Seven Things Barack Obama Should Do to Keep from Blowing It

ASPEN - I took part in an interesting panel last night at the Aspen Ideas Festival, discussing the ins and outs of Barack Obama and John McCain with David Brooks, Stuart Rothenberg, Jim Wallis, Jonathan Capehart, Amy Goodman, and Jonathan Alter moderating.

I was particularly interested in the takes of Brooks and Rothenberg. They were smart, knowledgeable, eloquent... and utterly wrong.

Brooks was even-handed with both candidates. He suggested that McCain's biggest failing was his weakness as a manager (I said I was far more concerned with the disastrous direction in which he wants to lead the country). And he criticized Obama for lacking the "Senatorial skills" of either McCain or Hillary Clinton. (In an unrelated riff, Brooks let the audience know that, based on an off-the-record conversation with President Bush, he could categorically assure us that we would not be bombing Iran.)

Towards the end of the panel we were all asked whom the nominees should pick as their VP. One of Brooks' recommendations for Obama was Tom Daschle because the former-Senator understands how to get things done. In Brooks World, the presidency is all about keeping the machinery greased and the cogs of government running smoothly. It's leadership as McDonald's management: keep serving up the tried and true, with maximum efficiency.

Rothenberg -- astute, detailed, and supremely confident -- dipped into his political analyst's bag and pulled out a steaming chunk of conventional wisdom, echoing his recent declaration that "This whole election is about swing voters. Whoever wins them, will win the election." Where have we heard that before? Oh, yeah, that's right -- from countless inside-the-Beltway pundits and Democratic strategists in every election the Democrats have lost, going back a generation.

But, as we've seen, Barack Obama is not immune to the seductive call of the Conventional Wisdom sirens. And it's a call that's only going to get louder. He'll hear it from the chorus of pundits standing outside his window -- folks like The New Republic's Noam Scheiber, who today counseled Obama that being labeled a "typical politician" is a very good thing for him because it will assure wary voters that he won't do anything rash.

He'll hear it from some of the advisors inside his campaign. Folks like the aforementioned Daschle, for whom caution is part of his political DNA. Don't forget, as Senate Majority Leader, Daschle had gone along with the president's desire to hold the vote authorizing war with Iraq before the 2002 elections because he and many other Democrats believed an early vote could help shift the focus off the war and onto the economy, which they felt was their strong suit. And we saw how well that strategy turned out. Daschle was also the poster child for Democratic spinelessness on the war, going from supporting the use of force to questioning it to ultimately supporting it with his vote because he felt it was crucial for America "to speak with one voice at this critical time." And we know how well that turned out, too.

Obama will also hear the siren call from inside his own head. According to Brooks, Obama's overriding personal characteristic is caution.

So, to counter the conventional wisdom pundits, the cautious campaign advisers, and his own inner cautiousness, I'm offering Obama the following suggestions for staying true to the vision and message that took him from longshot "unlikely candidate" to presidential frontrunner -- and for avoiding the fate of the many before him who fell prey to the misguided belief that the path to the White House runs down the middle of the road.

1) Load up your Kindle with passages from leaders who were looking to fundamentally change the country and following an inner compass, not the latest focus-group results. Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King would be a good place to start.

"Some men see things as they are and ask, 'Why?' I dream of things that never were and ask, 'Why not?'" (RFK)

"There comes a time when one must take the position that is neither safe nor politic nor popular, but he must do it because conscience tells him it is right." (King)

2) Load up your iPod with passages from your own speeches. They've inspired others; now let them re-ignite the inspirational leader in you.

"This campaign can't only be about me. It must be about us - it must be about what we can do together. This campaign must be the occasion, the vehicle, of your hopes, and your dreams. It will take your time, your energy, and your advice - to push us forward when we're doing right, and to let us know when we're not. This campaign has to be about reclaiming the meaning of citizenship, restoring our sense of common purpose, and realizing that few obstacles can withstand the power of millions of voices calling for change.... That's why I'm in this race. Not just to hold an office, but to gather with you to transform a nation."

3) Get your campaign to give you a printout of the names of the over 1.5 million people who have donated to your campaign (at an average of $197 each). Give that list a read every day; feel the heft. And remember -- sorry, Stu Rothenberg -- that the tried-and-untrue swing voter strategy is what has led to the Democratic Party's prolonged identity crisis. Forget the fence sitters. Instead, continue to speak to those who have turned their backs on the electoral process -- those who are struggling without health care, without decent schools, without jobs, without hope.

4) Tape to your mirror the poll results from July 2004, where Kerry was up by six, and June of 1988, where Dukakis was up by 15... and don't get complacent.

