Recently, LU Web Crawler featured an item whose headline — “Hillary tries angry” — intimated that the former first lady and secretary of state was feigning anger, testing out another emotion to see if it would resonate with voters.
But according to an article in the New York Post by Clinton biographer Edward Klein, it’s no act — or at least not entirely. “Hillary is furious,” Klein writes, noting that some on Team Hillary have expressed fears that she could lose it at some point.
“Hillary’s been having screaming, child-like tantrums that have left staff members in tears and unable to work,” says a campaign aide. “She thought the nomination was hers for the asking, but her mounting problems have been getting to her and she’s become shrill and, at times, even violent.”
In one incident, Hillary berated a low-level campaign worker for making a scheduling mistake. When the girl had the nerve to turn her back on Hillary and walk away, Hillary grabbed her arm.
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Bill Clinton and Hillary’s campaign team are concerned that her anger may surface at the wrong time. They are concerned that she could have a serious meltdown in front of TV cameras, which would make her look so out of control that voters would decide she doesn’t have the temperament to be commander in chief.
“Hillary’s anger may be stoked by fear,” Klein submits, noting that her poll numbers slipped by 10 points in one week.
Justified or not, being mad as hell and vowing not to take it anymore can cut both ways, much like any other emotion carried to excess. Scoffers are urged to ask Howard Dean how his spontaneous burst of exuberance on stage worked out for him in 2004, when he led the field of Democratic candidates vying for the party’s presidential nomination.
Hillary’s handlers, meanwhile, are trying to channel her anger at the Republicans rather than on fellow Dems. This is an abrupt departure from last week’s strategy, which included having prepared a package of damning stories about Joe Biden to disseminate to the media in the event he threw his hat in the ring.
