Brand First, Equivocate Later: The Message of Denver and the Importance of Defining McCain-Palin Before They Define Themselves

The Democratic Convention this year was simply stunning, with multiple-base hits by many of the players and triples or homeruns by all its superstars. It was bookended by two picture-perfect speeches. In the first, Michelle Obama accomplished exactly what she needed to: to make clear that she is a mother, an American, one of "us," and hardly the stereotype of the angry black woman with the chip on her shoulder that the conservatives were trying to activate. She made clear that she and her husband share the same values and aspirations for their two beautiful children as most Americans for theirs.

Barack Obama's speech did exactly what it needed to, and did it poignantly, substantively, and forcefully. It laid out his indictment of the Bush years, something he has been loath to do and is precisely what the American people have been waiting for, to see if this is a man with fire in his belly, who has the capacity for both the restraint he has shown and the ability to be forceful and aggressive he has not previously shown that are both essential qualities in a commander-in-chief. It told the story of who Obama is and how his seemingly exotic life story intersects with all of our life stories and with where we are today as a nation, and how and why he can understand the pain most middle class families have been enduring after 8 long years of the most corrupt, inept, destructive administration in modern American history. It branded McCain as four more years of the same, as a man armed with 20th century ideas for 21st century problems. And it addressed straight-on most of the attacks leveled at Obama that he has never so forcefully responded to before: that he is an elitist, that he is just an empty celebrity (by putting meat on the bones of "change" without boring the listening public with the usual Democratic litany of 12-point plans on every issue), that he is un-American, that he is unpatriotic, and that he will put something or someone other than America first.

Between these speeches was a rising crescendo of voices saying, as Obama finally spoke the words, "Enough!" It would be difficult to list all the emotionally powerful moments of the speeches that marked this convention, even the prime-time speeches. Hillary Clinton, like Al Gore and John Kerry, gave the speech of her life, and they all showed more of who they all really are than any of them ever showed in their long campaigns for the hearts and minds of the American people while saddled with all the usual advice from the usual Democratic suspects--a lesson Democrats should remember, that nothing "sells" as well as being genuine and firm in your convictions. Hillary not only spoke from her gut but had none of the staged facial expressions that had marked her performances earlier in the campaign and should have been coached out of her repertoire the first time they appeared (and would have been if her consultants were Republicans, who understand the importance of nonverbals). Beau Biden's story of how his father put family first through an extraordinary ordeal that could only lead viewers to feel for Biden the person and to admire his capacity, even as a young man, to balance work and family under the most adverse circumstances; Joe Biden's speech showing how you can attack your opponent's vision without unfairly attacking his character; and Bill Clinton doing what only Bill Clinton can do were just among the highlights of a superbly orchestrated event that both informed and inspired.

In my book, The Political Brain, I argued that if you do exactly what the Democrats did last week--both inspire voters with your vision of what could be and raise legitimate anger or concern about what your opponent and his party have done or likely will do--you win elections. The latest polling data from Gallup bear that out: Obama went from 2 points behind just before the convention to 8 points ahead, reaching a high for two straight days of 49 to 41 against McCain. The convention reversed the momentum of a dreadful July and August campaign that made every standard Democratic error outlined in the book, starting with the campaign's stubborn refusal to brand McCain before he could brand himself or to respond to his successful efforts to brand Obama--as other, different, empty celebrity, uppity, narcissistic, and elitist.

Obama is now poised to break 50 percent in the polls. Whether he does so, and whether he wins or loses in November, will likely depend on whether he, his campaign team, and the Democrats learn the lessons of this convention, or whether they backslide in debates and public statements into the politics of meandering, dispassionate prose; failure to demonstrate toughness, resolve, and, yes, aggression where appropriate; and failure to understand that the best time to shape the public discourse is before the other side has had a chance to "sell" its version of truth to the American people. Decades of research in social psychology have demonstrated that two of most important principles of persuasion when people have a choice between options are to get there first--to tell your side of the story--and to inoculate against what the other side is likely to say. Democratic consultants need to read that research--tonight--and stop relying on the same intuitions that have proven wrong in election after election. We are supposed to be the party of science, yet we constantly practice political creationism.

