On Sunday’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos, political commentator Cokie Roberts argued that Hillary Clinton will actively use her role has grandmother to sell herself to voters heading into the 2016 election.
While Roberts admitted that Clinton was “not on her game in these interviews,” she stressed that questions about her e-mails won’t matter in 2016 because “its hard for voters to care about [it].”
Instead, Clinton must do everything she can to counter the questions about her age, insisted Roberts, which include playing up the value of being a grandmother to counter the questions about her age:
I did think she said one thing that I think we’re going to be hearing a lot about. She said, what voters care about is who will be there when they need them. And I think that's going to be her theme. And that somewhat plays into the grandmother theme. Because, you know, your grandmother is there when you need her. And I think that's a way of dealing with this age issue. Because that's going to be a real issue.
Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren was much more blunt in her reaction to Clinton’s first interview and maintained that it didn't make “a bit of difference that interview. Because she's unique in politics. People who love her will still love her. People who hate her will still hate her.”
Surprisingly, Van Jones, who himself his a Clinton supporter, was extremely skeptical and noted that the Democrat was “pushed into” the interview which was overshadowed by “that horrible moment where they got pictures of having ropes pulling reporters away from her. That looked terrible. So she had to do something.”
Cokie Roberts actually defended Clinton’s use of a rope line as she pointed out that “many of us have been behind rope lines our whole lives." Jones corrected her and pointed out that most reporters have not been behind “the moving rope, the cattle herd.”
See relevant transcript below.
ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos
July 12, 2015
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: So you had that. Didn't get the best reviews over the course of that interview.
COKIE ROBERTS: No, and that's where she really has a problem I think, it’s not so much the e-mails and all that because that's hard for voters to care about. But she's not on her game in these interviews, she's just not there yet. I did think she said one thing that I think we’re going to be hearing a lot about. She said, what voters care about is who will be there when they need them. And I think that's going to be her theme. And that somewhat plays into the grandmother theme. Because, you know, your grandmother is there when you need her. And I think that's a way of dealing with this age issue. Because that's going to be a real issue.
GRETA VAN SUSTEREN: See, I don't think it made a bit of difference that interview. Because she's unique in politics. People who love her will still love her. People who hate her will still hate her. Most Americans who might
be in the middle aren't paying any attention at all to the interviews, not to the interviews at this time. I think all of this did is sort of call off the dogs, because the national media was insisting on an interview. And i think that was the only purpose of it so she could say I did my national interview and then go back to politicking. But I don't think it made a bit of difference.
VAN JONES: Well, I think she was kind of pushed into it. She had that horrible moment where they got pictures of having ropes pulling reporters away from her. That looked terrible. So she had to do something.
ROBERTS: Although many of us have been behind rope lines our whole lives.
JONES: But not the moving rope, not the cattle herd. So I think she had to do something, so she did something. So she checks the box. But let’s not forget, had she been doing a bunch of interviews we would be sitting here saying, she's overexposed. So no matter what she does, she's Hillary Clinton. She's going to be controversial.