5) Go to YouTube and watch the concession speeches of Kerry, Gore, and Hillary Clinton, each of whom decided to run to the middle in an attempt to attract undecided swing voters.

6) Don't let the daily petty squabbles of the campaign distract you from the core message that this campaign is not a referendum on John McCain's war record or the level of your patriotism -- but rather on the future of America. Are we a nation driven by hope and promise or a nation driven by fear?

When Bobby Kennedy was agonizing over whether or not to run in 1968, he told one of his advisors: "People are selfish. But they can also be compassionate and generous, and they care about the country. But not when they feel threatened. That's why this is such a crucial time. We can go in either direction. But if we don't make a choice soon, it will be too late to turn things around. I think people are willing to make the right choice. But they need leadership. They're hungry for leadership." Forty years later, we are starving for it. Real leadership, not a poll-driven facsimile. Not swing-state, swing-voter leadership. Leadership defined by an ability to capture our imagination and a willingness to challenge us. Leadership geared to transforming the country through the audacity of hope instead of keeping it mired in the politics of fear and division.

7) Heed the old Texas advice of Dandy Don Meredith and Molly Ivins: "You got to dance with them what brung you."

Voters longing for hope, inspiration, a new kind of politics, and fundamental change are "them that brung you" to the big dance. Don't let the pundits, the advisors, and the cowards convince you to let someone else cut in.

Follow Arianna Huffington on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ariannahuff

Comments

[GiggidyGeshmoygen]

this is sound advise and a timely reminder given the democratic party's legendary ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory

[swoosie1]

He looked like a plain, old community organizer today, not a democratic presidential nominee in the most important time in our history. And to think that today he had to have a double press conference--A "DO-OVER" on IRAQ policy. Go back, repair and clarify the original statements, the ones he made up himself that were not written for a crowd of 7000 followers, do the damage control. My take? You have to wonder if this is all too big for him. His team of handlers have been feeding him info and driving him based on what Hillary was doing and saying for all those months and now. So, with no Hillary, it is like he has lost his GPS navigation--his North Star to guide him. I think he worked off of her strategy and McCain does not allow him to work off of him. So Obama has nothing. It is terrible to think we wasted Hillary's candidacy for a guy that had to have two press conferences today to clarify his position on what is the most critical issue of our time...Iraq. What a scary thought.

[Rjmartinelli]

I have to wonder why you're blindly quoting the CNN anchor's attempt to stir the pot when the speeches he made today and yesterday on the situation on Iraq consisted of the same exact things he's been saying since last year.

Specifically "we need to be as careful getting out as we were careless going in."

[swoosie1]

If he were so sure that he had been saying exactly that, then why the do-over? Why? It is clear that he was parsing words in a way that was alarming to me and to others who had heard something different that you did. I am not stirring the pot sir by questioning the clear ineptitude that I witnessed today. This is not a game.

[love5pets]

Then his message is getting too nuanced, even for me, because I am the queen of interpreting nuanced messages!

[jancor]

I COULD NOT AGREE MORE WITH ARIANNA;S COMMENTS.JUST FINISHED READING THURSTON CLARKE'S BOOK "THE LAST CAMPAIGN". ROBERT KENNEDY TOLD VOTERS ".....THE NATIONAL LEADERSHIP IS CALLING UPON THE DARKER IMPULSES OF THE AMERICAN SPIRIT....THROUGH THE ACTION AND EXAMPLES THAT IT SETS....WHERE INTEGRITY, TRUTH, HONOR AND ALL THE REST SEEM LIKE WORDS TO FILL OUT SPEECHES RATHER THAN GUIDING BELIEFS"...OBAMA NEEDS TO CONTINUALLY POINT OUT THIS DARKER SIDE OF THE REPUBLICANS.
AS FOR THE ECONOMY, WHICH OBAMA SHOULD BE HAMMERING THE REPUBLICANS ON, HE COULD QUOTE PAT BUCHANAN. ON PAGE 206 OF "DAY OF RECKONING", HE WRITES."...BY MID-2007, MEDIAN HOUSEHOLD INCOME HAD FALLEN $1,300 BELOW WHAT IT WAS IN BILL CLINTON'S FINAL YEAR." BUCHANAN GOES ON TO DETAIL HOW BUSH LET HUBRIS, GREED AND A FLAWED IDEOLOGY TEAR AMERICA APART.
OBAMA NEEDS TO EXPLAIN TO CITIZENS HOW VOTING FOR MCCAIN WILL ONLY CONTINUE DESTROYING OUR ECONOMY AND OUR POWER AS A NATION.
I HOPE ARIANNA AND OTHER CAN GET THIS MESSAGE THROUGH TO BARACK.

