It might be an unintentional compliment when Milbank compares Hillary's public speeches to Hallmark cards:

Over the past 50 years, Hallmark has grown into the goliath of the greeting card business, producing 4,000,000 copies of 11,000 different cards each day for sale through 22,000 retailers in four countries. Hallmark's gross is estimated at more than $90 million annually, twice as big as its two nearest competitors combined, and profits are estimated close to $5.4 million annually.

What makes Hallmark's size all the more impressive is that it comes in a field that, for all the bunnies and babies and Santas smiling up from its cheery face, is as ruggedly competitive as any business in the U.S. With some 290 firms turning out 5 billion cards each year, for every event from the cradle to the grave, a special kind of genius is needed to grab off about 30% of a $288 million market.

IN the early days, Christmas, St. Valentine's Day and birthdays were the major occasions for greeting cards. Hall pushed the idea of cards for every sentiment, every event, now does 50% of his annual business outside of the big holidays. He went after such writers as Ogden Nash and Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, brought in such artists as Saul Steinberg, Grandma Moses, Edward Hopper, Andrew Wyeth, sponsored touring Hallmark art exhibits across the U.S. He was told time and again that Sir Winston Churchill would never agree to have his paintings on greeting cards. Churchill was delighted, and Hallmark sold 4.5 million Churchill cards the very first year, about half the number of Hallmark's alltime bestseller--a cart loaded with pansies that is suitable for almost every occasion.  Time.Com

"If you serve your country, your country should serve you."

"I'm here to say that the buck does stop with this president."

"Let us work . . . to take care of those who are taking care of us."

Milbank says Hillary has said these things, and I hope he is right, because Hallmark-like sound bites are an effective way to deliver a clear and unoffensive message while staying out of Biden/Kerry trouble.

The website www.Phrases.Org defines a "sound-bite" as:

A short and easily remembered line, intended by the speaker to be suitable for media repetition.  This originated in US media circles in the 1980s. The first known printed citations come from that period. For example, the

Washington Post, June 1980:

"Remember that any editor watching needs a concise, 30-second sound bite. Anything more than that, you're losing them."

Time, June 1983:

"TV's formula these days is perhaps 100 words from the reporter, and a `sound bite' of 15 or 20 words from the speaker."    

A soundbite is an audiolinguistic and social communications phenomenon whose nature was recognized in the late 20th century, helped by people such as Marshall McLuhan. It is characterized by a short phrase or sentence that deftly captures the essence of what the speaker is trying to say.  

(Oops!  I cited Wikipedia!  Oh, well.)  

For example,

By traveling to Dubai, just a few hundred miles from the combat zone, to denounce the American involvement in Iraq as a "big mistake," Bill Clinton . . . knew that the sound bite that would emerge was "big mistake."   (Emphasis added.)  

(Oops, I quoted Dick Morris at NewsMax.Com!)

Still, I wouldn't be surprised if Milbank's criticism resounded somewhat in the leftward whitosphere, where many activists are anxious for Hillary to take bold and clearly partisan stands that will alienate some voters.  That, of course, is the opposite of the communication strategy that has made Hallmark America's largest greeting card company.

Sounds bites can be a good thing.  If John Kerry had limited himself to potent platitudes and not tried to get locutionarily  cute, he might still be in the presidential race today.   And if Senator Joseph Biden had limited himself to carefully prepared sound-bites, with the benefit of foresight he might not have called Senator Obama "the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy."  

It's still 18 months from the General Election and already two long-time and experienced US Senators have taken themselves out of the running with ill-considered and off-the-cuff comments.  Meanwhile, Hillary's campaign is credited with being "relentlessly on-message."  (TNR!)  For Democrats who want to elect a Democratic president, a lot of Hallmark-sweet sound-bites might be really a good thing.

Cross-posted at the Francis L. Holland Blog.

francislholland@yahoo.com