Hillary Clinton is the presumptive Democratic nominee. She won a very contested race against Bernie Sanders, but now could really use some of his voters in what will probably be a very dramatic campaign against Donald Trump. How can she get these voters on her side? How can she get my vote? Honestly, she is likely to never have my support as I have already lost faith in her a long time ago. Some of Bernie Sanders' staffers have already moved on and joined Clinton’s staff though. Some, of course, are professional staffers and make a living doing this, and therefore we cannot hardly blame them. These staffers are likely able to bring some insight to the Hillary campaign as to why Senator Sanders did so well with millennials right? That unfortunately seems false so far.
What is Hillary’s allies in the environmental labor and women’s health communities doing to help get her our votes? They are using a very common data collecting system and analyzing digital and messaging tactics that Sanders campaign used in great effect. And that is okay. But there seems to be a certain misunderstanding going on that is insulting, backwards, and does no justice to our genuine concerns for ourselves and our country. The Hillary campaign is using popular culture and slang, to tap into young voters. Hillary mentioned having hot sauce in her bag on a black talk radio, she posted a vine saying she was “chillin” another time. There are many examples I can pool from now, and you all will start to notice them in time as well. This new attempt to make her look cool and hip is such an insult because it shows that she and her campaign believe that the way to get Senator Sander’s voters, is to appeal to the assumed superficial masses of the young population. We are not fools. We did not like Bernie Sanders because he was hip and cool. There is no algorithm of popular slang or any kind of words that can win us over. Washington DC has been flabbergasted by the fact that the millennials have taken to Sanders so well, and the shock is due to the old idea that young voters shouldn’t like an old man with weird old man shoes and bad hair. We should want a young smooth talker who knows the words to Beyoncé songs. What they do not acknowledge is that we cared about his policy, and his authenticity. We believed in him, because we saw that he believed in us.
Hillary Clinton can pander all she wants with her superficial new way of speaking to us. Some of us will never be duped by such an insulting and desperate attempt to convince us that we are one of the same, and that she understands us. Because this strategy clearly shows that she and the rest of the Democratic establishment in fact does not understand us.
Hillary will do anything to win over the young voters. Even embarrass herself with inauthentic hipster messaging. But there is only one way to win us over. That way is by showing us that she understands us, cares about us, and believes in our plight for equality, and justice. It is pretty cool that you know Beyoncé songs. But it would be cooler if you knew how we felt about everything that matters.
