Hillary Clinton campaign deploys not-so-secret weapon: Bill
The Democratic frontrunner’s husband and former president is a formidable fundraiser but some worry that a more public role for him is not always positive
Say what you like about President Bill Clinton – and many things have been said about him over the years, flattering and otherwise – but one thing is certain: he isn’t cheap. On Thursday he travelled to Chicago to headline two fundraising events for his wife Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign where top donors were required to bundle $50,000 each for the privilege of hearing him speak.
Not that the main donors hosting the event – billionaire JB Pritzker, entrepreneur Matt Moog, venture capitalist Howard Tullman and other members of Chicago’s business elite – would have balked at having to raise such a sum. At least for the price, they were granted a ringside seat at the making of US political history.
Clinton’s appearance at the fundraisers were the first time that he has been publicly rolled out in support of his wife’s bid for the White House in this election cycle. Until this week, Hillary Clinton’s Brooklyn-based campaign had kept him firmly in the background.
He was present on Roosevelt Island in June when she formally announced her candidacy, but even then he was limited to waving from the sidelines and kept away from the podium. Since then there has been nothing; as Bill himself has put it: “My role should primarily be as a backstage adviser until we get much, much closer to the election.”
That the first task he should be asked to perform in Hillary Clinton’s 2016 iteration should be raising cash surprises nobody – he is, after all, the human equivalent of an ATM. “His money-raising powers are off the chart,” said Matt Bennett, an aide in President Clinton’s White House who worked on both his presidential campaigns. “Most candidates dislike the job but he actually enjoys it – and when he is in close quarters with donors he has such charm that they tend to do whatever he asks them to.”
Bill Mahoney, a Chicago attorney and “enthusiastic” Clinton backer who attended one of the fundraisers, told the Guardian that having the former president in the room was powerful because “he is smart, he knows the issues, he’s energetic, he can remind the base here of the economic successes that occurred when he was president. And he can be a foundation for what Secretary Clinton wants to do with the economy.”
Phil Alexander, CEO of ConceptDrop, was present when Bill Clinton toured the Chicago startup incubator space 1871 in between Thursday’s two fundraisers. Alexander told the Guardian that the former president spoke at length though in general terms about the criticisms that his wife had faced in her campaign. Clinton argued that what had happened was not tied to her merit or experience as a potential candidate.” He reiterated that the presidential election was a marathon, not a sprint, Alexander said.
The question now is to what extent Clinton’s Chicago jaunt was a taste of things to come – will we now begin to see him more regularly on the campaign trail? Hillary Clinton could certainly do with some help from somewhere. She continues to suffer from the long-running sore created by her choice to set up a private email server when she was US secretary of state.
Despite the effort her campaign team has invested in humanizing her and making her appear approachable – Scooby-Doo van, late-night talkshows and all – her poll ratings in crucial early caucus and primary states have steadily declined in recent weeks. Most worryingly, her support levels are heading earthward even among the demographic she has most passionately embraced in the 2016 race – Democratic female voters.
But is her husband the right person to seek help from? Paul Begala, who played a key role in Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential victory and went on to advise him in the White House, thinks that the commentariat often overthinks the answer to that question.
“At the end of the day, this is Hillary’s campaign and she will win it on her own merits. But it can only help to have Pres Clinton in her corner,” he said.
Clinton was a “beloved figure” who amply displayed his value in 2012 when he made what Begala reckoned to be one of the most consequential speeches in Barack Obama’s bid for re-election at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina. “If you had one of the greatest players who ever lived on your team, would you put him in the game? It would be malpractice not to.”
But political scientists who have studied the role of spouses in elections see a more complicated picture. Kelly Dittmar of the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University pointed to the phenomenon known as “spousal reflection” in which the presence of a spouse can have an impact, positive or negative, on the candidate.
“For male candidates the concept of spousal reflection is that you use your female spouse to reflect the masculinity and leadership of the man, as a benefit to him. But female candidates don’t receive the same benefit, as their spouses often reflect their femininity, which – in politics – may cue weakness,” Dittmar said.
During Hillary Clinton’s first presidential attempt in 2008, Bill was seen more frequently in public, actively laboring on her behalf at rallies and on stages. It didn’t always go so well – he famously got into several heated disputes with Obama’s campaign, making rash remarks that were then widely interpreted as playing the race card.
