A corporate CEO and Clinton supporter who had been considered to be her running mate sent unsolicited advice in the middle of 2015 criticizing her message and feel, according to an email released by Wikileaks on Tuesday.
Howard Schultz, head of coffee giant Starbucks, emailed Cheryl Mills on July 6, 2015 and assessed her campaign.
“From the outside looking in, I see an old style start to the campaign that feels stale with very few signs of the kind of freshness and transparency that the American people (especially millennials) will need to trust and ultimately elect HRC as President,” Schultz wrote.
“It’s also becoming very apparent and concerning that the media is not on her side. This will get only worse and not bode well for her as time goes on. She desperately needs the people on her side. And, although it’s early, the imprinting process has begun… And, I don’t like how it feels.
“Her inner circle and the powers to be, need to reject the status quo, and understand how brands (and she is a brand) in the world we now live in are built. It requires a vision for the future that is steeped in truth and authenticity and builds an enduring emotional connection with the voters,” Schultz wrote.
“The rules of engagement for running for President have dramatically changed, accept it. Substance absolutely matters, but so does the form it takes. The campaign feels ‘yesterday.’ It’s too packaged and prescribed. The American people are longing for truth and someone to believe in.
“Reboot the look of it all and the overriding message before its to late. The answer is not in the polls, it’s in her heart and her conscience. When she begins to truly trust herself and find her inner voice, and has the courage and conviction to share it with the world, things will change and change rapidly,” he wrote.
His suggested “reboot” would have come only three months after she announced her candidacy in April.
“Encourage her to be herself. And, to embrace her core purpose and reason for being. That’s the lens it all needs to go through,” Schultz wrote.
Clinton’s team brushed off his observations like a hair on a vanilla bean scone.
“If this went to you, assume it went to her too,” Huma Abedin wrote back to Mills, referring to Hillary.
“Because it is Howard, and he has so much regular contact with her, and we see him in August, I think someone should talk to him.”
Despite the 2015 critique, Schultz formally endorsed Clinton in September.
“I think it’s obvious Hillary Clinton needs to be the next president,” he told CNN.
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