Hillary's Really Bad, Horrible, Terrible First Campaign Week

Or was it a brilliant strategy to underplay expectations?

Hillary's campaign logo.
Turn right for the next hospital?

Starting with a rollout video that liberal Washington Post columnist Ruth Marcus labeled as "relentlessly, insultingly vapid"..."demographic box-checking," Hillary's campaign appeared to be off to a rocky start. Included in the confusion was her new logo, which many mistook for a sign directing drivers to the nearest hospital. Some visual specialists opined that it looked like it had been made by an intern using MS Paint, the basic Microsoft graphics program. (1,2)

But an odd logo with a large red arrow pointing right was the least of Hillary's problems. Unlike her potential Republican opponents, who could be seen giving interviews to just about any reporter who asked, Hillary did NO interviews. Instead, there were a series of totally scripted set ups where the "ordinary" Americans Hillary was to meet turned out to be hand picked by her campaign from a pool of past and possible Democrat campaign operatives. At one Iowa community college actual students were locked in their classroom so as not to interfere with the scripted appearance of Hillary meeting "real" people.

Then there was the creepy video of Hillary ordering at a Chipotle restaurant in Maumee, Ohio (near where Mike's America grew up) wearing dark glasses and avoiding contact with ANY patrons. Quite the opposite of what you would expect from someone running for office.

But the news media ran thousands of stories about Hillary's Chipotle visit and it didn't seem to bother many reporters that she is refusing to answer ANY questions either about policies she may run on or the many scandals which continue to dog her.

Hillary did make one pronouncement in Iowa by saying that she wants to get hidden big money out of politics. This coming from the woman who ushered Charlie Trie into the White House with bags of cash and whose foundation accepts large donations from some pretty bad countries around the world. Of course what she really meant was she wanted to find a way to cut off funding for conservatives, and not to limit the big money that is so much a part of Democrats campaigns. All this while trying to raise and spend $2.5 billion for her campaign. Much of it from shadowy groups.

By most accounts Hillary's rollout was a dud. It added nothing new and reinforced every negative perception of the Clintons. Yet, there's always a few reporters willing to carry Hillary's water. Here's somebody called Martha Pease writing at CNN:

While critics may sneer, it is hard to deny that the image it projects of Hillary is more confident, fresher, simpler and forward-looking, with even a bit of the upstart feel of two of the most successful product launch companies, Nike and Apple. Clinton's team may have begun to create an empathetic relationship with voters that has eluded her in the past, most crucially when she lost the nomination fight to Barack Obama in 2008.
...
That's why the key to Hillary Clinton's success in reframing her message and movement will be consistency. She must not only take the essence of a humble, empathic relationship with voters and integrate it into all elements of her communication, she must also live it every day.

Where did we see ANY "humble, empathic" Hillary from the last week?

Part of the Plan?

Could it be that driving around in a creepy black van that would arose suspicion if parked near a children's playground have been the plan all along? Is Hillary trying to downplay expectations and build up to a crescendo of excitement leading the path to her nomination and later coronation? If so, it would be brilliant. Besides, Hillary knows that once she becomes the nominee the press will fall into line and fret less about their access to her majesty and obey orders by attacking every weak point about the GOP nominee with a gusto they would never attach to Hillary!