A case in point is the way the Obama campaign appears poised to respond (or, more accurately, not to respond) to McCain's choice of a running mate, which they need to do immediately, before the start of the GOP Convention. Paul Begala has described how the narratives that sway the electorate are like constellations of stars in the sky. If your opponent picks and chooses just the right stars to place in the sky (and which ones to leave out, because they get in the way of the story he is trying to tell), he can create a constellation that shines like stars on a crystal clear night, whether that constellation is one designed to make his own stars twinkle or your candidate's stars flame out or obscured by cloud cover. It's a campaign's job to put the right stars up in the sky to create the constellations that tell the story it wants to tell about both its own candidate and its opponent. In the language of neuroscience, a campaign needs to connect the dots for voters to create networks of associations--an interconnected set of thoughts, images, ideas, metaphors, and feelings--toward each candidate that tell a compelling story about each, and to repeat that those stories enough times and in enough ways to make them "stick."

Several Democrats began doing precisely that the moment McCain made his announcement of his choice of a running mate, from Rahm Emanuel to Barbara Boxer. They were right to do so, both neurologically and politically. It is much harder to change an accepted narrative, particularly an emotionally compelling one, than to undercut it before it can take hold in the popular imagination. You don't want to let the other side blaze a neural trail in the wilderness (in this case, defining a political newcomer) that becomes the trail voters' minds naturally follow and then resist deviating from because it is the first and only story being told, without offering a counter-narrative that creates very different associations and activates very different feelings toward the candidates (in this case, toward both McCain and Palin).

The constellation McCain would like to project this week is that this was a bold move of a maverick reformer, an effort to break the glass ceiling for women, an effort to bring executive experience to his team, and the elevation to prominence of a young, socially conservative reformer with a moving story of her commitment to the crusade against all abortions. Palin decided last year not to abort a baby she knew would suffer from Down Syndrome, and she will no doubt showcase that decision and her new baby at the GOP Convention. But by putting a richer collection of stars in the sky, the Obama campaign can create an entirely different set of constellations before the GOP even begins its branding of McCain's decision and his running mate this week.

Democrats could offer at least three alternative renderings of the McCain decision, and they need to do so before the gavel bangs in Minneapolis. First, McCain is not the straight shooter who is committed to his principles (he's changed back and forth on virtually all of them, even vowing to vote against the immigration bill he himself sponsored when it was politically expedient to abandon it). Clearly the main principle guiding his actions is that he wants to be president (he wrote as much in his autobiography), and he's willing to put political calculations above the search for even a modestly competent candidate for VP. In choosing Palin, he put winning, not country, first (contrary to the tagline of his recent campaign and ads). He is hoping that picking a religious extremist who is also a woman will kill two birds with one stone, simultaneously getting his base to the polls and convincing female swing voters who initially supported Hillary to swing to him (and perhaps to deliver him Alaska, which has been thrown into the toss-up column by a series of corruption scandals, including one in which Governor Palin has been implicated). With the right stars in alignment, this story makes McCain a hypocrite of the worst sort, having blasted Obama for months for his lack of experience, particularly in foreign policy, and then choosing a person who is only 20 months into her term as governor of a small state. (Prior to that, she was mayor of a town of 9000, responsible for making sure the dogsleds ran on time.) Is this really a person who should have been on McCain's short list of, say, the 10,000 Americans most qualified to be Vice President--and, by extension, potentially the leader of the free world?

Second, McCain has just given Democrats license to raise an issue about which they have been very ginger to date, which has been on voters' minds for months: his age and health. At 72, with recurring melanomas that the public can see for itself as his face repeatedly grows new bulges, it is a sad fact but one that needs to be openly discussed (if not by Obama at least by Biden or other Democrats) that he may well not survive his first term in office. McCain knows that as well as anyone, and it made it incumbent upon him to choose a tested running mate with gravitas, who has been thoroughly vetted and has all the qualities we expect of a President of the United States. There is simply no way to construe a person with Governor Palin's resume as fit to be a heartbeat away from an aging President with recurring melanomas. It would now be grossly negligent for the media not to bring on experts to talk about melanoma and McCain's prognosis over the long run (or, for that matter, to talk about changes in the brain in the 70s, particularly in a person under the severe stress of the presidency, given his confusion about such basic facts as who the Sunnis and the Shiites are). It would be equally negligent for Democrats not to run again Palin as they would run against a Presidential candidate, because she is in essence a candidate for President like no other running mate has been before.