They included his claim that Obama’s anti-Iraq war posture was a “fairy tale”. At the height of the carping, Ryan Lizza of the New Yorker likened Clinton to an “ill-tempered coot driven a little mad by Obama’s success”.
Newspaper cartoonists made hay with the idea of Bill stomping all over his wife’s campaign. One cartoonist depicted Hillary making a stump speech while Bill’s giant shadow loomed over her.
Clearly, Hillary Clinton’s campaign chiefs are going to do everything they can to prevent a repeat performance of Bill Clinton 2008. But while he may remain fairly invisible on the campaign trail for a while longer, his presence is already being felt behind closed doors.
The campaign’s communications director Jennifer Palmieri has indicated that he often turns up for strategy huddles at campaign HQ. She told a Politico panelearlier this summer: “He doesn’t come to every meeting we have, but he does join his wife often in some of our discussions, and I’m always fascinated to hear what his observation is going to be because it’s always something no one said.”
Even away from the prying eyes of reporters and cartoonists, though, there are questions about whether his advice is always the most helpful. The New York Times reported that Clinton was “adamant” that his wife had nothing to apologize for her use of a private email channel while serving as America’s top diplomat.
Which would have been fine, had it not later transpired – by Hillary Clinton’s own admission – that she did indeed need to apologize and wished she had done it earlier.
The Democratic pollster Peter Hart wonders whether Clinton is properly equipped to be able to advise on a modern presidential campaign in the age of Twitter and Instagram. “I don’t want to speculate on the advice he’s giving, but it is true that we all draw on our own experiences and all the challenges Bill Clinton faced ended in 2000.”
Hart sees evidence of that in the way that Hillary Clinton has handled the email controversy. “This is the era of transparency. A candidate who is opaque finds it difficult – and up to now Hillary has at best been translucent.”
J.B. Pritzker
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Jay Robert (J.B.) Pritzker | |
|---|---|
| Born | January 19, 1965 (age 50) Chicago, Illinois |
| Residence | Chicago, Illinois |
| Alma mater | Duke University, Northwestern University School of Law |
| Occupation | Businessman |
| Net worth |  US $ 3.4 billion (est.)(May 2015)[1] |
| Spouse(s) | Mary Kathryn Muenster |
| Children | 2 |
| Parent(s) | Donald Pritzker Sue Sandel |
| Website | www |
Jay Robert (J.B.) Pritzker (born January 19, 1965) is an American venture capitalist, entrepreneur, philanthropist and private business owner. He is managing partner and co-founder of Pritzker Group, a private investment firm that operates middle-market service and industrial companies and invests in digital technology companies. He is a member of the wealthy Pritzker family.
In 2014, the Forbes 400 Richest Americans list ranked him as the 161st richest person in the U.S. with an estimated net worth of $3.4 billion[2] and the 512th richest person in the world.[3]
Career[edit]
In 1996, J.B. Pritzker founded Pritzker Group Venture Capital (formerly New World Ventures), the largest venture investor based in the Midwest. The firm invests nationally in rapidly growing technology companies at all stages of their growth, with a principal focus on enterprise software, e-commerce and managed services. The firm has invested in more than 100 companies, including Fleetmatics (NYSE:FLTX), SinglePlatform (acquired by Constant Contact), Chegg (NYSE:CHGG), Awesomeness TV (acquired by DreamWorks), Playdom (acquired by Disney), Lefthand Networks (acquired by Hewlett-Packard), and TicketsNow (acquired by Ticketmaster).
Mr. Pritzker is a leading proponent of entrepreneurship and a stronger technology sector in the Midwest. He chairs ChicagoNEXT, Mayor Rahm Emanuel's council on innovation and technology, and founded 1871, Chicago's digital startup center. He played an important role in the creation of the Illinois Venture Capital Association and the Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center. He also co-founded Chicago Ventures and funded the startup of Techstars Chicago and Built in Chicago. Pritzker has received numerous awards and community recognition for his efforts to build a stronger technology sector in the Midwest.
Together with his brother Tony, J.B. Pritzker co-founded Pritzker Group Private Capital, which owns and operates middle-market companies. The group includes a growing family of companies including investment castings manufacturer Signicast, pallet rental leader PECO Pallet and medical device maker Clinical Innovations.
