Full disclosure: I declared my support for Obama the morning after the New Hampshire primary. I have since contributed both money and effort to his campaign and will continue to do so. At this point I neither have nor anticipate having a second choice candidate so I should be considered a very strong supporter.
People pay varying degrees of attention to the campaigns and the news reporters and pundits covering the races. The most informed have likely made up their minds as to who they will support and will not be easily persuaded to jump ship. As you move further down the "informed" scale, persuasion becomes an easier task.
Someone who contributes to a campaign is also difficult to persuade into considering a different candidate. They have vested into their candidate of choice and no one likes to admit they may have made a poor judgment when making the investment. Those who have not contributed therefore are likely much more open to persuasion.
The thing I admire most about Obama is the message of unity he offers the country, a message now under assault as most informed political watchers surely must have anticipated in a contest where other candidates have equal passion for coming out on top. The message of hope and inclusiveness suggests a vision of America that bridges countless divides in our society, again another invitation for attack as it is those divides that allow the masses to be conquered.
The idea of "swift-boating" is to attack a candidate forcefully and relentlessly on his strengths and to do it in such a way as to inoculate as much as possible the candidate doing the attack. Therefore these types of attacks must be launched from outside the official campaign.
In my view, Obama’s greatest strength is his faith, his integrity, his character. It is quite obvious then that to stop his momentum this strength must be defined away, brought into serious question. His character must be tarnished else wise he’s a formidable candidate to his opposition. Many believe that Obama is an exceptionally gifted speaker but of all the speeches I’ve seen him give, the speech he has on his website regarding faith is by far the most impressive and appealing to me.
Another idea that is sometimes used in campaigns is known as "dog-whistling". It’s also been referred to as using "code-words". The objective is essentially micro-targeting select groups of, in this case, voters. In a "divide and conquer" strategy, the plan is to speak to these micro-targeted voters in language that has special meaning to them and may not offend the larger electorate at all. This tactic is deployed on a number of different issues and it is the issue that is targeted at select audiences. For example a 10% tax cut is appealing to everyone but it is obviously more appealing to someone who pays millions of dollars in tax each year compared to someone who pays only a thousand.
As the campaigns battle it out in the trenches, this divide and conquer strategy is reinforced in the media. One candidate’s supporter/voters tend to be grouped by these demographics while another is favored by another demographic and so-on and so-on. "Dog-whistling" or the use of "code-words" doesn’t say as much about the candidate as it does about the candidate’s supporters. The only thing that it really says about the candidate is that the candidate will "go to the mattresses" to win. (For you non God Father fans, it just means the candidate will stop at nothing to win. The candidate is totally committed to victory whatever the cost).
Obama’s campaign is premised on the idea of bringing more people together to form a new majority. This is also a message that is targeted to a specific audience, an audience he and his campaign obviously believe is larger than the smaller coalitions that may be able to be forged by his opponents. While as I noted earlier, I am impressed by his commitment to principles informed by his faith, I am, however, not yet convinced he can walk on water. Consequently, I expect to see more attacks on his character and to a degree I don’t expect that he will come out of this process unblemished in the eyes of all of his supporters.
I think I’ve seen most, if not all, of the attacks that have thus far been launched his way and I can say from my own view that I’ve seen nothing that would cause me to waver in my very strong support of his efforts. It’s a long way to the nominating convention and longer still until we reach the final count on election night 2008. I expect to see more swift-boating, more dog-whistling and more creative presentations of his life’s record as the stake is the most powerful position in the free world, if not the entire world of man. I am, however, under no illusions. I, for one, do not believe Barack Obama can walk on water.
Our country is facing and will face a great many challenges in many different areas of public policy over the next few years and we need a leader who will bring us all together as much as is possible in our system of politics to address those issues for the collective good of all. I believe Barack Obama can be that leader.
It seems a daunting task to challenge the status quo, the divide and conquer mentality that is presently entrenched in our political process. Most of us have been bred on the politics of partisanship and have difficulty seeing through any other lens. It is, to borrow a phrase, a fariytale, a false hope to believe this task will end with the objective achieved but it is also in the doing, in the striving, in the yearing for success that we will find favor in our hearts, in the hearts of our fellow warriors and in the eyes of generations yet to come.
We march on in the sunlight of day, in the dark of night, spreading the word. Yes we can!