Why Voters Say they Don't Really Know Barack Obama (and Why They Don't Really Know Much about John McCain, Either)

A New York Times report this week described the frustration and perplexity of the Obama team as to why they are having trouble "getting their message out" in the face of GOP "distractions."

Sound familiar?

The economy is tanking, and McCain's chief economic adviser, Phil Gramm, made one of the most disastrous gaffes a high-ranking campaign official could have made when a nation is facing bank closings, record foreclosures, skyrocketing prices, spiraling unemployment, and an angry electorate: belittling the public for their distress and telling them to stop whining. It would have fit right into a story about a presidential candidate who has as many homes as most people have fingers, and whose first response to the mortgage crisis was to blame the lack of "personal responsibility" of young families buying their first one. It would have fit right into a story of a presidential candidate whose wife complained that the only way to get around Arizona is on a personal jet.

But the Obama campaign chose not to tell that story--or any of its supporting details. When Obama was standing on a world stage last week illustrating for anyone to see precisely what he would do for American respect again around the world--in a world where respect translates into help fighting the terrorists without borders who constitute the greatest threat to our national security--where were his surrogates reminding voters that McCain's whining about Obama's popularity was nothing but sour grapes, and preventing the media from turning Obama's extraordinary success into an example of empty "celebrity" and "arrogance"? (Last I looked, television news producers didn't take their own high ratings as signs of arrogance when they make a strong showing.) And when they finally put a surrogate on television this weekend--John Kerry to face off against Joe Lieberman doing his best Zell Miller impersonation--why did they pick a surrogate associated in every American's mind with the one thing you wouldn't want associated with a candidate who'd had a rough week: losing?

When a campaign has to ask why it is having trouble getting its message out, the campaign is usually the problem. Obama has a voice, and he has the microphone to say anything he wants anytime he wants to say it. But as his opponent "distracts" the media--and hence the public--daily with a relentless drumbeat about what's wrong with Obama--that he isn't strong, that he isn't American, that he isn't patriotic, that he doesn't have the judgment or experience to be president, that he didn't have the balls to serve in the military, that he eats arugula, that he is the most liberal member of the United States Senate, that he isn't "one of us"--what story has Barack Obama told that could possibly catch the public attention? That he has a slightly amended plan for dealing with the energy crisis? And what story is his campaign telling about why voters should worry as much about John McCain as they are beginning to worry about Barack Obama?

McCain has made abundantly clear since infesting his campaign with Rove protégées a few weeks ago that he intends to run a relentlessly negative campaign. For many of us, it was a relief this week to see Obama starting to run an occasional offense this week, instead of running a prevent defense with too few players on the field. What is not as clear is what the Obama campaign learned from the relentlessly negative campaign Hillary Clinton ran against him in the last half of the primary season. They clearly remember that he won. But what is not so clear is whether his campaign took away anything from the fact that he lost two-thirds of the primaries after Hillary turned to her slash-and-burn strategy and that many voters came away with an uneasy feeling about him.

His campaign needs to understand why that happened, because it's the same thing that happened to Al Gore and John Kerry. It's about narratives.

There is a simple fact about elections that has eluded Democrats in every presidential campaign they have lost in the last 40 years: that as a candidate, you have to focus first and foremost not on a litany of "issues" but on four stories: the story you tell about yourself, the story your opponent is telling about himself, the story your opponent is telling about you, and the story you are telling about your opponent. Candidates who offer compelling stories in all four quadrants of this "message grid" win, and those who leave any of them to chance generally lose.

Al Gore didn't tell any of the four. He didn't want to be associated with Bill Clinton (a fatal flaw Obama should not repeat), so he had nothing to say about what his administration had accomplished over eight years of extraordinary peace and prosperity. Even his chief strategist, Bob Shrum, now admits that the campaign suffered from its relentless focus on "issue" positions and policies without weaving them into any coherent story about why Al Gore should be president.