Political activities[edit]
In the 2008 Presidential election, Pritzker served as national co-chairman of the Hillary Clinton for President campaign and as a delegate to the 2008 Democratic National Convention. He supported President Barack Obama in the 2008 general election and helped bring the Clinton and Obama campaigns in Illinois together.[13]
Pritzker founded Democratic Leadership for the 21st Century,[14] a national organization dedicated to attracting voters under the age of 40 to the Democratic Party. He also served on the legislative staff of U.S. Senator Terry Sanford (D-NC), U.S. Senator Alan J. Dixon (D-IL) and U.S. Congressman Tom Lantos (D-CA), for whom he handled issues such as international trade, election reform and handgun control.
In 1998, he ran for U.S. Congress, principally focusing on the issues of education and gun control, and lost in a heavily contested five-way primary in Illinois's 9th US Congressional district.
Penny Pritzker
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Penny Pritzker | |
|---|---|
 | |
| 38th United States Secretary of Commerce | |
| Assumed office June 26, 2013 | |
| President | Barack Obama |
| Deputy | Patrick Gallagher (Acting) Bruce Andrews |
| Preceded by | Cameron Kerry (Acting) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | May 2, 1959 Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse(s) | Bryan Traubert |
| Children | 2 |
| Alma mater | Harvard University (A.B.) Stanford University (M.B.A, J.D) |
Penny Sue Pritzker (born May 2, 1959) is an American business executive, entrepreneur, civic leader, and philanthropist who is currently serving as the 38th United States Secretary of Commerce. She is the founder of PSP Capital Partners and Pritzker Realty Group.[1] She is also co-founder of Artemis Real Estate Partners.[2] She is a member of the Pritzker family.
In 2012, Chicago magazine named her one of the 100 most powerful Chicagoans.[3] In 2011, the Forbes 400 list of America's wealthiest showed her as the 263rd richest person in the U.S., estimated net worth of US $1.8511 billion,[4] and the world's 651st richest person. In 2009, Forbes named Pritzker as one of the 100 most powerful women in the world.
Government and political involvement[edit]
Pritzker was a member of the President's Council on Jobs and Competitiveness. She also served on the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board.
She was national co-chair of Obama for America 2012 and was the national finance chair of President Obama's presidential campaign in 2008.[23] A campaign under her direction reached out to small donors. On November 20, 2008, CNN reported that Pritzker was Barack Obama's top choice for Commerce Secretary, quoting "multiple" unnamed sources.[24] However, it was later reported that Pritzker took herself out of the running.[25][26][27] According to the Chicago Tribune, she withdrew her name from consideration "due to obligations to her family, for whom she was still overseeing billions in assets, and the financial crisis, which was putting some of those assets at risk."
Pritzker has contributed to numerous campaigns. Among the recipients have been the presidential campaigns and exploratory committees, including those of George W. Bush, Joe Lieberman, Bill Bradley, Rudy Giuliani, John McCain (2000), Al Gore, John Kerry and Hillary Clinton.[28] On July 2, 2008, Ms. Pritzker and her husband hosted a $28,500 per plate fundraiser for Mr. Obama's campaign in Chicago with Warren Buffett and his wife, and Obama advisor Valerie Jarrett.[29]
She was also on the Board of Directors of the Council on Foreign Relations,[30] a nonpartisan think tank focused on world affairs and U.S. foreign policy.
Secretary of Commerce[edit]
Pritzker was nominated as United States Secretary of Commerce by President Barack Obama on May 2, 2013.[31][32] After an uneventful confirmation hearing on May 23, 2013,[33] Pritzker was confirmed by the full Senate on June 25, by a vote of 97 to 1.[34] Pritzker was sworn in as Secretary on June 26, 2013.
De miljonairGeert Mak spreekt lovend over de 'vitaliteit van de Amerikaanse democratie.'
De 'Vitaliteit van de Amerikaanse Democratie' van Geert Mak in actie.
J.B. Pritzker is one of the richest members of America’s one percent and a staunch pro-Israel Democrat. After backing Hillary Clinton in 2008... J.B. helped raise money for Barack Obama’s presidential campaign.
Among other civic and philanthropic causes, Pritzker is heavily involved in the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), which promotes a strong U.S.-Israel relationship. He has served on AIPAC’s national board, regularly chairs AIPAC events in Chicago, and attends the organization’s annual Policy Conference in Washington, D.C.
Geen opmerkingen:
Een reactie posten