President John Adams
Not unlike much of the mud-slinging we experience in modern elections, the dirty work, back in the earliest days of the nation, was often left to surrogates. One such surrogate was the influential President of Yale University, a John Adams supporter, who publically suggested that were Jefferson to become the president, “we would see our wives and daughters the victims of legal prostitution.”
The concern was amplified by an influential—and highly partisan—Connecticut newspaper’s warning that electing Jefferson would create a nation where “murder, robbery, rape, adultery and incest will openly be taught and practiced.”
And that was the soft stuff.
That was from the downright inhumane election of 1800 where the sitting Vice President Thomas Jefferson took on the sitting President John Adams. It was nasty, mean, and close.
Some of you might be a bit, shall we say, ruffled by the fact that the Sanders Campaign intends to go negative on Clinton. Or vice versa.
I am here to tell you that you should relax. Negative campaigns are healthy. They are wonderful, even. They increase turnout and interest in politics. Most importantly, they work when done well.
Neither candidate should ever expect to reach the highest office in the land, indeed the world, without a very exacting examination of their positions on issues, personal character, family life, finances, religious views, temperament, gravitas, style, management and leadership qualities. All of these things are fair game. It is healthy to have them aired publicly. We should all know as much as possible about the person who would weild such great power.
A candidate, by necessity and by natural bias, is not going to point out the terrible things about themselves. It is up to that candidate's competitors to do so. This informs the voter. This benefits the voter. In a presidential primary, its good for both the electorate and the campaign operation. In the general election, its good for democracy.
There will be lies. There will be stretching of the truth. There will be dirty tricks. Yes, there will be vicious, intense feelings. Even hatreds. Do not let this bother you. It is part of the process and always has been. It is up to the candidate to handle it. It prepares you for the rigors of the job.
So I, for one, am quite pleased that this Democratic primary campaign will move to a better, much more exacting phase. I hope it gets downright brutal. Nobody goes to a prize fight for the heavyweight championship to see patty cake.
And guess what? Adams handed over power peacefully and later the two men reconciled. Reconciliation. Keep that in mind for the future. But until then, fight it out hard!
If you haven't read "The Positive Case for Negative Campaigning" do so. Great read. Also read the classic "In Defense of Negativity"