On her Wednesday MSNBC show, host Andrea Mitchell gushed over Hillary Clinton's "strong performance" during an interview at a Silicon Valley conference on Tuesday: "...just looking at it as political drama. No notes, no Teleprompter, she's walking around the stage, she does a Q & A with Kara Swisher which is, you know, a challenging, interesting Q & A, edgy at times....A great reporter."
In reality, the exchange consisted of series of fawning softballs from tech blog Re/Code's co-executive editor Kara Swisher, formerly a reporter for The Wall Street Journal and Washington Post. Swisher began the thirty-minute sit-down by remarking: "So, I interviewed President Obama last week and I'm very eager to interview another president." Amid laughter from the audience, Clinton declared, "That's good!," and gave Swisher a high five.
In her first question to Clinton, Swisher got right to the tough issues: "So I want to ask the big question...iPhone or Android?"
Turning to 2016, Swisher was inpatient for the Democrat to announce her candidacy: "What about the president thing?...Why wait announcing?...So I guess if I ask you Queens or Brooklyn for the announcement you're not gonna tell me, right?"
Swisher also teed Clinton up to discuss gender inequality in the workplace:
> Why do think – let's get to Silicon Valley. You talked about Roseanne Arquette's [sic] statement at the Oscars, the wage inequalities. Those numbers you quoted for Google, it's every single company in Silicon Valley. It's essentially white dudes and a couple of ladies. How do you – what do you think about that?
> Right now there's a trial going on, it opened today. A big Silicon Valley venture firm, Kleiner Perkins, lawsuit around about gender discrimination. Very tough case, both sides not settling. How do you call – how do you stop the systematic and the environmental qualities that create that locker room? And how do you imagine that shifting? Because everyone says, "Oh, we shouldn't have it," and then there it is.
Later in the interview, Swisher lobbed another slow pitch: "If you could wave a wand and change anything about this country, what would it be?" Clinton replied: "You know, that we could get back to working together cooperatively again." That prompted rounds of applause and Swisher followed up: "Do you think you've become less polarizing?" Clinton laughably responded: "Yeah, obviously I think I have."
In her final question to Clinton, Swisher wondered: "If you could have a hashtag for the next few years....you could do Hillary 2016 if you want. Just offering a suggestion. #ILoveSelfies, whatever. What would it be? Your hashtag?" Clinton declared: "Lead on!"
Swisher did bring up some substantive topics, such as Net Neutrality, the security versus privacy debate, and ISIS, but she never mentioned any of the controversies surrounding Clinton. Not one word about the Clinton Foundation taking millions of dollars in donations from foreign governments or the Benghazi scandal.
In addition to her MSNBC program, Mitchell praised Clinton's interview performance on Wednesday's NBC Today, proclaiming: "Last time Clinton played down her gender to prove she was tough enough to be commander in chief. This time she'll play up her gender, focusing on equal pay for women, family leave, issues she's fought for all her life."