John Kerry told one story--the story of his military bona fides--and left the others to fate (and Karl Rove). He lost when he failed to respond to the two major stories told about him: that he was a flipflopper (a story that started the day he became the presumptive nominee and his campaign never deigned to answer) and the story that he was a fake war hero (a direct contradiction to his only story, which his team thought best to let fester). Neither campaign thought to tell a coherent story about George W. Bush. Try recalling the master narrative either one of them told about their opponent, and see if you can get past the first sentence.

John McCain is telling a story about himself--that he's a man of courage and conviction who loves his country. He is telling a story about Obama--that he's a man of none of those things. Virtually everyone in the country is receiving a barrage of email from anonymous sources detailing this message about Obama without constraints of truth. After watching Hillary Clinton lose to Obama's charisma and after watching Obama enthrall the rest of the world and the troops McCain claims Obama doesn't support last week, he is now in full attack mode, trying to tell a story about his opponent's greatest strength (that Obama is someone who can inspire people, and can even do so on a world stage, where McCain's master narrative had claimed a decided advantage). So now he is telling the story of Obama as an arrogant, uppity, empty celebrity.

That story may well backfire, but it wouldn't hurt if the Obama team put a team on the field, emphasized the desperation underlying McCain's message, turned McCain into a grumpy old man who's just angry that no one seems to find him compelling, and threw something other than an occasional weak arm-punch against McCain for his having nothing to say about himself other than that he doesn't like to talk about the years he spent in Hanoi that he talks about incessantly. Nor would it had hurt if the Obama campaign showed signs of a functioning rapid response team when McCain starting trumpeting the story that Obama only wanted to visit injured troops in Germany if he had camera crews with him, which turned out to be fabricated out of whole cloth. But days of negative press passed before the Obama team had even got their stories straight on that mini-story, leaving the impression that was, as McCain suggested, a dishonorable grandstander. The elapsed time between a charge like that and a powerful count-attack, as any veteran of the Clinton War Room will tell you, should be no more than one hour, so there is never a news cycle--let alone four or five days--during which the primary voices are the opposition and the pundits, who will echo the opposition unless they hear a clear, forceful counter-response.

Barack Obama has told one story: that he will bring change and hope. Many have argued, from early in the Democratic primary season, that his was a campaign of soaring rhetoric and words without substance. That charge has "stuck" in the minds of many voters, who say they don't really know who Obama is and where he stands. It's a peculiar charge for a candidate who has laid out detailed plans for every issue of our time. Try going to his website or listening to his wonkish policy addresses.

But whereas the standard Democratic response is to throw more plans and positions against the wall and hope that they'll stick, that's missing the point: that Obama hasn't yet told a coherent, consistent narrative of who he is that weaves together the themes of his campaign with his own life history. The result is that he has left his race, his exotic history, and the smear campaigns aimed at defining him as "not one of us" to resonate with voters. When I work with candidates, one of the first things I do is to spend a day with them walking through their life history and listening for the salient events, the values that mean something to them, and the stories from their lives or from the people they have met in their lifetimes or on the campaign trail that make those values vivid and come alive and illustrate where their heart is, so that when they go on the road, they have a coherent story to tell about who they are, what they stand for, and how their life story connects with the lives and concerns of their constituents.

Obama began to tell the story of who he is and what his values are in his first biographical ad of the general election, although the ad ran briefly and he did not reinforce it on the stump. I suspect he will attempt to develop that story at the Democratic Convention, but if his team understands how networks work in the brain, they will begin laying the neural tracks now so they have neural traction. And if they understand what it means that Karl Rove and his protégés are now at the helm in McCainland, they will be ready for and inoculate against the counter-narratives designed to derail that message--counter-narratives they have already begun to offer--that he's a black man who readily cries racism (something he has done everything possible to avoid, knowing that that "race card" just activates latent white resentment), that he's exotic in a way that makes him so far from the lives and experiences of everyday Americans that he can't connect with them (all the while drawing record crowds that contradict that story), and do forth.

