Cheerful boos for Hillary

Politics being what it is, you have to hand it to Hillary. She is carefully crafting a Presidential persona. So far all of her moves seem right out of the Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton play books. And the media seems to be right in stride with the game.

The most self-controlled figure in Democratic politics, Hillary Clinton, seemed to know from the outset that she was walking into a trap. The cavernous ballroom of the Hyatt Regency was filled with about 1,500 liberal bloggers and activists -- the so-called Kossacks, the former Deaniacs, the people-powered Joe Lieberman-bashers who helped reshape the Democratic Party for the 21st century. So when the loud boos finally arrived, a full hour into the Democratic presidential debate at the second annual YearlyKos convention Saturday, and two hours after her arrival at the convention, all she could do was smile. "I've been waiting for this," she told the crowd. "This gives us a real sense of reality with my being here."

Then something happened: The crowd started to laugh. Then it cheered. Then the cheering grew even louder than the booing. Up to that moment, the debate audience had been voicing their disapproval of Clinton for defending Washington lobbyists, whom she allows to contribute money to her campaign unlike her top two rivals, Barack Obama and John Edwards. "A lot of those lobbyists, whether you like it or not, represent real Americans," she told them. But now they were voicing their approval, and not because they suddenly agreed with her. Any poll of YearlyKos attendees would almost certainly place lobbyists in a circle of hell just a step or two outside the ones reserved for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, Fox News talker Bill O'Reilly and Vice President Dick Cheney.

They were cheering because Clinton had, in her way, acknowledged the views and the legitimacy of the blogging community.

Beautifully done. It's the advertising standard. You'll have a far easier time convincing people that they want what you've got then trying to figure out what they want and then give it to them. Validating bloggers feeds the already rather large ego it takes to be a blogger (yes, guilty). It all comes together to make sweet-kind-lovable Hillary the kind of snake oil seller who can get you a second time when you come back to complain. It doesn't matter what she's selling you now because she can sure as hell sell you what she needs to sell you later. The perfect President.