Trump’s total policy vacuousness gives Hillary space to connect with average Americans
Hillary Clinton has now delivered two general election speeches that gave her the opportunity to get lost in the policy weeds: One on foreign policy several weeks ago, and a speech this week on the economy. In both cases, she has managed to relate her sometimes "wonky" approach to campaigning back to the everyday concerns of average Americans. For instance, here's Clinton plugging her plan to create more jobs with higher wages while roasting Trump for his utter lack of policy specifics:
It is a simple formula, higher wages lead to more demand which leads to more jobs with higher wages. And, I have laid out a detailed agenda to jumpstart this virtuous cycle. You can go to my website hilaryclinton.com and read all about it. I do admit it is a little wonky. But I have this old fashion idea that if you're running for president, you should say what you want to do, how you're going to pay for it, and how you'll get it done. I actually sweat the specifics because they matter. Whether one more kid gets health care may just be a detail in Washington, but it's all that matters to that family worrying about their child."
Far from getting upstaged by Trump’s flashy ignorance, Clinton appears to be finding her sweet spot somewhere between the mundane details of governance and the soaring rhetoric of great orators like Barack Obama. It turns out that running against a total windbag has allowed her to elevate major themes people can hold on to, rather than wallowing in the mind-numbing intricacies of how to accomplish those policy goals.
On Tuesday, she repeatedly talked about the broad issues of creating higher-paying jobs, increasing the affordability of health care and college, and decreasing student debt. These issues resonated broadly throughout the Democratic primary and we are now seeing how Bernie's candidacy helped shape the general election candidate that Hillary is becoming.
Yet Clinton still managed some nice zingers for voters to revel in, noting that Trump's as "dangerous" on domestic issues as he is on foreign policy. "Just like he shouldn't have his finger on the button," she quipped, "he shouldn't have his hands on our economy."