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April 01, 2013 04:50 PM UTC

The Hick Schtick is Losing Power

  • 36 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols
Nice shtick. But what happens when it doesn't stick?
Is that fracking fluid in your water bottle?

Back in April 2010, we wrote a short post that pointed to this photo as the prime reason why Republicans had no chance at winning the race for Governor in 2010. Then-Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper was just so much more interesting and charismatic than anyone the GOP could muster. As we wrote at the time:

As much as we all like to pretend that elections are about issues, they really aren't that way anymore (if they ever were). In today's media climate, elections are popularity contests, first and foremost, and Republicans like Scott McInnis and Dan Maes are just never going to be more likable than Hickenlooper.

There are few politicians in Colorado who could pull of this bicycle basketball maneuver and make it look genuine, rather than the folksy publicity stunt that it is. Think about it — who else could do this and not come across as completely fake?

There's no denying the success of Hickenlooper's carefully-crafted image as a quirky, nerdy guy who once owned a brewery and just wanted everyone to be friends. It got him all the way to the Governor's Mansion, it has him as a virtual lock to win re-election in 2014, and it has even attracted interest from national reporters that Hick could be a candidate for President in 2016. We've never agreed that Hick's political persona would work in a race for "Commander in Chief," but it certainly has his name in the discussion.

As much as the Hick persona has brought him politically, it isn't doing as much to help him in his role of governing. We've seen bits and pieces of the weakness in the facade in the last year, but it was in today's "debate" about fracking with Boulder County Commissioner Elise Jones where the routine abandoned him.

As Fox 31 News reports:

Three anti-fracking hecklers were removed from the audience at a public debate Monday after challenging Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper for his support of the oil and gas industry.

“You just give lip service to green energy but you don’t do anything,” said one man in the audience at the 45-minute debate between Hickenlooper and Boulder County Commissioner Elise Jones, both Democrats, at the University of Denver’s Sturm College of Law.

“Look around, green energy is not here. We’re surrounded by oil and gas and it’s killing us,” the heckler yelled before being escorted out…

…The debate before a packed room of DU students, faculty and interested reporters gave increased definition to the growing rift between Hickenlooper, whose rising national profile is that of a popular, western moderate, and the environmentalists within his party’s base who are unhappy with his strong pro-oil and gas industry stance.

For all of his political success, it must be noted that Hickenlooper has never really had to deal with any intense, sustained public opposition since he was first elected Mayor of Denver. There have been spats, sure, but nothing that Hick couldn't easily sidestep before things got sticky…until now. The public outcry against fracking that began 18 months ago continues to grow, and Hickenlooper seems completely lost when it comes to dealing with the issue. Mercifully, he's finally stopped talking about drinking fracking fluid, but only after misinterpreting its impact for the better part of a year.

In today's fracking "debate" at the University of Denver, Hickenlooper tried several times to duck tough questions with his folksy brewer dance, but instead of getting him out of a jam, it just made him look, well, stupid. It wasn't charming. It wasn't cute. But he kept pushing it, all the way up until the end of the debate, when he went one step too far in a poor attempt at a joke that ended up sounding more like an insult. Hickenlooper had been late to the event because of a scheduling issue, and near the end of the debate, the moderator asked if he still had time in his schedule for another question. Hickenlooper shifted and smirked and joked that he didn't know anything about his own schedule, saying he hadn't realized until the night before that the fracking debate was scheduled for Noon. You could tell that he was trying to make some kind of joke about how frazzled and busy he is, but it came off sounding like he just didn't care about the event and didn't want to be there. It was uncomfortable to watch.

The finale wasn't the only time the Hick Schtick failed to save him. On a question about legal issues relating to mineral and land rights holders, Hickenlooper stammered for awhile about how he was a brewer, and not a lawyer, and then he looked down at his notes; when he looked back up, he started talking about an apparently-related court case, the name of which he fumbled, with the effect being that he looked like someone who hadn't bothered to study his notes even though the answer was at his fingertips. He didn't look folksy and agreeable — he looked disorganized and disinterested.

Hickenlooper has always coveted the image of a regular guy who just wants to bring everybody together to hash out a solution, but it takes more than tired jokes to craft effective public policy — even on issues where you think you have some expertise. Hickenlooper was once a geologist, and he carries that background with him to the fracking debate; but in wrapping himself up in his geologist cape, he has misunderstood the issue. This isn't a debate about oil and gas — when drilling is happening in residential neighborhoods and near public schools, the issue is about people. About families and children. He's missing that, somehow, and in his frustration he turns back to the schtick for cover.

When Democrats won back control of the State House in November, many political observers openly wondered how Hickenlooper would handle a Democratic-controlled legislature without the safety net of Republican interference to avoid stating his opposition to any progressive ideas. Thus far Hickenlooper has largely tried to stay out of the way, perhaps gambling that the Hick Schtick can preserve his approval ratings while he leaves the tough decisions to someone else. Fracking has been the one issue in which he has waded in up to his chest, and the schtick has proved a poor safety line.

None of this is to suggest that Hickenlooper is at all vulnerable in 2014. He is going to get re-elected with little trouble, but unless he can re-invent himself in a second term, that will probably be the end of his time in elected office.