[GiggidyGeshmoygen]

please note that using ALL CAPS does not make what you have to say any more meaningful and/or important

it does, however, make your comments extremely annoying and difficult to read

[swoosie1]

I find it authoritative and suave. Keep it up babe!

[jpetaluma]

The caps just made me pass by your comment and not even read it. I don't get it.

[drrecooper]

The path that Obama is on requires constant monitoring by sensitive and clearer minds that are in touch with reality. I must that he is being surrounded by advisers who are not promoting their own agenda. Obama must, by all means, remains the people's candidate.

[Ohsnap]

C'mon, folks, you don't win a general election running on a primary strategy. Of course, the far left won him the nomination. Because the more conservative Dems would have never nominated them themselves. I mean we are in the bluffing stage of the big poker game. The Republicans got to call his bluff. He is not going to run as a radical liberal, because Dean tried that and failed miserably.

I find it heartening to know that he's not just going to be a left wingers puppet. We've had those kind of presidents before who catered to only one part of the party, and look where that got us.

[generaldelivery]

If we had wanted a pragmatic centrist, we would have voted for Hillary Clinton. What we got was the classic bait-and-switch. Now we've got a nominee who won't even fight for our constitutional rights. "Yes, we can" has turned into "No, I can't".

[Rjmartinelli]

Indeed he's not going to fight so hard that he is going to be pushing to strike Title II from the act (the part that actually gives the telecoms immunity).

You do realize the senate is made up of more than just one person right?

You're as so many of the dissenting are enjoying putting it "holding" the wrong person's "feet to the fire".

You should be calling up your local senators and pushing them to have Title II stricken from the bill, not heckling a man who has no more control of the situation than any one member of the legislative branch.

[joanndarc]

Dean would had won in GENERAL ELECTION of 2004! Unlike spineless Kerry... Conservative Dems are closeted Republicans!

[NjT of DC]

Seven Things Democrats must Do to Ever Win a Presidential Election Again:

1. Stop all the intellectual fufu and whining, and undermining the intelligence of your own candidate. He can not save us all now from all the neglect we've allowed over the past 8 years.

2. Face the fact that this is why in 40 years and 10 presidential contests, Democrats have won only 3 out of 10 (Carter once, Clinton twice) while Republicans have won 7!

3. Recognize that Republicans know how to win by pulling together, focusing, and playing on the insecurities of Democrats. The only thing that eludes them is the actual ability and desire to govern.

4. Recognize that Democrats repeatedly scatter their energies with so much protest and criticism and pet-projects and pet-peeves that they exhaust their own candidates.

5. If you sat quietly (in fear) for the past 8 years-- please spare us now of all this noise and nonsense about what words and thoughts you want to put into Obama's head and pour from his mouth.

6. Resist the condescending temptation to assume that somehow it is your birthright to show that you are more brilliant, consistent, and well-informed in most matters than this man might be.

7. Know that If we blow this again, we will deserve what we get again-- and worse.

[future2009]

I could not agree more with what you said.

[Rjmartinelli]

Well put.

All of the moral convictions in the world will get you nowhere if the candidate who will support them doesn't win because of a disagreement with one or two votes.

[jrw34]

Right now I will focus on the battle between Obama and McCain. If I disagree with Obama on an issue or two I will work my heart out to get him in office because McCain and I have absolutely zero in common. The nit-picking, panic of the chicken littles who would much rather sit out and let the Repuklicans win...deserve little respect. We have education, health care, war in Iraq, jobs for the middle class at stake. Don't forget the big picture. The fact that Sen. Obama responded to the criticism on his own website speaks volumes. For those of you that put your hopes that Sen. Obama the new messiah that you have been waiting for...I think you have not read his books and his speeches regarding bipartisanship. Democrats must come together...and work as hard as ever to defeat the disgusting agenda set forth by McSame and his party.

[hawkseye]

Thanks for saying this!

[remc]

Well said. The Purity Patrols are going to destroy the best candidate the Democrats have had in 45 years.

[lboucher]

In an interview this week with “Relevant,” a Christian magazine, Obama said prohibitions on late-term abortions must contain “a strict, well defined exception for the health of the mother.”

Obama then added: “Now, I don’t think that ‘mental distress’ qualifies as the health of the mother. I think it has to be a serious physical issue that arises in pregnancy, where there are real, significant problems to the mother carrying that child to term.”…

[mike53]

Ms. Huffington. If Senator Obama is reduced to an ordinary politician why shouldn't americans vote for McCain? He is an ordinary politicain with far more experience than Obama.

[joanndarc]

C'mon, he managed to get shot down, doesn't that indicate how "gifted" McCain is?

