Of all the negative assessments people have made about Hillary Clinton’s campaign this election season, one label holds up: secretive.
During a campaign rally for Clinton Tuesday, President Barack Obama took the time to “vent” about the media’s presentation of Clinton and her Republican rival Donald Trump. Obama highlighted characterizations of Clinton as hiding information, saying, “You want to debate transparency? You’ve got one candidate in this race who’s released decades’ worth of her tax returns. The other candidate is the first in decades who refuses to release any at all.”
That’s a fair example of Clinton opening up while Trump sidesteps, because that’s exactly what happened. It’s undeniable that compared to her opponent, Clinton’s nose hasn’t grown nearly as large during her campaign. Of course, that’s a lot easier when you avoid answering questions whenever possible.
And that’s the problem with pointing to Hillary’s lack of gaffes as proof of effective communication. Honesty is not the same thing as transparency. One involves presenting information that is accurate, while the other has to do with how readily that information is presented in the first place. While Obama criticizes the media for presenting a false equivalence between Trump and Clinton, he is operating with one himself.
Trump is not a standard by which to judge anything involving the word honesty. He often peddles in casual bigotry, insists the meaning of his words are different than what is in the dictionary and then denies the realities of his own record. This is not a man who places a high value on truth. Still, Clinton is undeserving of any credit for being open about her past.
I don’t think Clinton lied about Benghazi, nor do I think she lied about the circumstances surrounding her emails. But I do wonder why last Thursday was her first press conference in over nine months. I am also frustrated that she didn’t allow reporters to travel alongside her on the campaign trail until a week ago, and that her campaign felt it necessary to hide her pneumonia, preferring to let it blow up as all health scares generally do.
When we do hear from her, it’s often in the form of carefully framed personal pieces, such as her recent appearance on the Humans of New York Facebook page. She rarely confronts direct questions concerning her policy beliefs when cameras are rolling, preferring to operate through representatives and press releases.
There’s nothing inherently wrong with that — those people were hired for a reason. It does send a message though: Leave me alone. It doesn’t take a great detective to realize that, especially as her team has essentially said as much.
“We’ll have a press conference when we want to have a press conference,” Clinton pollster Joel Benenson told ABC News in July. It was just a half step short of telling journalists to buzz off, which is apparently supposed to be acceptable in an age when waiting on any type of information has become a chore worthy of hyperbolic gifs and exasperated hashtags.
A lot of her avoidance is enabled by the additional avenues public figures can now take on social media to circumvent traditional media. They can post on YouTube or send out a string of vetted tweets. They can do a hollow Ask Me Anything on reddit or produce a Snapchat account showing candidates “connecting” with real people. Simply put, the fourth estate is no longer hot realty for someone on the campaign trail — it’s comparatively dangerous, even for those with supposedly nothing to hide.
The fact Clinton has plenty to hide from her two decades in the public eye — will we ever see those Goldman Sachs speeches? — makes it even more necessary for her to address controversy head-on. Being truthful when you do bother to speak up is pretty empty if you are never actually speaking up in the first place.
When reporters cannot directly question the details surrounding a candidate and their life, they are restricted from effectively serving the public. It’s not Clinton’s job to feed reporters information, but before she claims the media is unfairly chasing her, perhaps she should stop running long enough to check whether that’s really true.
It’s been long known that Clinton prefers her privacy, but now she’s confronting a Democratic Party she’s failed to inspire. Much of the base has resigned itself to serving as a wall to Trump rather than a force eager to rush the polls, and maybe part of that is because the leader it’s supposed to rally around will hardly speak to her followers.
Currently, Clinton is embroiled in controversy for her statement that “half” of Trump supporters fit into a “basket of deplorables” because they are racist, sexist or bigoted in some other way. Regardless of the accuracy or tact of the comment, media outlets have pounced on her, often skimming over the part when Clinton sympathizes with Trump supporters who the government has truly left behind. Obviously that’s not the sign of a healthy press relationship — it’s desperate clickbaiting based in a lack of compelling stories.
Maybe Clinton’s take away from the media spin, rather than disappearing, should be to avoid offhandedly generalizing about millions of people. Like it or not, doing so is news, just as it was when Mitt Romney did it. Don’t like the fixation of the week? Give the media something else to discuss. Trump’s entire media strategy has been to flood the wires with fodder until none of it really hurts him. Even riddled with inconsistencies, it has built Trump a kinship with his supporters because just being willing to stand up and talk to the people counts for something. Imagine if Clinton used the same system but bothered to tell the truth.
As arguably the most qualified candidate for president to ever run and a potential historical milestone herself, Clinton has the ability to usher in a change in how she — and other candidates — interact with journalists. She’s choosing not to. It’s September and many people still don’t understand who the real Hillary Clinton is. Even if that’s what she would prefer, it’s a problem for someone running on authenticity and dependability.