The average American actually doesn't know Barack Obama, despite all the media attention. They know that he's a gifted, charismatic man with a winning smile, a keen mind, and a tendency to alternative between RFK on the stump and Michael Dukakis in interviews and debates. Most people haven't read Dreams from my Father or The Audacity of Hope, and their only exposure to either will be in Republican attack ads using his words against him. Most white people who worry that he doesn't share their values don't know that he grew up in a family much like theirs, with a white mother and blue collar white grandparents. Most people don't know that he cares so much about the absence of black fathers from the lives of their children not only because he understands the destructiveness, particularly to boys, but that he understands it firsthand, and was only saved from its more destructive impact by the presence of a loving (if sometimes overly fun-loving) maternal grandfather.

Like Kerry, Obama has offered the American voter one story when he should have offered four, and that one story can be summarized in one sentence. Regardless of how detailed your policy positions, that isn't enough. It isn't memorable. It doesn't capture the imagination of a brain wired over the long years of our species' evolution for a particular kind of narrative structure, when the only way to pass knowledge and values down across generations prior to the rise of literacy--and when our children have not yet learned to read--was through stories.

Obama infrequently answers the stories told about him by telling a story about the attacker (the most effective strategy for addressing attacks, and very different from the nuanced answers he often gives responding to attacks that are smokescreens for deeper attacks on his character). Like Kerry, he has made no sustained attempt to define McCain, except on-again off-again efforts to brand McCain as Bush's third term. While getting smacked repeatedly with the charge of elitism, the candidate with the humble roots hasn't mentioned that perhaps McCain is so out of touch with the concerns of everyday Americans because he was born with a silver spoon in his hand, is a poster child for affirmative action for the wealthy and well connected (having both gained admittance to and barely survived the Naval Academy at the bottom of his class as the son and grandson of four-star admirals), and that maybe he should speak more with the servants in his eight homes if he wants to know what the energy crisis or health insurance crisis or mortgage crisis he's been part of the problem in creating in the Senate for three decades actually feels like to everyday Americans.

Is that dirty politics? Is it the dreaded "negativity" (dreaded only by Democrats, who confuse negative statements about their opponent with low-road politics)? It all depends on whether you think telling people the truth in a way that catches their interest, gets them to feel something, and leads them to remember it is unethical. There need be no contradiction between Obama's high-road message and a realistic campaign that addresses all four quadrants of the message grid. If he wants to retain the high road, the least he can do is to counterpunch every time McCain tries to tell a story about Obama or undermine Obama's own story, with a simple, "There you go again--that's exactly the politics of division that has led us to where we are in Washington."

From a neurological standpoint, positive and emotions play different functions, arise in different ways, and even have largely distinct neural circuitry. If McCain creates enough ambivalence about Obama, Obama will need to create enough ambivalence about McCain to cancel it out. No one has ever won an election by saying what a great guy he is, letting his opponent pummel away at his character, and refusing to define his opponent or derail the glorious narrative his opponent is telling about himself.

Perhaps Obama will be the first. But he should study the stump speeches and convention addresses of the only Democrats to win an election when Republicans controlled the White House since FDR: JFK in 1960, Jimmy Carter in 1976, and Bill Clinton in 1992. All three ran positive, forward-thinking campaigns, but all three ran against the incumbent and his party with a strong story that resonated with the American people. None was afraid to mince words about his opponent.

Obama needs to remember that one of the most "negative" political documents ever written was the Declaration of Independence.

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 primaries.

Comments

[allonfla]

Hey Guys, Instead of writing comments that Obama will never see, why don't each of you go out and get an extra vote or two? Why don't YOU go out and tell people who Obama is? He can huff and puff about his personal story all he wants to, IF PEOPLE DON"T VOTE, HE WON'T WIN.

[skantea]

Great Idea! Let's each make it our mission to convert at least 5 undecided/low information voters each, per month until this thing is over. That may seem like only a few but let's not underestimate the ripple effect.
Heck, if the Repubs keep underestimating him, and heavy handedly demonizing him w/o facts to back it up, then our jobs should be easy.
Personally I intend to focus on the inevitable Iran Invasion. I've found that as soon as you inform someone that Iran has 125.8 Billion barrels of oil underneath their feet (2nd only to the Saudi's), and 940 trillion cubic feet of Natural gas(2nd only to Russia), and then ask them why we invaded Iraq, they usually end up convincing themselves.

