There are two overarching themes that would serve her well. The sooner her campaign starts living by these two rules the better. (1) "Steady wins the race" and (2) "Success is one part inspiration and two parts perseverance." 



1. Stop using Obama's voice-


Her campaign is (without question) taking on water, and everyone knows/feels it. First and foremost, she should stop reacting to Obama. He is not reacting to her, and this is a huge opportunity cost. Every minute she spends reacting to Obama is one minute she is wasting by not showing leadership and pressing her message. There is evidence that supports this. One example was when her vocabulary changed from "I" to "we." A necessary and good change, but happened only because she took a page from his book. People notice this. When something works for him (a style, an approach, a message) her campaign tries to mimic/use that approach. Every time her campaign adopts some "thing" from Obama she look less like a leader and her campaign sinks deeper. Step one is to stop reacting to Obama and start singing from her own hymn book. 



Steady wins the race.

2. Her hymn book-

Hillary's greatest strengths are that people believe deeply she is dedicated, and committed (thanks to Bill) and that she is a hard worker. She needs to drive this message home. Not by saying the obvious, but through imagery and passively hitting people over the head with it. People perceive she feels/is entitled. She needs to appear more humble and she needs to use more words like "I will work for you from dawn to dusk" ...people respond to that from her. That is her voice.



She is the two parts perseverance that our country needs right now. Obama is the one part inspiration. But she doesn't say this, it is alluded to.



The ONLY reason Obama is popular right now is because the public is so completely starved for the coherent and inspirational message he communicates. Because Bush has been such an abysmal failure Barrack's strong inspirational message and communication style outshines and eclipses Hillary's pragmatism and experience. She IS inspirational, but Obamz is more so. There is a way to manage this but it is the opposite of what she is doing presently.



Deep down people want and appreciate her pragmatism and experience. People want her to be real. 

There is one exception. She must not cry in public again, ever. Unfortunately, he can. She can't. She must be steady and stable at all times. She got away with this public display and I don't know how but she cashed in a lot of credibility chips that day and the media gave her a HUGE break. No one wants to see her cry. Chelsea is there to "soften the image." Oh yeah, and there's the fact that she is a woman in case people forget. She can be compassionate and empathetic, but she may not cry.

Steady wins the race.



3. Rolling over on inspiration-

She needs to be more tactical and get above the fray on this. For some reason she is actually creating fray. So what if he is inspirational. Again, stop reacting. Please, for the love of God… why is she saying, "words are cheap," or "words are one thing, actions are another." This is foolish, unnecessary and robs her of an opportunity to be gracious and wise. 



Let Obama own this. Better yet, she should acknowledge it and give it to him. Take the wind out of that sail.



She cannot win on this and the more she fights it or challenges the more she looks stuck and frustrated. There were many inspirational leaders besides JFK and MLK. Reagan was inspirational too, and he's a hero to many. She should mention these great American leaders together. She would not be disparaging anyone's character this way. Find another inspirational leader, maybe Newt and his "contract with America." That was inspirational as well.

Remember, it's one part inspiration (and she acquiesces this to Barrack, graciously. But it's two parts perseverance. And that's her. But, she doesn't have say this, she has others say it about her. 



4. Getting out in front



It looks increasingly like a "compromise," (whatever that might be) is going to need to happen. Let's face a few certainties/facts.

• If Hillary fights Obama without a majority vote she (and we) will lose more than the general election. 

• She will lose her integrity if she tries to challenge the rules to get Michigan and Florida seated. Schumer can torture and contort a "count all the votes" message as long as the day is long, but only the foolish or deaf will believe that, and it would be shameful.

• Democrats are starved for a win and highly motivated to find a solution.

• When CNN prompted the VP question the audience was giddy to say the least. Democrats are highly motivated to find a solution. The prospect of a drawn out affair is a nightmare to everyone. 



This fruit is ripe for the picking. She should float the notion of Obama as her VP. She should plant someone or have a reporter prompt the question and insist that she give an answer. She considers and ponders it over. She can declare that Obama would make an excellent VP, but that he is not interested. 



At some point this is going to come up (again) because we are in the era of bubble-gum-American-Idol-pop-up politics. Americans want to phone in their votes. We love super sweet and simple appeal of American Idol. We like to chew it up and spit it out, and this "idea" of Obama and Hillary together is bubbliscious to Americans and trust me the media will prompt it again at some point. 



She needs to float it first and get in front of it. Get people thinking about the idea and Make Obama say no or discount the notion. This works in her favor on so many levels. She is seen as the leader. She is viewed as extending an olive branch and Dems will get very motivated at this scenario. 



The momentum becomes hers.

He is the inspiration (one part), She is the other two parts. She is the President. If she sees him as a qualified and excellent VP and starts treating him that way, then we will too.