"The Ageist Attack on Hillary" by Michael Tomasky at the Daily Beast

The Ageist Attack on Hillary

by Michael Tomasky at the Daily Beast

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/07/01/the-ageist-attack-on-hillary.html

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But the main way for her to beat them on whether she can relate to young people is simply through policy. Whomever she’s running against, she’ll be the candidate who supports same-sex marriage. She’ll be the one who backed a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants (granted, some Republicans will be able to say this too). She’ll be the one who backs lower student-loan rates. She’ll be the candidate who supports Obamacare, which permits young people to stay on their parents’ insurance until age 26. She’ll be the candidate who actually did something for young people and especially young women across the world as secretary of state. She’ll be the one who supports equality in all its forms instead of opposing it in all its forms, she’ll be the candidate for whom virtually every important young-people icon will be stumping, and she’ll be the candidate of the party that is not the comfortable home to America’s bigots and racists.


Republicans make the same mistake all the time with groups they don’t normally talk to or know much about, whether it’s African-Americans or Latinos or young people. They think they’ll change loyalties on the basis of symbolism. But people turn out not to be that stupid. They actually pay some attention to substance, and the GOP stands against what young people support in almost every particular.


The one partial exception is Rand Paul and his opposition to the surveillance state. That does give him some crossover potential with young voters, no doubt—he will be to Clinton’s left on that. But if Paul is the nominee, the Clinton campaign will ensure that young voters become aware that he compared same-sex marriage to tying the knot with animals, and that he thinks the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was unfair to private-business owners. I’d guess that many of those who admire his surveillance position will start thinking twice.


Direct attacks on Clinton’s age will, if history is a guide, go overboard and backfire; and as for rebranding the GOP as the forward-looking party of young people, well, that has to start with changing policy positions that the party has no ability to change. Other than that, great idea.


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