Hillary Clinton has only been running for president for large portions of the last two decades, so it makes sense that her campaign is still trying to come up with a rationale for her (second) candidacy "beyond personal ambition."
Clinton struggles to explain why she's running for president: http://t.co/mvyp4loCNw pic.twitter.com/k8rdOLlwY5
— The Hill (@thehill) October 6, 2015
The Hill reports that some Democrats are worried that Hillary lacks a coherent message:
"Nothing about the campaign reads as fresh and new, but rather as cautious, risk-averse and private," one Democratic strategist, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said of the Clinton campaign.
Independent observers, too, suggest that the former secretary of State has been slow to offer a summation of her reasons for seeking the presidency, beyond personal ambition.
Doug Muzzio, a professor of public affairs at Baruch College at the City University of New York, said Clinton could end up getting into a tangle similar to the one that famously ensnared Edward Kennedy. Asked in a 1980 TV interview, "Why do you want to be president?" Kennedy gave a vague, meandering answer that was perceived as sapping his momentum.
In any event, Hillary is presumably going to have to come up with something better than: "If you can't get excited, do it anyway." This may require some extensive poll-testing and focus-grouping, which seem to have been the basis for many of the campaign's actions thus far, such as Hillary's decision to apologize for using a private email server as secretary of state.
The campaign has also been struggling to find a suitable photo for Hillary's Twitter profile, which has changed three times over the past week or so.
Hillary Clinton is the author of Hard Choices, a memoir.