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Clintons' tag-teaming tactic makes them successful with the press, professor says
DENTON (UNT), Texas -- On the morning of this year's presidential primary in South Carolina, which Barack Obama was expected to easily win, former president Bill Clinton was criticized by the media for playing the race card when he noted that Jesse Jackson won in South Carolina in 1984 and 1988 -- but lost the Democratic nomination both times despite running "a good campaign." That remark was a clear example of Bill Clinton being able to say something controversial that his wife, presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, could not say, and illustrates how the most powerful political couple in America interacts with the media, according to Dr. James E. Mueller, associate professor of journalism at the University of North Texas. In his new book, "Tag Teaming the Press: How Bill and Hillary Clinton Work Together to Handle the Media," Mueller notes that in their more than 30 years in politics, the Clintons have fulfilled a number of roles for each other in dealing with reporters, including good cop, bad cop, lightning rod and schmoozer. The book is a follow-up to Mueller's 2006 book, "Towel Snapping the Press: Bush's Journey from Locker-Room Antics to Message Control," which discusses how George W. Bush's "buddy" relationship with reporters, and teasing and bestowing nicknames on them, have worked in his favor in controlling the press. At the time that he began research on "Tag Teaming the Press" in late 2006, Hillary Clinton had not yet formally declared her candidacy for president, yet reporters were intrigued about a former first lady running, Mueller says. "Ron Fournier, an Associated Press reporter, even said he'd cover the race for free," Mueller says. "While spouses are almost surrogate candidates for president, this was the first time in U.S. history that a former first spouse was a viable candidate on her own." And as a presidential candidate, he says, Hillary Clinton had access to "possibly the best campaign aide in U.S. history -- a man who is one of the best political strategists of his generation, someone who has been actively working with the media for more than 35 years, and one of the most attention-getting surrogates ever to hit the trail for a candidate." "In Bill Clinton, Hillary has a one-of-a-kind spousal support system," Mueller says. As he did in "Towel Snapping the Press," Mueller included anecdotes from journalists in "Tag Teaming the Press." He talked to those who had covered the Clintons since Bill was first elected governor of Arkansas in 1978, discovering a "Clinton fatigue" among some Arkansas reporters. "They said they had been interviewed so many times about the Clintons that they were tired of talking about them," he says. "Some reporters were also more hesitant to talk about the Clintons than they were about George W. Bush. Perhaps the Clintons seem more intimidating than Bush, and some journalists feared a backlash if they spoke frankly." The title of "Tag Teaming the Press" comes from the sports world. In professional wrestling, a tag team consists of two wrestlers who work together to defeat an equal number of opponents on the other team or teams. The term "tag teaming" has since become a metaphor for the act of alternating with an ally -- something that Bill and Hillary Clinton have demonstrated consistently through their political careers, Mueller says. "The Clintons have an interesting dynamic. Bill has been accused of talking too much. He's a natural schmoozer, and he has been noted for his love of the spotlight. There was concern that he would overshadow Hillary during her presidential race," he says. "She has helped to rein him in." Hillary, he says, was famous for wanting the press to give her a "zone of privacy" even though her husband was a public figure. Like George W. Bush, she became skilled in "message discipline" --knowing the point she wanted to say and sticking to it no matter what question she was asked, Mueller says. He adds that message discipline was a skill she learned after making a few off-the-cuff remarks that turned into damaging stories, particularly her remark during the 1992 campaign that she could have stayed home and baked cookies while Bill was governor of Arkansas instead of working for a Little Rock law firm that did business with the state. "In some ways, the cookie remark took criticism away from Bill during the campaign, so she took the role of lightning rod," Mueller says. During her ill-fated Health Care Task Force -- the only major White House program she ran for her husband during his administration -- Hillary did not allow the task force staff to share some documents with the media, and kept phone numbers of its staffers secret from each other so reporters couldn't get the numbers. Mueller says this gave many people the impression "that the whole administration was incompetent." However, Hillary's mishandling of the press taught her some things about being too secretive with the media, he says. "Now she has much better sense in handling the press," he says. "She's better at one-on-one conversations with reporters than Bill, and that's why she's been successful in the Senate." Mueller noted that Hillary used charm to affect favorable media coverage when she made an effort to befriend the powerful editor of the Arkansas Gazette after Bill lost the Arkansas governorship in 1980. "This journalist was highly critical of Bill. Hillary started having lunch with him and feeding him news tips. One of the turning points of Bill's career was getting this powerful man on his side," Mueller says. At other times, Hillary played the role of "bad cop" to Bill's "good cop," he says. When Bill was running for reelection as Arkansas governor in 1990, she openly confronted Tom McRae, Bill's opponent for the Democratic nomination, at a press conference scheduled by McRae to list Bill's weaknesses as governor. "She flustered McRae, thwarting his campaign's momentum. This was important because Bill knew that if he lost the governorship, he couldn't run for president," Mueller says. Even both Clintons' experience in handling in the media, however, couldn't have prepared them for the immense media attention that Obama received during the 2008 presidential primaries, which may have contributed to his winning the Democratic nomination over Hillary, he says. Whatever the Clintons now choose to do in politics, however, will result in them "being twice as effective because they are part of a team," he says. "They have learned how to control their message and alternately sweet talk or bully the press as the need arises. I don't think they are through by any means," Mueller says.
UNT News Service Phone Number: (940) 565-2108
Contact: Nancy Kolsti (940) 565-3509
Email: nkolsti@unt.edu
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