If She Wins, Will She Make Us Call Her "President Hillary"?

[Stephanie]

Just wondering if the branding continues, or would she drop it at that point? What about Hillforce One?

[uppityperson]

1. She will "make" you call her anything? wtf does it matter? eom

[Stephanie]

8. Well, she would be the first One-Named President, for one thing.

Bush couldn't use President George to distinguish him from President Bush I, but since Bill is not named Hill she could certainly keep going with the one-name thing, and set precedent.

[Occam Bandage]

2. No more than "President Rudy" or "President Fred."

[Stephanie]

11. President Fred has a ring though, dontcha think?

But Fred actually does use both names.



She's totally committed to the one-name thing.

[NanceGreggs]

3. She's not my first choice ...

... but if and when she is known as the DEMOCRATIC President of the United States, I think I can live with that.

[Diane R]

4. She's not my first choice, either. But I'm thinking it will be "President Rodham Clinton" (shudder).

[Stephanie]

16. But look, it's already happening!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=4089323&mesg_id=4089323

[southlandshari]

5. What is your point?

I am not a political supporter of HRC by a long shot, but I'm not sure what you are trying to accomplish with this thread other than to provoke those who are.

If I'm missing the point, please let me know.

:shrug:

[Stephanie]

7. She's opted to be a one-named celebrity. Like Cher.

It occurs to me there will be a decision to be made if/when Hillaryland hits the WH. Do they reclaim the Clinton name at that point, or do they carry on with the first name only concept? Going by just the first name is very deliberate branding on her part. It serves many purposes.

[southlandshari]

9. Silly me

I am stuck back in the old days when political conversation centered on candidates' records on issues like affordable housing, environmental initiatives and health care.

I'll try to keep up with our new priorities. Branding, et al...

:hide:

[Stephanie]

12. Are you kidding me?

It's all about image and branding. For the pros, anyway.

============================================
http://abcnews.go.com/Story?id=4114520&page=1

The Texas advertising guru and branding whiz, who spent most of October on a spiritual soul quest, trying to reconnect with "the heart of America," has been tapped for a bigger role in Sen. Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign.

Roy Spence, 60, a longtime friend of the Clintons, is the quirky Austin-based advertising legend who coined the phrase "Don't Mess With Texas," and developed the Southwest Airlines slogan, "You are now free to move about the country."

He was with Clinton at her Chappaqua, N.Y., home yesterday, after she flew in overnight from New Hampshire and met with her team to develop a campaign strategy for the next four weeks of key primaries.

Spence was active early on in the campaign, but will now take on an even greater role, inputting how to rebrand Clinton's message to voters.

"Hillary wants somebody in there that is going to comprehend what messaging conversations are being had, and how things are being formulated," a Clinton campaign insider told ABC News.
============================================

[southlandshari]

22. My point exactly

Branding is for the pros.

The pros. The political strategists who have embraced glossy ad campaigns, impersonal internet mass mailings and style above substance.

The pros. The spin-meisters who have shunned the interests of the actual citizens of this country in their blind hunt to bedazzle small focus groups who don't even come close to representing a cross section of the American public.

The pros. Who can produce high tech youtube entries with ease, who have midlevel network news staffers on speed dial....but who wouldn't know genuine leadership if it bit them on the ass.

Thanks to the pros, most candidates spend far too much time talking about how to market to the American people than they do actually talking to the American people these days.

What I'd like to see branded by a candidate is open, humble and honest discussion of his or her views. And I'm nowhere near alone on that. Problem is I will never be asked to be part of a focus group on branding. Neither will 99% of the American people. Go figure.

:)

[Stephanie]

25. Which is precisely why I'm asking the question.

My problem with her is that she is so branded, so focus-grouped. Exactly why I posted the thread.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=2668562&mesg_id=2668586

Well and also I thought it was funny.

[aquart]

10. Come on, you know that's not true.

It happened because it's easier for most of us to make a distinction with the names. But, if you want to force a non-issue and MAKE us go to Senator Clinton, we can go there.

If it's THAT important to make something of nothing. John Fitzgerald Kennedy preferred the press to refer to him as JFK. The president decides what the headline name will be.

I assume Barack Obama will also make a choice. Probably to leave out the Hussein. (Come on, did you really want to go there?)

[Stephanie]

14. HILLARY has been the brand name since she started running for office.

It was a deliberate choice to distance herself from her husband. Do you think it just sprang up out of the ether? The decision was made by the campaign.

====================================================

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/21/opinion/21funt.html

THERE’S something missing in Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s recently unveiled presidential campaign, something so conspicuous in its absence that it’s certain to set off debate — not on Pennsylvania Avenue, but on Madison Avenue.

What’s missing is her surname. Someone has apparently decided that Mrs. Clinton will be the first major single-name candidate since 1952, when Ike’s P.R. gurus realized that “Eisenhower” was tough to fit on a bumper sticker.

Mrs. Clinton announced her intentions via the Internet on a Web site called “Hillary for President.” Incredibly, on the day of her announcement, the name “Clinton” did not appear anywhere in the long text on the site’s home page — except when linking to articles from The Associated Press and The Washington Post, and at the very bottom in the obligatory fine print: “Paid for by Hillary Clinton for President Exploratory Committee.”

In an apparent attempt to model her marketing on the likes of Madonna, Beyoncé and Cher, Mrs. Clinton’s site proclaimed: “Today, Hillary took the first step ...” and “Send Hillary a message of support ...” and “Hillary is the Democrats’ best shot.”

As New Yorkers may recall, Mrs. Clinton gradually became comfortable presenting herself as simply “Hillary” in both of her Senate campaigns. But what works in New York, where tabloid newspapers are fond of calling her “Hill,” may not play on the national stage. A close inspection of the site reveals how determined its designers were to cleanse the campaign of the Clinton name. In the senator’s 1,937-word biography, the name “Clinton” appears just once, halfway in (“she followed her heart and a man named Bill Clinton to Arkansas”). That’s it. “Hillary” appears 38 times.

====================================================

[Imagevision]

6. Mischelle will be called, 'the first lady'...

[Skip Intro]

13. Oh c'mon - Hill Force One was funny. It was a damn joke. Sheesh.

[Stephanie]

15. Honestly, it wasn't really that funny.

But "President Hillary"? C'mon, that's FUNNY! And I mean the name, now, not the concept.

[Skip Intro]

17. I kinda like it.

[Occam Bandage]

18. I thought it was funny, too. I liked it.

[Stephanie]

19. Hillforce One? Are you serious?

Damn, the writers' strike has really lowered everybody's standards of funny.

[Occam Bandage]

21. That wasn't the funny part. It was cute, but her little flight-attendant speech

was actually funny.

[Stephanie]

26. OMG you have got to be kidding me!

She should not attempt any sort of performance. No more skits. She read the words off the wall where they were taped but it was just wooden.

[Vickers]

20. That's an excellent question...

...Stephanie.

:rofl:

Love,

Vickers

[Stephanie]

23. That's PRESIDENT STEPHANIE to YOU, Vickers!

Why I oughtta....

[Vickers]

24. I'd gladly vote for you.

:thumbsup:

P.S. If you are at least 35 years old. :P

[Stephanie]

27. Just barely!

Thirty-five is my glass ceiling. I keep hitting it!