Hillary Clinton hates the media, but she knows how to use it to her advantage. As Vox notes, she's really good at telling people what they want to hear, and doing so in a place and time and manner of her choosing. Monday's softball Q&A session on Facebook is a good example.
Hillary didn't want to belittle herself by mingling with liberal activists at last week's Netroots Nation conference in Phoenix, where her fellow Democratic candidates, Martin O'Malley and Bernie Sanders, were heckled by #BlackLivesMatter activists. O'Malley was ultimately forced to apologize for suggesting that "all lives matter." Instead, Hillary waited a few days before offering a finely calibrated response (via social media) to a question about how she would "begin to dismantle structural racism" in America, thus making up for the horrendous gaffe of also suggesting that all lives matter.
I tried to ask Hillary what she thought about about New York mayor Bill de Blasio (who managed Hillary's campaign for Senate in 2000) and his war against Uber and the so-called "gig economy." She recently called out such innovative start-ups for "raising hard questions about workplace protections." Unfortunately, my question didn't get much traction.
Hillary did end up answering a similar (more obviously friendly) question. "Answer" might be a tad strong of a word.
Gotta hand it to Hillary (and/or her campaign strategist ghostwriters). When it comes to responding to questions (of her own choosing) in the least offensive way possible while expressing vague support for all side of a given issue, she is a proven talent, and knows better than to talk about these issues in a setting that allows for follow up questions. Here's her "answer," broken down:
- It's good to ask questions.
- I don't necessarily know the answers to those questions.
- Someone should answer those questions.
- New technology can be a good thing.
- I support working moms, veterans, and young people.
- Obamacare is pretty good, and so are benefits. People should be able to access them.
- Flexible benefits are (probably) a good thing, too.
Cue the stories about how Hillary "hinted" or "signaled support" for flexible benefits for workers in the "gig economy," and former Obama strategist turned Uber strategist David Plouffe suggesting that Hillary will "embrace" companies like Uber "over time," presumably because it polls better. Everyone is (sort of) satisfied. The media moves on. Hillary wins the White House.