Hillary Clinton has been advised she needs to emote more, as a way to soften her image.  Even if that were possible (which it isn’t), perhaps it’s time for Ms. Clinton’s public relations team to refocus their efforts on tweaking her public persona, by zeroing in on the trust factor.  When more than 60% people polled in a mid-summer Quinnipiac survey think that she’s dishonest and untrustworthy, someone isn’t paying attention!  

Apparently, Savannah Guthrie of the NBC Today Show touched on a particularly prickly topic by asking Ms. Clinton about the difficulties she’s having connecting with people, during the televised Hollis, New Hampshire town hall meeting.  Ms. Clinton, quickly seized the opportunity to reprimand the host and responded, “It wasn’t nice of you to ask such a question.”  After all, categorically speaking and according to Ms. Clinton, she’s been in the political spotlight for decades, so connecting with people isn’t an issue.  Well, maybe not in her mind, but in reality, the American electorate knows all too well that Hillary Clinton doesn’t connect well with the voters.  Bernie Sanders continues to surge, and he’s still drawing tens of thousands of people to his rallies.  Joe Biden, the undeclared Democratic presidential candidate, is polling in the double digits. 

Guthrie then followed up her first question by asking Clinton about her recent polling numbers.  Clinton jumped the shark, interrupting Guthrie again, claiming that while she’s trailing Bernie Sanders in New Hampshire, she’s ahead in the polls in Iowa, South Carolina, Louisiana, and Wisconsin.  Ergo her reason for flipping pancakes in Hollis, stating that she has a lot of work to do in New Hampshire.  Strangely enough, the Today Show producers and the Clinton campaign thought connecting with the voters included pretending Clinton is comfortable in the kitchen.  Say what?  It was painful to watch; Clinton waving a spatula was an awkward and cringe-worthy moment.  Truth is, Hillary Clinton hasn’t seen the inside of a kitchen for decades, and it’s highly doubtful that anyone watching was convinced that she’s culinarily savvy enough to even turn on the stove, much less make pancakes. 

And then she tried mad.  As expected, Guthrie introduced the topic of Clinton’s upcoming Benghazi congressional testimony.  On cue and according to the script, Clinton put on her angry face, raised the timbre of her voice, and proceeded to scold California representative Kevin McCarthy’s ill-worded, poorly timed admission that the Benghazi committee’s purpose is to simply to destroy her candidacy.  McCarthy has since walked back his comment, but the Clinton campaign is running with the gaffe.  Her campaign released its first national televised ad, entitled “Admit.”  Voiced over by MSNBC newswoman Andrea Mitchell, the 30-second commercial skewers the motive of the committee and then meanders off into the weeds about Clinton continuing her fight for the little people, using Obamacare as the cause du jour.

Earth to Hillary! The little people are still mad about Obamacare.  Picking up where Obama left off won’t improve your polling numbers.  Dial it back and start with earning the trust of the American people.