It’s now the third day into the Hillary Clinton email controversy and finally Clinton has responded. Here’s what she posted on Twitter: “I want the public to see my email. I asked State to release them. They said they will review them for release as soon as possible.”
This seems surprisingly slow for a response. If it’s one thing the Clinton War Room was known for in 1992 was that all attacks must be responded to in the same day.
So why the slow response from Team Hillary in 2015? I have no idea. Apparently, her team is slowly disseminating the following message points.
- Clinton didn’t do anything illegal.
- Clinton is releasing all relevant emails to the state department and then anyone can get those by asking the State Department.
- Clinton didn’t do anything differently than Secretary of State Colin Powell, Governor Jeb Bush and numerous other high ranking officials.
- As per usual, when it comes to alleged scandals involving the Clintons, this is a giant nothing burger.
The problem with the Clinton Team is that all of these messages came out slowly, thus giving lots of airtime and ink to Clinton opponents who were quick to attack her forcefully on this issue.
As I predicted yesterday, this issue will have no impact politically for 2016. But many observers are trying to figure out, did Hillary Clinton’s Team learn from mistakes in 2008, and have the learned to be more nimble, like Team Clinton 1992? This minor email controversy does not warm the hearts of Democratic insiders who are hoping for a Hillary coronation in January 2017.
TJ Walker helps develop messages in times of crisis for political and business leaders. You can reach him at Media Training Worldwide 212.764.4955.