Many electrons have been spent on Hillary Clinton’s candidacy announcement. From “When Will It Happen” pieces to pondering the strange form of the video announcement, her announcement has some scratching their heads. So today I thought I’d write about the real subtext in the video.
You can watch the video if you haven’t seen it: YouTube: Hillary Clinton: “Getting Started”.
The Green Thumb Lady
The video features a lady who grows tomatoes. This lady represents worries over agricultural pollution and GMOs. Hillary wants to strike a super-cool balance for all of us that both eat and want a planet that doesn’t suck.
Kindergarten Daughter
The video features a young person getting ready to start school. The rub is that they have to move to get her into a better school. This is a subtle nod to the immigration process and Hillary’s desire to finally get some real immigration reform.
The Entrepreneurs
The business-minded brothers happen to be Hispanic, which strengthens the previous segment’s nod to immigration. But they’re also starting a business, which is Clinton’s way of telegraphic plans to increase funding in the Small Business Administration, as well as improve lending practice rules for small businesses, to help entrepreneurs get started.
Back-to-Work Mother
She’s got her kids past their vulnerable years, and now wants to go out and make some deals and do non-poopy, non-wipey business. But will the workplace be hostile to her? Clinton wants to make business safe for women, including pay equality and other benefit parity.
The Parents-to-Be
A nice couple with a woman who happens to be pregnant. Clinton is obviously saying that under her administration, she will help new parents by expanding access to daycare, paid sick-leave for parents, and strengthen the Consumer Product Safety Commission so that things like cribs and toys are safe.
The Young Whippersnapper Job Seeker
She’s a go-getter, and under Hillary Clinton, jobs will be abundant, especially for the young. That’s the message here.
The Engaged Gay Men
They pull back from a couple holding hands, and it’s a nice gay couple. The message here is that Clinton will work for LGBT equality not just in marriage, but in anti-discrimination legislation, too.
Fish Child-Actor
A young lad is going to portray a fish in an upcoming musical performance. Here Hillary Clinton is promising that she will work to strengthen the bargaining power of unions, including media industry unions such as the Actor’s Guild of America.
Retiring Lady
As the woman says, retirement means reinvention. Here Clinton is obviously speaking to the Baby Boomers who are continuing to age and retire. She will work to strengthen Medicare, Social Security, retirement planning, elder care, and other services and laws for the aging Boomers.
Home Renovators
They only get a fast nod in this action-packed video, but this is actually the keystone of the entire piece. Clinton will clean house in the government (as well as an actual renovation of the White House), if elected.
The Trash-Eating Dog
The video features a dog that keeps getting into the trash. This dog represents NSA spying. Clinton wants to teach them not to be so voracious in gobbling up every piece of data on every person. The fact that this comes directly after the renovation segment only strengthens the notion she will clean house.
New Career Guy
While his career is new, the company is fifth-generation. Clinton will work to help aging businesses modernize and improve efficiencies through new legislation and tax benefits targeted at investment in new IT and manufacturing/delivery processes.
Woman Running for President
Which brings us to the climax of the piece. Hillary Clinton is running for president. If elected, she will stop running for president for at least a couple years at first, and if re-elected, she will stop running permanently (though she might help others run after that).
Hillary for America
This is the campaign thingy that they are using. They could have gone with “Hillary and America,” but that would clue people into the fact that they aren’t the same thing. By using for, it becomes natural to think of her as an accessory for the country. Like a rug that ties the whole room together, or that sort of thing.
And the fine print at the end reads, “Paid for by Hillary for America,” as though she bought America a video. Very clever.
That’s it. Although it seemed like Clinton was just throwing out a bunch of random non-political Americany type things, there was a lot of subtext about policy going on. The one issue that wasn’t mentioned was foreign policy. No nod to the commander-in-chief role she is also seeking.
That’s by design, too. Peace, that’s what that says. Sure, we’ll still have a military, but we won’t need to use it so much with Hillary Clinton at its head. Peace! Think of it! All the streets without tanks, the airs without drones, and so on.
I hope you enjoyed my deconstruction of “Getting Started.” If you have any deconstructions to add, feel free to comment.