Third, Palin is a religious zealot who is outside the mainstream, and polls are increasingly showing that Americans have had enough of intrusions of religious zealotry into our politics. This story is essential to tell about Palin before she tells the moving story of how she and her husband made what most people who find a painful, difficult, and highly personal decision, with four children already, not to abort an apparently accidental pregnancy that prenatal testing revealed would yield a baby with Down Syndrome.

Now it is one thing to honor and respect that decision, and Obama and Biden should certainly do that. But they should also make clear that McCain and Palin believe that the millions of parents faced with painful decisions much like the one Governor Palin and her husband faced should not have any decision to make at all. Rather than deciding what's best for their own families based on their own faith, values, and circumstances, McCain and Palin would force married couples as well as single women to take any baby to term no matter how serious, painful, or debilitating the birth defect, or no matter what the impact on their lives, because McCain and Palin, like President Bush, believe they have to the right to use the government to force one person to live by another person's faith--specifically, their own.

Both McCain and Palin want to overturn Roe v. Wade and to appoint judges like Scalia who are determined to do so as soon as one more extremist is appointed to the Supreme Court if not before. Palin apparently even believes in forcing teenage incest survivors and rape victims to bear their rapists' babies (which is actually the only morally consistent position for someone who believes life begins at conception, and is a slippery slope down which Democrats should be pushing Republicans all over the country, given that 85% of Americans find it morally repugnant). McCain and Palin would also presumably have to support the death penalty (which they both support) not only for those who have or perform abortions (because they are committing premeditated murder, and if a fertilized egg is a person, it has the same standing as a fully formed person) but for the millions of parents who become pregnant through in vitro fertilization, which fertilizes more eggs than can be successfully implanted, who in McCain-Palin world are all mass-murderers. The most serious serial killers, of course, are doctors who practice fertility medicine, who occupy the same rungs of hell as Joseph Mengele for all the people they murder without remorse by using the wonders of modern medicine to help couples experience the miracle of birth. The choice between the two parties and the two pairs of candidates could not be clear: one believes that the most painful, personal life decisions should be made by a woman, couple, or family, and the other believes the government knows best when a man and a woman should or shouldn't start their family.

Palin may be a woman, but she does not share the agenda of any woman who voted for Hillary Clinton (and Democrats should speak out against the implication that she is picking up where Hillary Clinton, a woman of tremendous stature who could have assumed the role of commander-in-chief in a heartbeat, left off). Rather, the position she and others on the right have articulated gives every rapist the right to pick the mother of his child. That position is tantamount to a Rapist's Bill of Rights, which privileges the rights of rapists and child molesters over the rights of their victims. Those are McCain-Palin's "family values," and they are not mainstream American values. Stan Greenberg and I recently identified seven different messages on abortion that beat a well-crafted, well-branded Republican message about life beginning at conception by 15-20 points, and McCain has just given Democratic and progressive candidates every reason to play offense on abortion this year instead of assuming their usual defensive crouch. In fact, McCain has just forced them to play offense, and they should do so immediately, because the extremist position he and his new running mate would impose by force is offensive to the vast majority of Americans, and it will become the law of the land if the Republicans succeed this week in pulling the heartstrings of the American people with Palin's personal choice in a way that makes them forget that others should have the same choice and may decide differently than she did, and that this should not be a governmental decision. Polling data, ours included, further suggest that Democrats everywhere should ask their opponents' to state their stand on President Bush's policy of hiring of anti-contraception zealots in key governmental positions on family planning and his blackmailing of school systems into eliminating the comprehensive sex education programs that over 85% of Americans--including the vast majority of evangelical Christians--want for their children, in favor of his absurd abstinence-only policy, a policy neither he nor McCain ever practiced in their personal lives.

