Obama, I'm Cringing--Don't Give Them Ground
Sun Apr 13, 2008 at 08:51:32 AM PDT
Senator Obama, I've been supporting you virtually all of your presidential campaign. Though my presence and stature are humble, I helped focus sentiment on this site before there was icebergslim's invaluable This Week With Barack Obama or other such regulars for Obama supporters. I've never been able to see you speak, but I don't doubt you will be the next president of the United States--you have the math, the fundraising, the public sentiment, and the zeitgesit on your side.
But now you need to hear this, because you are in dangerous waters.
Your rebuttal of John McCain and Hillary Clinton can only be described as jaw-droppingly adroit. You did a few things. First you brought up the source of the controversy. You framed it carefully to clearly express your intent at a public speech in very neutral territory (Terre Haute, and a friend of mine lived there). The audience was with you.
Then, you turned the attack on McCain and Clinton without losing your focus. You could have shown the depths of their hypocrisy. However, that wouldn't be wise in the ultimate scheme of things. Stay away from the negative.
You know all these things, so my recommendation is only a 5 or 10% recommendation in strategy--but it's critical.
You framed your message clearly in the rebuttal. But how many people will see it? The media will not play all 3 minutes of the clip anymore... meaning fewer and fewer in the tv audience will understand the full context.
Very few people can follow the race in depth and your apology for being elite will be the remaining message people can take. It need not be.
When you published your apology you gave the opposition a lot of ground: the apology was necessary, but you must stay away from playing into their frames. As you said, the gist of your message is true, and remains.
You have to keep stumping this hard, and the media will eventually turn in your favor again. Every time use a different point on John McCain or Hillary Clinton--Hillary Clinton, the upper class politico who's made millions of dollars (110 million including her spouse) is more in touch than you? Hammer away at your life story and leave the story chisled to perfection. Your speech at the 2004 DNC did just that and showed your enthusiasm and your patriotism, as did your careful tone in "A More Perfect Union".
Let it be a different point each time on McCain and Clinton. So that the media picks it up, but each speech stays in relatively positive territory. That way you are doing a manifold hting: controlling the media message again, and explaining yourself heart-to-heart to the voters at your stump speeches.
Bring up Jack Abramoff if you need to, but preferably not now. Jack Abramoff is their time bomb. Better to drop it in October. I don't think you'll need to use it on Clinton, but the corruption of both candidates runs deep, and there are other, less divisive examples. You know their voting records. Swing away.
But whatever you do,watch how much time you're spending on re-apologizing and feeding into their frames. Every second is 30 seconds of talk radio and tv time. You apologized, that's it. Turn it into a spotlight on John McCain and Hillary Clinton's motives, and for being hypocritical and the very thing they project of themselves onto you. You know the line between being assertive and being negative.
They brought the fight to you. You know how to rebuff them without taking the fight to the gutter.
They are elitist. They are out of touch. They have failed at times to look out for... you and I. And they're so desperate they have to sink you with bittergate. So don't let them.
The second you play into their frames, their messages, it's over. It's the only thing that can destroy your ever-increasing odds of victory. It's destroyed every single one of your immediate predecessors.
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