Lost Hillary Clinton tape: what the candidate can learn from her 32-year-old self

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/shortcuts/2015/may/13/hillary-clinton-age-a

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In 1979, Hillary Rodham was 32, and barely a month into her new role as the wife of the governor of Arkansas. Young, with her own career as a lawyer, and having declined to take her husband’s surname on marriage, she came across as an enigma. Or more scarily, liberal. To help the state get to know her better, Rodham gave an interview to a local current affairs programme, In Focus. For decades, the half-hour film lay tucked away in the special collections at the University of Arkansas. (Then BuzzFeed found it.) Wearing a pink suit and knee-high boots, Rodham talks with immense composure. So what could Clinton learn from this film of her 32-year-old self?

Young or old, age is an issue

Clinton is 67: way too old to be announcing a presidential campaign, some say. Looking back over the past 200 years, only Ronald Reagan was older at inauguration than she would be. Maybe Clinton can look at the way the question of age comes up in the 1979 film. Is her youth a problem, the interviewer asks? “In many ways, it’s been a blessing because the amount of work that is required is demanding on one’s stamina and enthusiasm, both of which Bill and I are lucky to have,” Rodham replies. Good answer. But terribly lacking in foresight. If stamina is a gift of youth, how fit for office is she now? Maybe that’s what all the yoga emails are for.

That accent was good! (But don’t try it again)

Honestly, Clinton speaks in 1979 to her Arkansas audience with an unmistakable southern drawl. Her voice has changed so much over the decades, you can map her political career with it. Maybe if this video had resurfaced sooner, it would have helped the 2007 version of Clinton: she gave the southern accent another run-out on a tour of Alabama, to pretty woeful effect. Best save this act for parties.

Tell Bill to stick to the first person singular

Asked in 1978 about the meaning of progress, Rodham replies: “Our definition – and Bill’s talked about this all through the campaign - our definition is having a well-balanced kind of growth.” That makes her seem intelligent and engaged and very much a partner in her husband’s political career. But she needs to be her own first person now. Which would make Bill, if she wins office, a first, first person.

Remember key dates

Incredibly, young Clinton appears unable to remember how old she was when she got married – even though the wedding took place only three years before the interview. Talking about how she married later than many of her peers, she says: “I was 28 or 29, I can’t remember right now.” Hillary, you were 27.

Say “yes” and “ no” like you really mean them

With a vigorous head shake/nod. Good job.

Keep public and private lives separate

The 32-year-old Hillary was wise to this. “A political marriage has strains,” she says. “But I’m not sure that any marriage doesn’t have its own particular kinds of strains. Each couple has to work out an accommodation for whatever reasons there may be.” Presumably, at certain tricky points, this advice-to-self has proved invaluable. Put it on a fridge magnet for the White House kitchen.

Time to nail the pay gap

Young Hillary’s interview is remarkable for airing subjects about which she has remained passionate. “The wage differential between men and women continues to grow larger in our state,” she says in the 1979 film. As a senator, she advocated paycheck fairness and recently complained that the US ranked 65th in the world for equal pay. But her commitment to the cause has not been helped by claims last month that Clinton’s own office was guilty of a pay bias towards men. Time to get this one fixed.

Use the word “disappear” less frequently.

From a politician, it sounds sinister.