You can win elections with a good schtick, as Hick has shown. You can do it more than once. But to continue to win elections, you must govern well — and you can't govern with schtick alone.

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36 thoughts on “The Hick Schtick is Losing Power”

  1. Agree 100% about the shtick getting old.

    The fracking ridiculousness.  The Doritos.

    He has always been likeable, and that's great especially during a campaign, but that is not a substitute for substance on important issues.  Some gravitas would be nice.

  2. Ronald Reagan was a likable guy, but I never voted for him. Ditto for Hick, I left that ballot choice blank.

    My preference would be Hick pulls a Ritter and decides not to run for a second term. We've got more than enough corporatists in government.

     

    1. I'm favorite political scenario is that Hick gets an ambassordorship to Bravaria like Caroline Kennedy was named ambassador to Japan and Ken Salazar goes on to become the first Hispanic governor in the Colorado state history.  That would quite a story.

        1. OR Elise Jones, the Boulder County Commissioner that debated Hick.  She was prepared, reasonable and smart as a whip. Hickenlooper has shown very little leadership on anything frankly.  While he may be a guaranteed re-election that doesn't mean the idea of a primary shouldn't be thoroughly vetted.  

    1. follow the money David

      Hick's 'leadership' has not really been that big of a deal.

      all of the legislation he approved, as the CoPols article indicates, would not even be on the table had the democrats not taken both houses back…

      limiting magazine clips will slightly hurt the NRA/gun manufacturers – but they will still be making big money off the fear of the new legislation

      granting civil unions? not really any money there in terms of his funders for re-election

      but Fracking?

      Anschutz  (colorado's finest 'democratic' supporter) is in a major battle with the Sioux over the black hills over fracking – and there are major dollars at play nationwide on how to frack as much natural gas as possible before the general public finds out just how dangerous and deadly it is.

      Hickenlooper is not just failing his constituents in Colorado, he signed up to be the spokesperson and salesperson for fracking nationally when he went to DC to tell Al Franken that he is a good buddy of Dick Cheney's Halliburton boys and drank their fracking fluid and it's all good….

      It will be interesting to see if and when he is in a primary debate, how he explains how a democrat became friends with Halliburton executives…

       

    3. He Led on gun control by waffling to the press and eventually and quietly supporting common sense legislation that many good state legislators have been held to the fire on.  The only thing he is leading on are cheesiness and higher office ambitions… The whole "I'm only running for office because people are goading me into it" routine is insincere and laughable.  If he really has higher office ambitions he had better start listening to his constituents and take care of things at home first.

      1.  If he really has higher office ambitions he had better start listening to his constituents and take care of things at home first.

        Nah…he still has his "giddy-up" speech. That and a gazillion O&G dollars should surely be enough to make him president…don't you think?  wink

  5. I agree with your analysis, Pols.  Hick is 50 percent schtick and 50 percent political ambition. The percentages could be debatable, but they add up to 100 percent.  Doesn't leave room for governing and leading, or even studied understanding of some of the issues most important to his state.  His "debate" performance today was surprisingly poor, in my opinion – he did not even acknowledge the importance of the issues, nor the impassioned feelings of citizens who do not want this in their backyards.

     

  7. Did he really do that bad? The story in the Daily Camera made it sound like it was a pretty even and low key debate. And after Pol's review of Obama's Denver debate I don't trust that I'm necessarily getting an even-handed review of the event.

    Was anyone else there?

      1. OK, Wade, how about this?

        The single largest environmental issue to face us in our lifetime is climate change. Using natural gas, rather than coal, is our lower-emmission bridge to an economy based on renewable energy. Without fracking, natural gas production would be falling. Instead, with fracking, it's exploding. 

         

        3. Using natural gas, rather than coal, is our lower-emmission bridge to an economy based on renewable energy.

           

          Sorry, ajb, can't go there with you. Cradle to grave, the evidence suggests that natural gas is as dirty or dirtier than coal. Fugitive emissions plus the intense use of diesel engines during production  balances out the savings derived during the burning process.

          Remember that methane is many times more potent than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas.

          1. Oh, I know, but wade can be such a sanctimonious prig that I couldn't resist.

            Gas has the potential to be better than coal, but it's hard to see that happening with prices so low. And I honestly don't which is worse, fracking or mountaintop removal.

    2. Maybe there will be a video link posted somewhere, but yeah, he was bad. It was uncomfortable to watch him at a few points. Don't think of it like a Presidential debate where there are winners and losers — this wasn't that kind of thing, even though it was called a "debate." Hick didn't "lose" the debate — he just looked really bad and made odd comments.

      1. The really striking thing to us was how he kept trying to do the "folksy" thing when there wasn't a mood for it and people were just waiting for him to answer the question.

    3. I was there in the front row sitting next to Mark Jaffe of the Denver Post.  My opinion is that Hickenlooper really did seem unprepared and like he wasn't taking this very important discussion seriously.  Any one who is paying attention and knows the issue would honestly say Elise Jones wiped the floor with him.  At the very end the moderator asked since he seemed to be on an irrelevant tangent if he could stay longer and answer more questions.  He said he didn't know – it was up to his scheduler, who was shaking his head vehemently and pretending to look at a watch that wasn't on his wrist.  Hick's staff wanted to get him the hell outta there because they knew that this was a disaster.     

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