Cover not available
Part of
Corpora and Rhetorically Informed Text Analysis: The diverse applications of DocuScope
Edited by David West Brown and Danielle Zawodny Wetzel
[Studies in Corpus Linguistics 109] 2023
► pp. 239–263

Strategic language as a family
of identity-based discourse registers

Hillary Clinton and the president’s task force
on national health reform, 1993–1994

| University of Maryland
| Carnegie Mellon University

Since antiquity, the study of strategy has aspired to a military science predicting outcomes. An alternative, rooted in classical rhetoric, focused on language strategically deployed to increase targeted outcomes. That said, the intersection of strategy and language remains understudied. We establish that strategic language in campaigns represents a multiplicity of discourse registers reflecting distinctive strategic role identifies and outcomes. We apply this framework to the Clinton administration’s health care campaign from 1993–1994. Using methods from the digital humanities and close reading of private memos, we extract four registers (architect, tactician, advisor, coach) that capture the Clinton strategy across the campaign. We argue that the failure of the campaign is partly explained by registers used too frequently and others used not enough.

Keywords: Clinton administration, Hillary Clinton, strategy, health care, discourse register, role identity, interest groups, automatic text analysis, digital humanities
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.“Text as data” movement as guide for close reading
    • 2.1The data
  • 3.Clinton memos controlled by four strategic registers
    • 3.1Architects: Formulating and protecting foundational principles
    • 3.2Tacticians: Scanning the ever-changing partisan battlefield
    • 3.3Advisors: Compromising on details to convince stakeholders
    • 3.4Coaches: Teaching campaign leaders to personify strategy on stage
  • 4.Audience and register competition
    • 4.1Competition among registers and audience attention
    • 4.2Interest group politics in the health care debate: Going tactical on opponents
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
  • Appendix
Published online: 29 June 2023
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/scl.109.11par
References
Agha, A.
(2007) Language and social relations. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Anderson, D.
(2007) Identity’s strategy: Rhetorical selves in conversion. University of South Carolina Press.Google Scholar
Ansoff, H. I.
(1965) Corporate strategy. McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Bacon, F.
(2000) The new organon, ed. by L. Jardine & M. Silverthorne. Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Benoit, W. L.
(1995) Accounts, excuses, apologies: A theory of image restoration strategies. State University of New York Press.Google Scholar
Biber, D.
(1988) Variation across speech and writing. Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Biber, D., & Conrad, S.
(2009) Register, genre, and style. Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Biber, D., & Finegan, E.
(Eds.) (1994) Introduction: Situating register in sociolinguistics. In Sociolinguistic perspectives on register (pp. 3–12). Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Brown, D. W., & Laudenbach, M.
(2021) Stylistic variation in email. Register Studies, 4(1), 1–29. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Caputo, L.
Memo to Hillary [Clinton], Maggie [Williams], Melanne [Verveer]. Media Strategy for March. 1 March 1993. Clinton Presidential Records, First Lady’s Office, Lisa Caputo (First Lady’s Press Office), “Health care press strategy,” Clinton Digital Library, William J. Clinton Presidential Library. Retrieved on 27 January 2023 from [URL]
Clausewitz, C. von
(1908) On war (Vol. III), J. J. Graham (Trans.). Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner.Google Scholar
Clinton, William J.
Remarks and an exchange with reporters on health care reform. The American Presidency Project, University of California, Santa Barbara, 25 January 1993. Retrieved on 27 January 2023 from [URL]
Critchlow, D. T., Korasick, J., & Sherman, M. C.
(Eds.) (2008) Political conspiracies in America: A reader. Indiana University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dawes, J.
