Sorry Hillary, but you just can't be Bill

The latest video from the Clinton campaign:
It's a nice attempt at humour or at least lightness that falls flat on its face, in my opinion. I can't even put my finger on why, but it's painful to watch. (On a rather unrelated note: Can I just say that that one post where I said I've been listening to "Don't Stop Believin'" came five days before the Soprano's finale when we started hearing the song in oh so many spoofs?) (On a different only slightly more related note: Celine Dion? Way to outsource your campaign song to a Canadian.)

Hillary Clinton, as the only major female candidate and as the wife of Bill Clinton who is generally thought of as baby-boomer-sex-fiend-fast-food guy, has made some serious attempts at seriousness. You see her talking tougher than ever these days as she tries to be taken...seriously (okay, so I should probably whip out the thesaurus at this point). But it has hurt her likeability factor. You can debate how important likeability actually is, but in quite a few polls Hillary (while still a front runner when it comes to who people actually want to vote for) falls distinctly behind Edwards and Obama when it comes to actually liking her, and my guess is she's trying to work on that. It's a tricky balancing act that all candidates must face, but is especially hard for Hillary.

The funny Clinton is Bill. When it comes to likeability, he's king. Say what you will about whatever else about him, but nearly everyone can agree that he's the kind of guy you'd like to hang out with. (On a semi-related note: I had a dream about a week ago that I was in a reptile museum in Cuba with Bill Clinton and my brother Nate. It was fun to hang out with Bill and it was an exciting time because in my dream Fidel Castro had just died and the museum had just put out all of the snakes that Castro didn't think met state standards and hadn't displayed...anyway...) I'll always love this video he did for 2000 White House Correspondents Dinner: