What will Hillary Clinton run on in 2016?

Her campaign was criticized in 2008 for not fully developing a platform to present to voters from day one. As the 2008 primary unfolded, the Clinton campaign was left oftern reacting to the Obama campaign and not able to stay on an articulated message.

The question is what will happen in 2016? What message will Hillary Clinton present as her main platform for the future? US News asked this question a couple days ago:

Clinton had a horrible time in her last presidential campaign in developing a message and sticking to it. That’s an aspect of her campaign that she should be ready to roll out when she announces. There won’t be much time for experimentation until she finds something that works like she finally did in 2008.

In July, Alexandra Jaffe and Amie Parnes wrote about an interview that the former secretary of state did for Facebook. In that session, Clinton said, “The next president should work to grow the economy, increase upward mobility and decrease inequality.”

Now that’s fine as far as it goes but what makes her the candidate who could deliver on that promise? An effective campaign message is about personality and policy, not a laundry list of issue positions and campaign promises. A populist like Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts or Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., could say the same things about the need for economic equality and social mobility. The real question is what can Clinton bring to the desk in the Oval Office that Warren and Sanders can’t?

The author makes a good point in that candidates to Hillary’s left will have some decidedly strong positions to campaign on and won’t feel compelled to soften their approach as they play to the liberal base of the Democratic Party. Hillary will be more compelled to avoid taking staunchly left-wing positions which will leave her vulnerable to a muddied message.