[hlechols]

For the first time in my time posting on this site I am really proud of a post. Thank you ALLONFLA. ! If we want Obama to win we have to work for it. As he has said it will take all of us who want a change to fight for it. I for one will be so very depressed if John McCain wins. I feel like those of us who are trying to exist in this country will sink further faster in the next four years than we did in the last eight.

[who38]

Most of us ARE doing that; but we can't help but wonder what our Demo representatives are doing? Step up, people.

[Justsaynodeal]

And you can always donate more money.....­.as 0-man's corporate donors have maxed out!

[BillZBubb]

While the gist of your article is correct, there are numerous errors as well. First, you claim Hillary Clinton ran a "relentlessly negative" campaign. That is baloney. She did run a few negative ads and did take a few swipes at Obama, but for the most part her message was about how she would govern. Apparently you bought the corporate media, Obama campaign line. Even the Clinton's weak attacks hurt Obama. That should worry all Democrats. Anyway, you want to see a real relentlessly negative campaign, just watch the next few months as the Republicans deconstruct Obama.

Second, you claim no one can say they don't know where Obama stands on the issues since his web site has so much detail. Well, I've been to Obama's web site and yes their is detail. But, he has changed his position on critical issues so much, how does one know what he REALLY stands for. The FISA betrayal still gnaws at me. Obama seems to be a much more opportunistic, standard pol, than a real agent of change.

There is more, but unfortuately, the 250 word limit stops me from going further. That said, you are absolutely right that Obama needs to fight on all four biographical fronts. So far, he's not doing much of anything.

[KarenJW]

Where the heck were you for the first 6 months of this year? Hillary did nothing during the Democratic primary but assume she would be the nominee, malign Obama every chance she got, and lie every time she opened her choppers! Where is Bill now, landing in Bosnia under sniper fire????????????? LOL !!!!!!!!!

[Justsaynodeal]

See, that is where you are wrong. BC is in Africa continuing his humanitarian efforts to help those who are dying of malnutrition, HIV/Malaria and global world neglect. He has and will continue to be one of the most productive former presidents in the history of the USA. Carter did his work with habitat and trying to promote democracy in the world by monitoring elections and promoting peace between Palestine and Israel, but what have GOP former presidents done? GHWBoosh has been on the board of the Carlyle Group and giving paid speeches for the Rev Moon. The Democrats have only two former presidents, two that we can be proud to have in the Democratic Party, and what do we do? We bash one to promote the illusion that the candidate 0-man is better. No wonder we have only two presidents elected in the last 40 years.

[DontEvenThinkIt]

The FISA betrayal, along with his decision not to use the public financing for his campaign as he said he would do, are alarming indicators of his real character.

I want to hear his supporters bring up the whole "vote on the war issue" again, because clearly Obama says one thing and does another. After his actions on the FISA and public campaign finance issues, I would bet he would have voted for the war, "and here is why.......­........" followed by some rationalization, just as Clinton did.

Wake up! This guy is a loose cannon, and the first things he does on a national stage are contradictory to what he has said previously. He makes up stories about his past. He speaks in generalizations. No wonder people think they don't know him. He doesn't even know himself. The only think he does know is he wants to be the President of the United States. Good Luck with that, Barry.

[certainot]

"he doesn't know himself" --sounds like limbaugh again- but really, how can any American, even republican, vote for another republican?

[who38]

Granted Obama is not perfect; however, he is head and shoulders above McCain. I am going to vote for the person who, I think, will represent the majority of my political concerns. I hope that you agree with my decision and will do the same.

