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The former secretary of state has sometimes struggled to connect with voters on the stump. Maybe 140 characters suit her better.

Texts From Hillary's Adam Smith and Stacey Lambe with Hillary Clinton (Courtesy of Adam Smith )

Since she entered the national spotlight more than 20 years ago, Hillary Clinton has struggled to connect with voters the way great politicians often dolook no further than her husband for a prime example of the dynamic, American pol. Well, Hillary has finally found a way off showing her softer side: Twitter.

In April 2012, a black-and-white picture of then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sitting in a military plane, wearing sunglasses, and holding her BlackBerry went viral thanks to a Tumblr account called Texts from Hillary. The account, which was shared over 82,000 times on Facebook in one week, features the now-famous picture of the former first lady exchanging snarky text messages with celebrities ranging from Barack Obama to Meryl Streep.

"Brunch?" asks Meryl Streep. "Obviously," a stone-faced Hillary replies.

The main joke of Texts from Hillary is that the hard-edged, no-nonsense, steely-faced Clinton is the only adult in a world of celebrity toddlers. While we're laughing at the idea that Hillary Clinton actually texts with celebs, we're also laughing at the general incompetence of the people she's texting with. In this sense, Texts From Hillary managed to take had been one of Clinton's greatest weaknessesher wooden, stern personaand turn it into something positive and endearing: her no-nonsense competence and authority.

"She's going to love the new Justin Bieber video!" says a casually dressed Joe Biden, flanked by a smiling Barack Obama. "Back to work boys," Hillary replies.

The Texts From Hillary meme inspired national coverage, including a column by Maureen Dowd in The New York Times and articles in multiple other publications, from The Washington Post to BuzzFeed to CNN. Hillary even invited the Tumblr's creators, Adam Smith and Stacy Lambeboth communications professionals in Washington, D.C.to the State Department, where she put on her signature sunglasses and snapped a picture with the pair. The Internet was laughing, and Hillary Clinton was finally in on the joke.

Shortly after Texts From Hillary blew up, Talking Points Memo's Benjy Sarlin wrote about the impact it had on reinventing Clinton's wooden public persona:

When she was running for the Democratic presidential nomination, Hillary Clinton was parodied as drab and calculated, especially compared with young and vigorous Barack Obama and winking and fresh-faced Sarah Palin. Now, she's fueling Internet jokes based on her own brand of badass cool.

See the rest here:
Can Twitter Solve Hillary Clinton's Relatability Problem?