Hillary Demands Loyalty Above All Else.
by mageduley, Tue Feb 12, 2008 at 07:15:32 PM EST
A very eye opening article passed my way. It really gave me a glimpse into the sort of management style and executive experience Hillary will bring to the table.
It explains the inner workings of the Hillary campaign staff, especially Patti Solis Doyle. Here are just a couple of choice excerpts:
Hillary's staffers were fiercely loyal. "My staff prided themselves on discretion, loyalty, and camaraderie, and we had our own special ethos," Clinton wrote in her memoir, Living History. "While the West Wing had a tendency to leak, Hillaryland never did."
and this:
"Concerns about Solis Doyle have preoccupied many in the campaign for several years. Clinton insiders say that her campaign chairman, Terry McAuliffe, launched an unsuccessful bid to remove Solis Doyle while on vacation with the Clintons two years ago. Two top campaign officials told me that Maggie Williams, Hillary's former chief of staff (and, as of Sunday, her campaign manager), also sought and failed to have Solis Doyle removed two years ago. Last year, some of Bill Clinton's former advisers, known as the "White Boys," lobbied to oust her, too.
But because of Solis Doyle's proximity to Hillary Clinton, because she demonstrated the loyalty and discretion Clinton so prized, and because no one appeared capable of challenging Clinton's presumed status as the Democratic nominee-in-waiting, nothing was done. "What Patti has that is real power is the unquestioned trust and confidence of the candidate," Paul Begala, a veteran of Bill Clinton's campaigns, explained in an on-the-record interview last year. "That makes her bulletproof."
This one is particularly telling:
"Here, too, Solis Doyle was disastrous; her lack of skill in areas other than playing the loyal heavy began to show. The first public sign of this came just after Clinton's reelection to the Senate. Even though Clinton had faced no serious opponent, it turned out that Solis Doyle, as campaign manager, had burned through more than $30 million. As this New York Times story makes clear, the donor base was incensed."
But this really nails it:
"Rather than punish Solis Doyle or raise questions about her fitness to lead, Clinton chose her to manage the presidential campaign for reasons that should now be obvious: above all, Clinton prizes loyalty and discipline, and Solis Doyle demonstrated both traits, if little else. This suggests to me that for all the emphasis Clinton has placed on executive leadership in this campaign, her own approach is a lot closer to the current president's than her supporters might like to admit."
Check out the whole article in The Atlantic by Josh Green
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200802u/p
atti-solis-doyle
Tags: campaign, Fundraising, Hillary, Patti Doyle (all tags)









8 Comments