[allonfla]

I am very suspicious of this talk that voters don't know Obama. All throughout the primaries we heard he has a woman, jewish, hispanic and hard working white people problem-Now articles and numbers have come out that say he's beating McCain in these categories. I just have to wonder if this "voters don't know Obama" is in the same category. For the past few weeks he has been on Access Hollywood, People, OK, Ebony,Essence and Ladies Home Journal and I'm sure there is more to come. He knows and has said himself many times that he is aware of this problem so I am sure his team has an on-going plan for this. And let's be honest here sometimes "voters don't know Obama" is code for where is the mistress, love child, drug video or some other hidden scandal? Where is the sleaze that will reinforce their hidden beliefs of Obama? Let's all stop yapping like we know better than his campaign. They will make mistakes and they will learn from them. They have to get a Black guy elected in a country that has an extremely long history of racism - What makes any of you think they are just sitting on their hands?

[KarenJW]

Racism in America is not a historical phenomenon­..........­..it is so prevalent today and will remain as such for many years to come!

[allonfla]

I never said racism was over, but I should not have to state the obvious to anyone that lives on this planet

[Justsaynodeal]

The racial divisiveness has been widened in this election. I can only speak for myself when I say I am so tired of being called a racist because I won't drink the koolaid.

[icemilkcoffee]

Well said- John Kerry is the worst possible 'surrogate'. And Obama needs to defend against the attacks rigorously, and attack McCain at every turn. Drew is right 'issues' mean absolutely NOTHING. A 10 point plan on educational tax credit will just put everyone to sleep. Any candidate can rattle off a 10 point plan for affordable health.The­y all sound the same and nobody gives a rat a$$ about it. People just want to get to know who you are and know that you are 'one of them'.

[Billie]

Obama does respond to attacks. He called the envious celebrity mccain ad attack "pathetic.­" He gave a great speech after the rev. wright association attack. (Never mind all the neo cons have crazy right wing fundamentalists frothing at the mouth over gays and how floods, terrorists attacks and such should be blamed on homosexuality).

Obama is going to pick his reactions to bs slime carefully. Change We Can Believe In is all about not REACTING to every single bait on the hook cast out to shake him. Seems to me he is doing a great job of not getting riled up when the schoolyard bullies try to provoke him. Just wait. This guy is cool and smart and strategic. He will fight back when the fight is right. Time is better spent working on issues and meeting with others around the world instead of bickering back and forth with every bs charge from the McCain camp. This is unlike the Kerry nonresponse in that Obama is responding with action and has (and will) do a take down when a charge is so damaging he needs to. This is a change we can believe in: an adult who knows how to handle bullies.

[who38]

Oh, I so hope that you are right. But they, also, need to have a Plan B that can be operational at a moment's notice.

[certainot]

he does react but the reaction won't be repeated unless the GOP /rove media machine wants it repeated- first on talk radio as it is distorted and mis characterized for a few days and then on to the lazy talking head shows to reinforce that obama is an elitist or racist or angry black man.

[Janiceguy]

THIS ENERGY ISSUE IS PERHAPS THE PERFECT WAY TO DEMONSTRATE TO MAINSTREAM AMERICA, JOHN MCCAINS VIEW IN RESPECT TO OUR WELFARE, HERE IN THIS COUNTRY.
AN INCREASE IN TAXES SHOULD, IN FACT BE LEVIED ON THE OIL COMPANIES. THEY HAVE BEEN GIVEN A BREAK AT BOTH ENDS; THROUGH INCREASED REVENUES AND THROUGH TAX BREAKS GIVEN WHEN THE PRESIDENT BUSH TOOK OFFICE. .

WE HAVE BEEN EXPERIENCING ECONOMIC CHAOS FOR AN EXTENDED PERIOD OF TIME. IN FACT, SINCE THE 911 BOMBING THAT TOOK PLACE SHORTLY AFTER PRESIDENT BUSH TOOK OFFICE. WE HAVE NOT EXPERIENCED TRUE PROSPERITY SINCE THE CLINTONS LEFT OFFICE.
INSTEAD, WE ARE DEPENDING ON GOVERNMENT HANDOUTS.
IT IS TIME FOR A CHANGE. IN ORDER TO EFFECT CHANGE WE NEED ELECT PEOPLE WHO REPRESENT US AND ARE CONCERNED ABOUT OUR WELFARE.
MCCAIN IS A SUPPORTER OF THE VIEWS OF THE PRESIDENT. THAT IS WHAT I WILL BE THINKING ABOUT WHEN I CAST MY VOTE IN THE NOVEMBER ELECTION.
WE ARE R-E-A-D-Y FOR CHANGE.

