It was shocking to see what Harold Ickes said on Meet the Press. Let’s forget about the fuzzy math and the fact that he is contradicting his own words about delegates being the absolute decider of who should be the Democratic Party’s 2008 nominee. I’m talking about the fundamentals of being a strategist.
The portion of this video that shocks is how — if you can take him at his word (which is not a given) — he has not discussed doomsday scenarios with Senator Clinton, at all! Isn’t it the job of the strategist to foresee all possibilities and to have appropriate contingency plans in place so as not to be caught off guard?
Everyone already knows that the Clinton camp dropped the ball on the post-Super Tuesday preparations, but surely they should have come away with lessons from that debacle. Apparently not. “I can’t think beyond Tuesday, much less two twelve.” That is Harold Ickes reaction to Tim Russert’s question over Hillary’s possible 2012 campaign if Obama is not successful in the 2008 general election. He also declared that he had never spoken with Senator Clinton on the matter of being Obama’s running mate. I understand his duty is to get Hillary nominated, and those two questions are beyond those parameters, but wouldn’t it be prudent to at least contemplate all eventualities? Isn’t it their lack of forethought and consideration that landed them in this situation in the first place?
As a strategist, making mistakes is inevitable and forgivable. On the other hand, publicly acknowledging your mistakes, and then continuing to make them hardly seems like a healthy strategy for a strategist.
Tags: Democratic Primary, Harold Ickes, Hillary 2008, Meet the Press, Obama, politics, Senator Hillary Clinton, strategy, Tim Russert