(2002) The language of war: Literature and culture in the U.S. from the civil war through World War II. Harvard University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Druckman, J. N., & Holmes, J. W.
(2004) Does presidential rhetoric matter? Priming and presidential approval. Presidential Studies Quarterly, 34(4), 755–778. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dulio, D. A., & Towner, T. L.
(2009) The permanent campaign. In D. W. Johnson (Ed.), Routledge handbook of political management (pp. 83–97). Routledge.Google Scholar
Finegan, E., & Biber, D.
(2001) Register variation and social dialect variation: The register axiom. In P. Eckert & J. R. Rickford (Eds.), Style and sociolinguistic variation (pp. 235–267). Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Freedman, L.
(2013) Strategy: A history. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Garver, E.
(1980) Machiavelli’s The Prince: A neglected rhetorical classic. Philosophy & Rhetoric, 13(2), 99–120.Google Scholar
Goldstein, K. M.
(1999) Interest groups, lobbying, and participation in America. Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Greenberg, S. B.
(2009) Dispatches from the war room: In the trenches with five extraordinary leaders. Thomas Dunne Books.Google Scholar
Grimmer, J., & Stewart, B. M.
(2013) Text as data: The promise and pitfalls of automatic content analysis methods for political texts. Political Analysis, 21(3), 267–297. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hariman, R.
(1995) Political style: The artistry of power. The University of Chicago Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hart, R. P.
(2015) Genre and automated text analysis: A demonstration. In J. Ridolfo & W. Hart-Davidson (Eds.), Rhetoric and the digital humanities (pp. 152–168). The University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
History, White House Health Care – Interdepartmental Working Group
n.d.). William J. Clinton Presidential Library. Retrieved on 27 January 2023 from [URL]
Hofstadter, D., & Sander, E.
(2013) Surfaces and essences: Analogy as the fuel and fire of thinking. Basic Books.Google Scholar
Ishizaki, S., & Kaufer, D.
(2011) Computer-aided rhetorical analysis. In P. McCarthy & C. Boonthum (Eds.), Applied natural language processing and content analysis: Identification, investigation, and resolution (pp. 276–296). IGI Global.Google Scholar
Jennings, C.
Memo to Hillary Rodham Clinton. Budget discussion and health care reform. 9 February 1993. Clinton Presidential Records, Health Care Task Force, “Steve Edelstein, Congressional Briefings Memos – First Lady 1993 [7].” Clinton Digital Library, William J. Clinton Presidential Library. Retrieved on 27 January 2023 from [URL]
Memo to Hillary Rodham Clinton. Senate retreat. 22 April 1993. Clinton Presidential Records, Health Care Task Force, Domestic Policy Council, Chris Jennings (Health Security Act,), “HRC Memos-HAS [3].” Clinton Digital Library, William J. Clinton Presidential Library. Retrieved on 27 January 2023 from [URL]
Memo to Hillary Rodham Clinton. Rockefeller/Daschle meeting. 27 May 1993. Domestic Policy Council, Chris Jennings, and Health Security Act, “[HAS] Senator Dashle.” Clinton Digital Library, William J. Clinton Presidential Library. Retrieved on 27 January 2023 from [URL]
Kaufer, D., & Hariman, R.
(2008) A corpus analysis evaluating Hariman’s theory of political style. Text & Talk, 28(4), 475–500. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kim, J.-O., & Mueller, C. W.
(1978) Introduction to factor analysis: What it is and how to do it. Sage. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kollman, K.
(1998) Outside lobbying: Public opinion and interest group strategies. Princeton University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Leff, M.
(1988) Dimensions of temporality in Lincoln’s second inaugural. Communication Reports, 1(1), 25–31. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Li, J.
(2009) Intertextuality and national identity: Discourse of national conflicts in daily newspapers in the United States and China. Discourse & Society, 20(1), 85–121. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lux, M.