[thinklib]

Oil companies have always been given tax breaks - even when Clinton was in office. The reason is it encourages more oil exploration. Our economy runs on oil. We need oil companies to find the oil, pump it out, refine it, and get it to the citizenry.

I, for one, want the oil companies to be successful. That means they're bringing oil to the market. The more they bring, the more successful the oil companies and the country will be.

Alternative fuels are great and I support them - when they are economically feasible. Until then, I say go, oil companies, go.

[who38]

Oil is so 20th century.

[annsnewfriend]

"When Obama was standing on a world stage last week illustrating for anyone to see precisely what he would do for American respect again around the world...."

Are you serious? If they like him, let the Europeans vote for him. When he gave his big "tah-dah" speech in Germany was the defining moment for me: an American presidential candidate who goes over seas and does the Dixie Chicks dance for Germans.

Lindsey Graham said it well, "looks like we'll have to get to 270 without Germany." Yeah.

[thinklib]

Agree. Campaigning in Germany was a big, ego-driven mistake.

[kynandog]

Great piece.

"From a neurological standpoint, positive and emotions play different functions, arise in different ways, and even have largely distinct neural circuitry.­"

positive and --------NE­GATIVE----­--- emotions ..... ?

You ***need*** to fix that.

[spinmas]

I hate to say it but democrats are some whimps. The guys running OBama's campign are white guys acting too white, and they are going to lose another election. I wonder myself about the surrogates that his campaign sends out for him each day and week. When I look at Nacy Polosi, she looks scared. Sure the country is going trough a lot but she and Reid hould have and can play hard ball. On the surface this republican administration has broken a lot of laws, someone needs to hold meetings and find them accountable. Another thing if anyone thinks that a muslim would have his two children baptized as christians is a fool, And cable and print news needs to point them out as fools. For if he did do this, being a muslim who surrounds himself with a family of christians, then he will die along with the "rest of us infidels" cause the real muslims are not going to like him either, to them what he has done would be blasphemous1

[scooterliberal]

Here's the deal: Obama already is ahead in all the blue states. He's got it in the bag. All this talk about stories doesn't mean squat. The only states that matter are a couple of the swing states and that is where they are focusing their energy. If they can win Ohio, Virginia and Florida that's all they need because all of the other blue states will line up for Obama in November.

[bbgc]

This is an excellent analysis, Drew. Is there any way that any one out there can get Drew's comments to someone in the Obama campaign? I worry that his inner circle is so 'nose to the grindstone' that they can't step back and get some fresh perspective on what angle they should position from to counter McCain's attacks. Can you forward your 'four quandrant' piece to him, Drew? Or does anyone have an inside track for getting the campaign's attention with Drew's input?

[killmenow]

Thank you for this very important post. It's really disappointing how lackluster Obama and his campaign have been since Hillary finally dropped out. Perhaps one of the things Obama should do now is just go to his own website, print out a few of his policy ideas, and read them out loud to the cameras and the crowds every single day. Few people have any idea that he really has any new ideas.

[Riker]

While the Obama campaign might have something working for the future, many Americans are setting their opinions of Barack on what McCain and the GOP is telling them. Obama needs to match the mood of the country and show real outrage at what the Republicans are doing to this country - and fast!

[tyrdofwaitin]

Sorry to say, Ladies and Gents, that if they don't know Barack Obama after nearly 20 months of campaigning I would say that they DON'T WANT TO KNOW HIM.

N.B. McCain's campaign mantra? "I'm NOT Obama".

So sad and so true. Ugh!

[urbangreen]

Who is Obama listening to?! He's gone from being a leader to being a just another pol in only a few short months. I fervently hope that he has the good luck to read this post and the good sense to listen to you.

[lady49]

Low information voter....
How many of you ARE out there????

Obama is the most brilliant, most dynamic leader we've had in DECADES...­..
Maybe you should ak yourself..­. What do the people in Berlin know that I don't....