Palin's nomination is one that should put the nails in the coffin of McCain's candidacy in the wake of the extraordinary success of the Democratic Convention. It exposes both a poverty of judgment and a surfeit of hypocrisy and pandering to both the religious right and to the female center. But if the Democrats do not act before the GOP Convention, McCain's reckless move could become transformed by the media and then the public into the bold move of a straight-talking maverick with the foresight to catch a rising star.

That's a story that should never be allowed to reach the moment of conception.

Drew Westen, Ph.D., is Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry at Emory University, founder of Westen Strategies, and author of "The Political Brain: The Role of Emotion in Deciding the Fate of the Nation," recently released in paperback with a new postscript on the 2008 election.

Read more reaction from HuffPost bloggers to John McCain's selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate

Comments

[rnelsonbrown]

Beautiful argument/reversal visa vie the republican stance of less government versus the right to life. Bravo. The contradiction is crystal, at least to those of us who use reason rather than reaction to formulate our actions. Get government out of controlling our lives and into the role of helping us in our hour of need. No one wants abortion, but there are times when abortion is the only 'moral' choice. In this so fundamental issue, the needs of the individual must not to be determined by the biased stamp of the crude, ill conceived, cookie cutter approach advocated by the Right to Lifers. After all, women alone, for better or worse, have the final say in this matter, as they can make the one decision that will ultimately end any discussion in this matter: the actual ability to end their own lives, should the decision to bear what is not to be born come down to that reality. Is this the society we want? Where a woman's last choice is to end her own life rather than start an unwanted one?
One can only hope that the reactionary buttonheads to which the McCain underRighters pander is not really the majority in the US politic, as it effectually was in 2000 and 2004. The rest of the world looks on with bated breath, helpless, as the leviathan that is the US political process lumbers towards an uncertain future that will affect us all whether we like it or not.

[RafaelApollo]

This was so incredible a post it took my breath away. And not far-fetched at all. I had a child by rape in 1970 when you didn't say the word abortion-if the possibility even existed. In the end I had to give him up because I had no funds at all. The rapist stalked me for two years. I had no assistance in any way with any of it.

The important thing to know about this very treacherous arrangement is not to look at the things you see on the surface. She is a Dominionist-a cultish group so extreme even Christians avoid them. Daily Kos has a great page on that.

Moreover, there was a bill written by them in 2003, 2004, 2005, and again in 2006-called the Constitution Restoration Act. This is the stuff dreams are made of for the Right. You will want to examine that more closely-the rest of the stuff you're analyzing is window dressing. You need to look deeper.

This woman is dangerous. Look closely at that facet of her and let the rest go. She is the back-door they can all slide through. McCain's age just makes it all the more of a hazard. She was chosen to stack the deck. To bring these people in by stealth.

Don't get caught in the snare about the baby-that's to throw you off-guard.

Google Dominionist. That is the key to all your puzzlement about her. The common denominator.

[perai]

I suppose I was naive in thinking that conservative views could be posted here.

Good luck my "broad-minded" friends. Hope you don't suffer from apoplexy when the results come out in November!!!

[CaptainSunshine]

"Yup, yup". This is harsh stuff, but Palin is running to be within a heartbeat of the presidency. It all begs to question her judgement and the direction McCain/Palin want to take this country. Nice post.

[zedthewizard]

http://www.andrewhalcro.com/senate_approves_transcanada
this links may not be objective but it discusses transcanada and i see some problems in regards to whether or not the gas pipeline will go forward. if it doesn't go forward the taxpayers are out $500 million. i won't elaboate check out the link. palin got the pipeline deal done, but the pipeline ain't done. this money might be gone and then, they have deal with another company and concessions. the decision doesn't seem good.

[pastgone]

"the position she and others on the right have articulated gives every rapist the right to pick the mother of his child. That position is tantamount to a Rapist's Bill of Rights, which privileges the rights of rapists and child molesters over the rights of their victims"

My God, at last someone is thinking about how to talk about these people and their crazy positions on the issues. Yes, the above statement is a bit of an exagerration, but it's exactly the way Democrats need to drive home their side of these issues. Enough of the "we're above this kind of attack" attitude. The American voter isn't above this kind of argument, so it's suicidal for the Democrats to be.