Memo to Hillary Clinton. Meeting with Gerry McEntee. 5 November 1993. Clinton Presidential Records, “First Lady’s Press Office, Lisa Caputo, “Health Care Reporters, DSCC Dinner, Washington, D.C. – Nov 8, 93.” Clinton Digital Library, William J. Clinton Presidential Library. Retrieved on 27 January 2023 from [URL]
Magaziner, I. C.
Memo to Hillary Rodham Clinton. What is ahead and how to organize for it. 3 May 1993. Health Care Task Force and General Files, “[Draft Policy Book] [1].” Clinton Digital Library, William J. Clinton Presidential Library. Retrieved on 27 January 2023 from [URL]
Memo to President Bill Clinton, Hillary Rodham Clinton, and Harold Ickes. Slimmed Down Health Plan. 28 June 1994. Clinton Presidential Records, First Lady’s Office, Pam Cicetti (Health Care Subject Files, H thru N), Health–Legislative Strategy and Status Reports, Box 13601, Clinton Digital Library, William J. Clinton Presidential Library. Retrieved on 27 January 2023 from [URL]
Marcus, G. E.
(Ed.) (1999) Introduction: The paranoid style now. In Paranoia within reason: A casebook on conspiracy as explanation (pp. 1–11). The Chicago University Press.Google Scholar
Margherio, L.
Memo to Hillary Rodham Clinton, American Academy of Pediatrics. 31 October 1993. First Lady’s Office and Melanne Verveer, “HRC Health Care Book 4: Health Reform [5].” Clinton Digital Library. William J. Clinton Presidential Library. Retrieved on 27 January 2023 from [URL]
Medhurst, M. J.
(1993) Dwight D. Eisenhower: Strategic communicator. Greenwood Press.Google Scholar
Medvic, S. K., & Dulio, D. A.
(2007) The permanent campaign in the White House: Evidence from the Clinton administration. In R. W. Watson (Ed.). White House studies compendium (4th ed., pp. 265–281). Nova Science.Google Scholar
Panetta, L., & Rivlin, A.
Memo to Ira Magaziner. Timetable for budget estimates. 24 September 1993. Clinton Presidential Records, First Lady’s Office, Pam Cicetta (Health Care Subject Files, A thru C), “Health – Agency Reviews – [2].” Clinton Digital Library, William J. Clinton Presidential Library. Retrieved on 27 January 2023 from [URL]
Parry-Giles, S. J., & Blair, D. M.
(2002) The rise of the rhetorical first lady: Politics, gender ideology, and women’s voice, 1789–2002. Rhetoric & Public Affairs, 5(4), 565–599. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Porter, T. M.
(1996) Trust in numbers: The pursuit of objectivity in science and public life. Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Roberts-Miller, P.
(2019) Rhetoric & demagoguery. Southern Illinois University Press.Google Scholar
Rubin, R.
Memo to Hillary R. Clinton. Business strategy for health care. 30 November 1993. Clinton Presidential Records, First Lady’s Office, Pam Cicetta (Health Care Subject Files, A thru C), “Health – Business [1].” Clinton Digital Library, William J. Clinton Presidential Library. Retrieved on 27 January 2023 from [URL]
Seidl, D.
(2007) General strategy concepts and the ecology of strategic discourses: A systematic-discursive perspective. Organizational Studies, 28(2), 197–218. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Starr, P.
(1995) What happened to health care reform. The American Prospect 20. 1 March 2015. Retrieved on 27 January 2023 from [URL]
Taylor, F. W.
(1913) The principles of scientific management. Harper & Brothers.Google Scholar
Thucydides
(1910) The history of the Peloponnesian war, R. Crawley (Trans.). J. M. Dent and Sons.Google Scholar
Ultimate Congressional End Game. Position Paper
20 January 1994 Clinton Presidential Records, First Lady’s Office, Lisa Caputo (First Lady’s Press Office), “Magaziner Health Care Memos [5].” Clinton Digital Library, William J. Clinton Presidential Library. Retrieved on 27 January 2023 from [URL]
Vaughn, J. S., & Villalobos, J. D.
(2006) Conceptualizing and measuring White House staff influence on presidential rhetoric. Presidential Studies Quarterly, 36(4), 681–688. [URL]. DOI logo
Wood, L. A. & Kroger, R. O.
(2000) Doing discourse analysis: Methods for studying action in talk and text. Sage. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Zarefsky, D.
(2006) Strategic maneuvering through persuasive definitions: Implications for dialectic and rhetoric. Argumentation, 20(4), 399–416. DOI logoGoogle Scholar