politcs of the protagonist: how to help Hillary win

Hillary Clinton excels at nothing if not campaigning.

Right now, the other candidates are playing right into her hands. Attacking Hillary lets her play the hero in this election story.

The essence of every narrative is conflict. No media story would be complete without it. Sometimes it's human versus nature, or human versus self. But mostly, it's human versus human.

Remember: the protagonist always wins. You do NOT want to be the antagonist.

The story of inevitability is unkind to the front runner. In this story, the underdog is the protagonist. Rocky beats Apollo Creed. George Washington beats the British Empire. David beats Goliath. Hillary may whisper that she's Goliath to keep the lobbyists in her corner, but her campaign understands the media too well to ever proclaim it.

That's where the experience versus change narrative came from. Propaganda has evolved beyond "choose X now". Instead, we present people with two carefully defined choices: "X or Y". Think of the classic Wild West story. The villain's posse is evil but strong. The farmer is righteous but weak. Who do you side with? It's so hard to choose! Then the protagonist shows up and resolves the conflict by finding a third way! In comes the cowboy, who is strong AND good. In comes Hillary, who has the experience to bring change.

Hillary won that story just a little too easily. And now, with Hillary seeming like Goliath, the media is ready to look for a David.

Edwards has been dying to play David. Obama failed with his solution to experience versus change ("I have a different, better kind of experience to bring change") and now has no other choice but to play the role of David.

Do you think the Clinton campaign is stupid enough to play Goliath? I sure as hell don't. We all remember Howard Dean.

Here's how Hillary will win. The other seven candidates, along with the GOP, are the collective antagonist. That makes Hillary the hero. The huge army has to lose. The hoards of Persia will ultimately be stopped by Greece, in an epic battle that will go down in history.

The "boys" are playing into Hillary's underdog story just great. Hillary is playing the victim only so she can eventually overcome her attackers and win. You're not an underdog if you don't take some hits.

How does someone beat Hillary's planned narrative?

Edwards or Obama trying to be David is the worst idea. "It's because Obama is black" would only play out slightly better in America than "it's because Edwards is a southerner". "They're picking on the girl" has a way of appealing to both male-backwardness and female-empowerment. Hillary's "boys club" story might be pure strategy, but at least it is slightly palatable.

One of my favorite movies has always been the Godfather. In this masterpiece, the antagonist is always rival families like the Tataglias. But this antagonist is only there for context. The real conflict in that movie is not between the families, but within the family. There are a lot of deeper themes in the film, but the conflict is essentially "who should lead the family, and how"? The film teaches you that Sonny is too hot-headed and Fredo is too incompetent. Michael has to be the don. The film reminds you that the Tataglias are the real antagonist, while simultaneously driving the main conflict of Michael's rise over his brothers.

For Obama or Edwards to get the nomination, they need to keep one eye on the real antagonist: the GOP field of candidates. Yeah, that might mean calling Hillary out for the political strategy of "say as little as possible and be everyone's friend". But it also means showing strength against the GOP. In this story, Clinton is a secondary character. Obama or Edwards can be the hero, but they need to cut Clinton out of the picture and keep hitting the real villain. In this story, Clinton is just a secondary character obstructing the real hero's path.

But for Hillary to win, all they need to do is pile on. The group of masked ninjas will never beat Bruce Lee.