He is obviously doing more with social media but fails to understand its limitations.
There seems to be little chance of seeing a reformed Donald Trump in the remaining weeks of the campaign. There can be little redemption in the remaining debates. His ego remains rampant. He only destroys himself.
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Copyright 2016 © Peter Lowry
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