[vallon]

Wow. One of the best posts I've ever read here. Bravo.

[reshas1]

At any rate, this shows that reality has begun to dawn for the Left. The massive support for Palin on the campaign trail, the enormous fundraising boost, and the sinking poll numbers for Obama point to the conclusion that McCain made a wise choice. He will attack Obama at his supposed strength and point out what a pair of empty suits the Democratic nominees are on reform and change.
Trippi says that Democrats will make a mistake in ridiculing Palin. Unfortunately, just like his analysis, it comes at least a day late.

[Duke1225]

This is a great piece, but don't go after the baby. You don't want to fight for eugenics. People who are not severely mentally handicapped can lead happy and productive lives. But, do focus on incest, rape and choice. I wish someone would ask her how much time a woman should get for having an abortion during one of the debates. Also, loved the idea someone had about bringing up why her children don't go to college, though I suppose having an education would be considered elitist....ugh!

[straightshooter90210]

Absolutely right. I hope they finally get it.

[beaupritchard]

"The position Palin and others on the right have articulated gives every rapist the right to pick the mother of his child. "

Harsh ... but it makes clear why a woman should have the right to chose other wise ... thanks.

[res08]

Women need to know two words from this: Rapist Rights.

The reason why Repubs keep winning - because sadly many people rely on their extremely effective spin and messaging rather than taking time to thoughtfully review their views and policies. If women, and men, are still undecided, they need to know that she fights for Rapist Rights, not women's rights.

Repubs are brilliant at simplified messaging and that's what appeals to the majority of their base.

[LynnDee]

You have shifted the prism of the Pro Life, Pro Choice issue for me in the last section of this well written concisce article!

I have always been Pro Choice but you pointed out the far reaching implications that I believe many have not seriously thought through.

All I can say is WOW and much food for thought here!

[Busterdawg]

This overreaction to Palin is amazing. If she's a meaningless joke as everyone contends, then why the constant blogs and articles and snarky remarks and nasty statements and fixation?

Obama got zero bounce from the convention... ZERO. Because of her selection and the Left's overreaction to it, You're playing right into their hands.

Drew may be a smart man (but that I don't know for sure), yet he's all wrong here. He's overlooking her personal qualities... she's likable and attacking her harshly will only engender a backlash from independen­t/populist­/middle America types. His plea to have defined in which the way he feels she should be defined will only appeal to already converted. Leave her alone... let her sink... or swim on her own. It's the only smart course of action.

[ktodack]

1. Are you kidding-- Over reacting-- not at all, were talking about a very real chance this women becomes the President of our Country within the next four years.
2. How do you conclude Obama got zero bounce, evidence from the polls say he got a sizable bounce.
3. Drew is a smart man, smarter then Karl Rove, but the Democrats are amazingly too stupid to hire him. Read his book "The Political Mind". Drew is worth at least an additional 10-20 points if he was directing the TV focus. As usual young Democrats think they know it all and don't need expert help.
4. Letting The GOP define Palin with no response from the Democrats is how the Democrats lose over and over.

[perai]

Hey Westen,
Whether its by a fluke or not, McCain made an astute and wise choice. She's the embodiment of early pioneering women in this country, who were tough, decent, and honorable.

Persons of your ilk think that being pro-life, and deeply religious, are demeaning characteristics. I've got news for you: such persons made Ameroca great.
If you think that butchering babies, and calling it pro-choice (shoud be pro-death, actually) is right and honorable, then your logic is very warped, indeed.

Eat your hearts out, all you Liberals and Democrats. Grumble and nit-pick all you want. Come November, Sarah Palin is going to be the next Vise President of the US. And then, in 2012, she's going to be #45.

HOORAY FOR SARAH!!!!!

[herhonor]

This is the voter your parents warned you against

[harobamason]

Democrats, McCain has set this as a trap. Do not criticize her but set our expectations higher by talking about the relevant issues such as energy, economy, national security, foreign policy, to name a few.

Hit them so hard on the issues they will never be able to recover or get back up. Senator Obama and Biden, please do not hesitate to throw a hard punch when it comes to the relevant issues.

Reckless Judgment Puts Nation at Risk.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJHJC5geXEo