No laughing matter for Hillary
Updated on 02 October 2007
Why is Hillary Clinton's laugh suddenly the talking point of US politics?
After making fun of her clothes, her hair and her cleavage, pundits have now siezed on Hillary's laugh after the Democratic senator broke into giggles several times over the last few days.
It hasn't gone down well: it's been described as "creepy delayed laughter" on Comedy Central; "as if it were programmed by computer" in the New York Times; and this from Dick Morris, no friend of the Clintons: "Loud, inappropriate, and mirthless ... a scary sound that was somewhere between a cackle and a screech."
So what's this all about? Is it sexism or just part of the usual campaign flak? After all, George Bush got ribbed for his trademark smirk.
And recently, Rudi Giuliani was pilloried for taking a personal call from his wife right in the middle of a stump speech.
No, the fuss about Hillary's laugh seems timed to coincide with her rather confident showing in the polls.
It's widely suggested the whole laugh thing is a deliberate strategy by her all-important aides to make her seem human and warm.
Average figures, calculated here show Senator Clinton a comfortable 17 points ahead of Barack Obama in the race for the Democratic nomination.
In the crucial first state of New Hampshire she's 21 points out in front - even further in other key state Florida. Her recent health care policy announcement garnered reams of favourable press.
But it didn't last long. In the last few days the normally friendly New York Times ran columns calling her the "new Al Gore": too cautious and contrived, and trading on nepotism to reach the top.
Her recent debate performance was taken apart for "evasiveness" and "dodginess".
And it's widely suggested the whole laugh thing is a deliberate strategy by her all-important aides to make her seem human and warm, rather than anything spontaneous or natural.
For as much as Hillary Clinton polls well in some states, elsewhere she's positively loathed. The LA Times points out some polling data in the mid-West, which found she was attracting "huge negatives".
'The New York senator and Democratic front-runner was by a wide margin the most unpopular of 13 potential presidential candidates in Montana.'LA Times
"The New York senator and Democratic front-runner was by a wide margin the most unpopular of 13 potential presidential candidates in Montana ... Recent polls in Colorado, Nevada and Arizona have found similar distaste for Clinton."
And team Obama are quick to point out their candidate is still very much in with a chance. The latest set of fundraising figures out today show he's still raising some £20m from a vast network of supporters across the country - albeit at a slower pace than before, it's still neck and neck with Hillary Clinton's haul.
And a Newsweek poll this weekend gave Obama a slight lead among Democrats likely to vote in the Iowa caucus. A win there, along with a strong enough showing in New Hampshire, could give the candidate the momentum he needs to carry him through SuperDuper Tuesday and all the way to the nomination.
When Obama spoke to around 24,000 young people in New York last week he rocked Manhattan.
But then, as one Clinton aide observed, all this is exactly what the media wants. Sniping, back-biting, spinning and counter-spinning - the closest-possible race fought right to the wire.
Just think how dull the next few months would be if Hillary Clinton already had it in the bag.
