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Clinton 2008 Looks Oddly Like Gore 2000

Frontrunner forces warmth and seems too calculating, Rich says

By Wesley Oliver,  Newser Staff

Posted Sep 30, 2007 10:29 AM CDT
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(Newser) – Hillary Clinton is riding high in the polls now, but so was Al Gore around this time in 2000, Frank Rich warns. Worse, the New York Times columnist says, Clinton displays an alarming number of the ex-VP’s worst qualities as a campaigner. During TV appearances, she provides “rambling and often tedious Gore-like filibuster,” coming off as a “pontificator and an automaton.”

Like Gore's, the staging of Clinton’s personality is a clumsy affair, Rich says. Her big, hearty laugh, which seems to have been added to her repertoire recently, to counter accusations of detachment, has “all the spontaneity of an alarm clock buzzer.” But the frontrunner’s biggest challenge is convincing voters she isn’t a politically calculating follower, since she tends to hold her fire on tough issues until  speaking up is opportune.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., speaks at a campaign fundraiser in New York, Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2007. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., speaks at a campaign fundraiser in New York, Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2007. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)   (Associated Press)
Respiratory therapist Jerry Rupert listens to Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., speak about her health care policy Monday, Sept. 17, 2007, at Broadlawns Medical Center in Des Moines, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
Respiratory therapist Jerry Rupert listens to Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., speak about her health care policy Monday, Sept. 17, 2007, at Broadlawns Medical Center...   (Associated Press)
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton listens as U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker and Gen. David Petraeus, not pictured, testify on the future course of the war in Iraq, Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2007, during a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton listens as U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker and Gen. David Petraeus, not pictured, testify on the future course of the war in Iraq, Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2007, during a hearing...   (Associated Press)
Former President Bill Clinton, right, greets his former Vice President Al Gore, before a panel discussion at the Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting, Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2007, in New York. (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow)
Former President Bill Clinton, right, greets his former Vice President Al Gore, before a panel discussion at the Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting, Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2007, in New York. (AP...   (Associated Press)
Former Vice President Al Gore speaks during a panel discussion at the Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2007, in New York. The conference, running through Friday, Sept. 28, 2007, is focused on finding ways to solve some of the world's most pressing problems including poverty and climate...
Former Vice President Al Gore speaks during a panel discussion at the Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2007, in New York. The conference, running through Friday, Sept. 28,...   (Associated Press)
Former Vice President Al Gore ponders a question before answering reporters for the presentation of his environmental anti-global-warming documentary An Inconvenient Truth during a conference at the French National Assembly in Paris, Wednesday Oct. 11, 2006. Gore is working on a new environmental book, The Path to Survival, that will...
Former Vice President Al Gore ponders a question before answering reporters for the presentation of his environmental anti-global-warming documentary "An Inconvenient Truth" during a conference at the...   (Associated Press)
U.S. Former Vice President Al Gore delivers a speech at the Los Pinos presidential residence in Mexico City, Tuesday, July 31, 2007, during a meeting with Mexico's President Felipe Calderon. Gore is in Mexico invited by the Mexico City municipality to lecture city residents about climate change Tuesday. (AP...
U.S. Former Vice President Al Gore delivers a speech at the Los Pinos presidential residence in Mexico City, Tuesday, July 31, 2007, during a meeting with Mexico's President Felipe Calderon. Gore is in...   (Associated Press)
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y, answers questions at the 37th Annual Legislative Conference, Unleashing Our Power hosted by the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, on Friday, Sept. 28, 2007. (AP Photo/Earl Gibson III)
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y, answers questions at the 37th Annual Legislative Conference, "Unleashing Our Power" hosted by the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, on Friday, Sept. 28, 2007....   (Associated Press)
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y. sits in discussion with members of the 37th Annual Legislative Conference Unleashing Our Power hosted by the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation on Friday, Sept. 28, 2007 in Washington D.C. (AP Photo/Earl Gibson III)
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y. sits in discussion with members of the 37th Annual Legislative Conference "Unleashing Our Power" hosted by the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation on Friday, Sept....   (Associated Press)
Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., pauses during a press conference to announce that Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., left, will support her in her run for the presidency on Monday, Sept. 24, 2007, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., pauses during a press conference to announce that Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., left, will support her in her run for the presidency on Monday,...   (Associated Press)
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Barack Obama • Hillary Clinton • Democrats • Republican • Al Gore • Bill Clinton • filibuster • Frank Rich • presidential election

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