Perhaps I am too critical, but from the moment Clinton’s online announcement of her exploratory committee began I was filled with a kind of nameless dread that alternated with fits of laughter when she said things like, “We all have to be part of the solution.”  There is nothing very funny about that line, but hearing her say it as a very-nearly-official presidential candidate made me chuckle. 

Evidently, the word “basic” tested well with the focus groups, because she uses it about five times in three consecutive sentences.  Ditto for “middle” and “mid”–she grew up with “Midwestern values in the middle of America.”  No crazy coastal liberal is she!  It has been so long since I have heard the woman speak publicly that I had forgotten how tiresome and condescending she can be.  It’s probably not the case that she’s trying to be condescending–she doesn’t know how to say things any other way. 

On a purely stylistic note, I would add that the strange zoom-ins and wobbly camera effect are unnerving and make those inclined to distrust her to come away with the feeling that they are being somehow manipulated.  If she is going to be “chatting” with us online several more times in the coming days, she needs to find someone who uses the cameras to her advantage.  If she could also find a way to have a completely different voice, that wouldn’t hurt, either.