Most people think that the problem with Dean is that he's not a good enough politician. That he's not slick enough to pull off a victory against Bush. That he's too uncoventional.
Excellent. Being unconventional is what catapults people to fame. This is true in politics as much as it is in art, music, movies, sports, etc.
The problem is that he needs to go all the way. Not with yelling at a concession speech (which was okay with me) but with a media message that stresses how smart he reallly is.
I'll give you an example. The best PSA I ever saw was simply a shot of one window of an apartment. You hear an actual chilling 911 call about domestic abuse, a kid crying over the phone. The shot gently pulls out to reveal the hundreds of adjacent and identical apartment windows on the building. Nobody helped that kid. It was a mesage about responsibility and it left me emotionally knocked out. Why? I had never seen anything so unpolished, but brave.
That's what Dean is: unpolished, but brave.
And what makes him like this? He's practical, an anomaly in politics. The man does his own plumbing, for Christ's sake. He fixes the dirtiest problems with workable solutions. (If Bush's toilet was stopped up, he'd want to invade Albania or build a base on Saturn or some other orange solution for an apple problem)
Back to Dean, an ad about national security should address the real threats to national security.
He should talk straight to the camera, candidly.
Trace the events of Septemeber 11th. What was scary about Sept 11th?
- Terrorists were able to get around airport security.
- Terrorists were able to hijack the plane.
- The terrorists knew how to fly the plane and were taught by American flight schools. (and the FBI knew it)
- That the terrorists were able to pull off multiple attacks simultaneously. (and nobody noticed)
- The 9/11 attacks were followed by anthrax attacks, executed by someone else.
- That our postal system was so vunerable.
- Osama bin Laden, the leader of the 9/11 attacks and whoever was responsible for the anthrax attacks were never caught.
Dean should recall these points with archival footage to illustrate. It should feel more like an news editorial than a political ad.
Then go for the jugular of the President and anybody who supported the war in Iraq. None of these concerns were addressed by invading Iraq. None. Not one of them. Worse, funding that could have gone to addressing these concerned was bottled up in an absolutely useless kindergarten color coding system that was somehow going to keep us safe.
What else would you leave to chance? I'm Howard Dean. I would like to beat back these threats with practical solutions. etc, etc, fill in the rest
This model could apply to health care, or the loss of veteran's benefits. Dean needs to say these thing straight and then stress what is great about his record as a Governor (and about Northeastern political figures), practicality. He touched on this at the debate. You can't do everything without figuring out how. He should stress how pragmatic he has been. Not just about the thing we've heard, but about other things. He should bring up the negotiation that he had with Wal Mart before they opened stores in his state. A great story of practical compromise.
Sorry for going on so long. But the last thing he needs is another look at me with the old folks and kissing babies crap. People don't expect him to do that anyway. Go further. Push the limit. Do what campaigns shy away from.
(and if he needs any help, I'm an unemployed filmmaker obvioulsy with a lot of time on my hands)