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Hillary Clinton's 'Scooby' van adventure: Will it swing voters?

The Clinton campaign appears to be out to prove the former secretary of State is 'just folks' with her road trip. Authenticity may matter for antiques, but is it an important qualification for a president?

Hillary Rodham Clinton: she鈥檚 just an ordinary American, a footloose former secretary of state in a van named 鈥淪cooby鈥� on a New York-to-Iowa road trip, stopping for Chipotle, chai, and water with lemon along the way.

She鈥檚 relatable. She鈥檚 authentic. She orders guacamole. Will this boost her standing with voters? Of course it will, say some members of the US punditocracy.

鈥淗er problem is not to prove to people that she鈥檚 ready for president,鈥� said Time Magazine and MSNBC political expert Mark Halperin in a Tuesday appearance on Morning Joe. 鈥淭he two words she needs are 鈥榝un鈥� and 鈥榥ew.鈥� And part of why yesterday was so successful is, she looks like she鈥檚 having fun and she鈥檚 doing, for her, new stuff. We鈥檝e ever seen her get a burrito before.鈥�

Hmmm. We鈥檝e got a couple of comments here. First, technically speaking we have still never seen Hillary Clinton get a burrito. During her Monday run-through at an Ohio Chipotle, she ordered a burrito bowl, which is different. It lacks the crucial tortilla wrapping. (She also bought a chicken salad and a couple of soft drinks, in case you鈥檙e interested.)

Second, 鈥渇un鈥� is not a word most patrons associate with waiting in a fast food line. 鈥淏oring鈥� is the more appropriate term. 鈥淭asty鈥� might work too, if you鈥檙e hungry and they鈥檙e not out of carnitas.

But our real point is this: presidential campaigns devote far too much time and effort to portraying their candidates as relatable, just folks, somebody you鈥檇 like to sit down with and chug a caramel latte.

鈥淎uthenticity,鈥� in this context, may not matter. It can鈥檛 be defined, in terms of a politician. Some of our most renowned presidents were hidden people with highly artificial public personas, points out political scientist Richard Skinner, who teaches at Johns Hopkins and George Washington University.

Franklin Roosevelt was famously two-faced. Dwight Eisenhower was far shrewder than his genial granddad act let on. John F. Kennedy would never have won the election if the voters knew about his health problems or womanizing.

鈥淲e may want our friends to be authentic. I don鈥檛 see why we should care whether our presidents are,鈥� wrote Skinner on the political science blog in 2014.

This does not mean candidate personalities don鈥檛 matter. At the presidential election level, where party nominees tend to be roughly matched in terms of accomplishment and resources, everything matters. Everything is interrelated. A butterfly flutters its wings in the Amazon, and we鈥檙e in President John McCain鈥檚 second term.

But personality matters on the margins. Fundamentals, such as the state of the economy, or voter partisan identity, matter more.

鈥淚t may feel as if we鈥檙e drawn to vote for Barack Obama or Mitt Romney because we like them. In fact, we鈥檙e just very receptive to liking candidates who we are (more or less rationally) likely to support in the first place,鈥� writes political scientist and columnist Jonathan Bernstein.
So go ahead, Mrs. Clinton 鈥� name that van 鈥淣oblesse Oblige.鈥� In months to come, the trend in unemployment figures will matter a lot more than what voters
remember about your lunch habits.