Its time to Unpimp Your Candidate. Ned Lamont got unpimped. Spitzer is working hard to unpimp himself. Russ Feingold has been unpimped ever since he was the lone voice in the Senate opposing the Iraq War. And the late Paul Wellstone - make that the hugely popular late Paul Wellston - he was the Pimp of unpimping. Markos and Jerome have long been on the bangwagon - they even wrote an entire book on Unpimping yourself from beltway insider consultants. I think its called Unpimp the Gates or something.
For decades now, Democrats have played "not to lose" as opposed to playing to win. You certainly don't win Super Bowls this way - ask the master of the calculated risk, Bill Bellichick.
I agree with Kos - we need to Unpimp Our Democrats.
Overwheening caution is for suckers. Those afraid to take risks - calculated, considered risks, but risks nonetheless - get beaten, time and time and time again, by those who take the challenge head-on. That's how you win. By being unafraid to lose. The business world works on this principle. The nonprofit sector is learning how to appreciate the concept. Its time our political leaders learned (or re-learned) this idea.
I think there is something we can learn from business (and sports analogies) in this area. For example, look at VW in the early 1990s - their U.S. division was sinking like a stone. While VW in Europe and elsewhere did a good business selling cars to the European equivalent of Middle America, no one in the American market was buying their product - which was seen as a kind of dumpy, boring, and of lesser quality (except for a core of VW fanatics) They were going to close up shop, but a group of VW execs decided to give it one last try - based around what became the New Bettle.
As part of relaunching the VW brand in the US, VW took the bold step of dumping its long-standing ad company DDB (DDB having earned their fame with the original groundbreaking VW Bettle ad campaign). Instead, VW went with a brash, quirky, much smaller Boston ad company named Arnold Fortuna Lawner & Cabot (later, Arnold Worldwide). It would be Arnold's first ad campaign for a car manufacturer (automaker campaigns being the crown jewel of clients in the ad industry).
The result was history - "On the road of life, there are passengers and drivers. Drivers Wanted." - you can hear the slogan in your head, can't you - and it was introduced before VW really had much new product immediately ready.
It included a slew of TV ads that people still recall 10 years later: VW Speed Racer ads. "Sunday Afternoon" AKA the "Da-Da-Da" ad. "Cappuccino Woman" and her zippy VW Golf. An almost dead brand was totally transformed - setting the stage for a whole new product line - the new Bettle, the new Golf, the Jetta, the Passat.
Flash forward 10 years, VW sales are falling from a 2001 peak. The response - a re-designed a sporty hatchback called the GTI and the new Rabbit.
And its dumped formerly quirky Arnold (now a global ad company) for this year's quirky ad company - Crispin Porter + Bogusky, best known for its web-based viral marketing for the "Truth" antismoking ads and the Chicken for BK.
You've seen their ads - you can picture them in your head. The Jetta's "Safe Happens" campaign, showing two drivers arguing and then getting hit in a crash, the side impact airbags pop, saving the occupants. The driver standing next to his wrecked car, goes "Holy Sh--" Flash to slogan - "Safe Happens."
And, of course, the GTI's Unpimp Your Auto spots with Wolfgang the mildly insane German engineer flashing the "V-dub" finger sign and Helga, the blond ice queen dominatrix, spitting out sexy put-downs like "It sure is sucking."
When the ad campaign first came out, it was met by harsh criticism. But VW stuck it out. And the ads have gained traction - a lot of traction. And VW is seeing it brand revitalized - again.
Calculated risk. That's how you win.
Unpimp Your Democrat.