I haven\’t performed in front of an audience for twenty-eight years! I played a butler. I HAD ONE LINE! I forgot it.
“I\’m not an actor. I\’m a movie star”
The quotes you just read were from the wonderful movie “My Favorite Year, in which Alan Swann (played by the great Peter O\’Toole), a washed-up Errol Flynn-type movie star who is trying to get a payday by appearing on a TV variety show and suddenly realizes, to his horror, that the show is not filmed, it is live.
Why do they remind me, more and more, of Hillary Clinton? Here\’s why:
Ms. Clinton announced her candidacy for President on April 12th – almost three months ago. Since then, she shunned the media like Dracula shunning the cross. But finally, after almost a quarter of ducking and shucking, she deigned to allow just one interview – to CNN\’s Brianna Keiler, whose reports on the campaign trail have clearly suggested she has a warm place in her heart for Ms. Clinton.
How do you blow an interview like that?
Excerpted from Ken Meyer\’s article at mediaite.com:
“I didn\’t hear a more open or transparent Hillary Clinton,” Keilar told Jim Sciutto. “I asked her why Bernie Sanders is garnering this support and enthusiasm you don\’t seem to among Democrats. She wouldn\’t engage on that.”
Keilar went on to say that throughout the interview, Clinton either “wouldn\’t engage” on topics like the dynastic possibility of running against Jeb Bush, and that she was quick to move on from issues like her press relationship, the email scandal, or the dealings of the Clinton Foundation.
“She insists that voters should and do trust her, but at the same time we see in our recent poll that nearly 6 in 10 Americans say they don\’t find her honest or trustworthy,” Keilar said. “Credibility is so key to leadership, and while she\’s really blaming Republicans on this, this is actually a recent development we have seen on the controversies plaguing her.”
This is not the first time I have called Hillary Clinton a disastrous campaigner. And, based on her 30 years-plus performance, be assured it will not be the last.
Put another way, Bill Clinton was the greatest campaigner I ever saw. Hillary Clinton averages him out.
After all, she\’s not a politician. She\’s a media star.
Inevitable? Believe me, she\’s evitable.
