The best US politics memes of 2012 So did they matter? Politico makes a good case that the "Texts from Hillary" meme succeeded where teams of spin doctors failed and gave Hillary Clinton the hip, youthful makeover necessary to make her a serious contender come 2016. In retrospect, it's also very hard to argue that the leaked "47 per cent" video didn't have a very damaging impact on Mitt Romney's campaign - although it needed the traditional media to bring it out of obscurity and onto the agenda.