Advice on "Hillary: For the Win!" ?

No more Mr. Nice Guy...

There is a bit of received wisdom in this presidential election cycle that Hillary Clinton needs to be softer, nicer, less intimidating — the list goes on. Journalists write about whether she missed or seized a “humanizing moment,” because of course she is not human.

Mrs. Clinton, who has been struggling with her image since she entered public life as the wife of the governor of Arkansas, feels obliged to play into this narrative. She is trying to be grandmotherly, to display her sense of humor on TV. Stories about how giggly and funny she is in private are making the rounds again.

The sexism of this dynamic aside (and there is a powerfully sexist thread to the Hillary Clinton story), I’m not sure it’s good advice.

I like strong Hillary Clinton more than forced soft Hillary Clinton. Her performance on Friday at the ridiculous 11-hour waste of Americans’ time by the House Select Committee on Benghazi was a perfect example.

...

I’m not disputing the fact that Mrs. Clinton has a relatively low “likability” index (though the fact that Donald Trump, of all people, does not continues to amaze me).

I’m just saying -- as one voter -- that Hillary Clinton does better when she’s not trying to disguise that she is a brilliant, talented and strong-minded person who has fought for her current position in the race and overcome some pretty astonishingly bad moments along the way...

The choice before us all is who will be the next president of the United States – a job for which warm and fuzzy is not really all that useful.

By contrast,
Paul Ryan, "Father of the Year" candidate, is going all warm and fuzzy this week... but if you look closely at his job performance, and his alleged budget mastery, the numbers simply are not there.

Experience and performance, in the end, add up.  Some can afford to be squishy -- and portray themselves as squeaky clean-- but for others?  It's really not advisable...