[WKR]

Once again, excellent advice that Obama MUST hear. Not the sychofants who Obama seems to have surrounded himself with lately. This is extrmely disturbing & not the reason I've doggedly supported him for the past 16 months. I still recalll the sense of abandonment by Bill Clinton when his campaign promises became watered down or forgotten after he took office. Just as countless female Hillary supporters fought for her because she was the great hope for women, I know there are millions of Obama supporters like me who fought for him because he was the great hope for change in Washington. Am I watching this all slip away? Do Obama's more reasonable people close to him read these posts & report back to him that there are issues growing within his campaign? Like loyalty to his supporters? Like a growing sense of anbandonment & betrayal? I hope so...

[maddashell-womaninj]

I'm a 58 yr old, middle class, white woman with dreams unfulfilled. Stand up and be a man, be a real leader. Leaders don't walk the middle of the road. They get off the road and chop through the forest of indifference, blind ignorance, lack, & injustice. Do the extremes America is asking you to do. Force the jobs home, force universal healthcare, force the troops back to the homeland, encourage the farmers and rancher in the south & west to wisely use their land to include wind and solar power, force the auto manufacturers to get their plants turned around now for manufacture of REAL Green Cars. NOW is the time to stand on the "LEFT", not in the middle. God has blessed you with this enormous opportunity to do HIS WILL. A true leader isn't worried about whining, Right Wing extremist pundits. Be focused on answers. Don't feast on ignorance. Ignore the fools who cry wolf at every turn. Tend to your duty, man. Bring America back into the light. WHY NOT? Why not bring the US to the peak of world example, economic stability, freedom from war? Those who think in darkness cannot be in the light. Take the firm decisions, the hard choices. The pain of changes will subside quickly. Make the changes swift and clean. Your life is touched with a great gift. Don't lose sight of it. Hold to the truth and you will set Americans free. God bless you.

[OnceProudAmerican]

Once again the truth comes out. Thanks Arianna!!

[Larry Buchite]

A change in Minnesota's voter registration law makes it easier for people who are homeless to vote. The new law allows shelter workers to vouch for their clients' residency.

[RRK70]

If people wanted a centrist candidate for the Democratic Party, they would have voted for Hillary Clinton. In emulating the fence sitter or swing voter you risk getting labeled one yourself, and it may be OK to be one if you are a REPRESENTATIVE. But if you are running to be the Chief EXECUTIVE, people are looking for LEADERSHIP. Stand your ground and give the fence sitters and swing voters a reason to move! As horrible as GWB has been, his handlers understood this, voter's respected Bush's "firm" stance.
Huffington is 100% correct. You can stand your ground, and maintain your integrity. And in the end, you may even get your message out about why you are making your stand. There's a difference between integrity and dogma. Obama risks his integrity every time he sacrifices what he "thinks" is right for the sake of "compromise".

[Larry Buchite]

What I'm looking for is some one that will uphold the constitution.

I do not think Obama was ever a flaming liberal.

[rpmcestmoi]

Alas, I fear we are in for strange times.

This on the one hand on the other routine is very stale and reminiscent of certain other democrats who failed to stand up for what is correct.

I have been an Obama contributor and supporter for some time, and I certainly will vote for him, but my enthusiasm for the project is somewhat abated because of this new politician who has survived the primary and is now acting like Dick Nixon's Old Fogey.

Still America's best bet, but don't screw up by standing for both this and that.

[swoosie1]

Yes--and with Hillary, we would have someone with experience as well as core values. I am doubting this guy more and more....

[robtomorrow]

Excellent advise Arianna, lets hope Barack and his team of strategists are listening.

[hawkseye]

Except that Gore and Kerry won after tacking to the middle. So did Clinton. The elections were stolen from Gore and Kerry. Clinton probably squeaked through because of Ross Perot.

[hotcitykitty]

Not to mention the flack Bill gets when he does say something people dislike. Shit, they give him more flack for saying things that people say every day and wouldn't admit it.
But its really OK for GW to lie to world ..about WMB and take us into the most costly war in generations. Wheres the logic? And nothing Bill Clinton has said or done cost one single life.

I will not vote for McCain but i will hold Obama totally responsible if he loses this friggen race to another completely inept guy like McCain....ANYONE REMEMBER THE realestate scandal years ago, McCain was a big player in that and no one brings that up.

During that time, I used to see him at the Riverside Casino Craps table ...blowing big money..............he could care less!

I just cant imagine what will happen to the middle class if we have another Republican in office.
And John McCain...OMG......
Another, poor public communicator, radical, woman rights hater,corporate profit protector...terriffic