An Open Letter to Barack Obama

Senator Obama:

It's 2008, and I'm wondering: is Karl Rove the only person in the United States who knows how to win an election? Criticize his tactics however you like. Lambaste him, like John Kerry did last night. Call him names. But he's won the last two presidential elections for, first, a sub-par candidate, and then, an unpopular incumbent. And today, with 82% of Americans saying their country's headed in the wrong direction, he's got John McCain running dead even (and rising) with you.

Something is wrong here, and Karl Rove isn't it.

I imagine you and your staff get accosted daily by those offering advice about what you should say, and how you should conduct your campaign. I see only a sliver of such material, and it already seems an avalanche (though Paul Begala had some pretty good advice right here on HuffPo just the other day). You might ask, as others have, why an actor (or an athlete, or an accountant) would have better ideas than your experts. Well, it's probably got something to do with the fact that those experts have lost two "un-losable" elections in a row already.

Please, Senator Obama, have a look at what the Republicans have effectively done to Al Gore, to John Kerry, and now to you, and recognize how it differs from what Democrats are currently attempting to do to John McCain. Republicans have assigned one clear label, like a company creating a brand, which captures and encapsulates all the legitimate and illegitimate criticisms of the Democratic candidate. The criticisms are then fused to the label through repetition. Eventually, the only criticism that needs to be leveled is the label itself. By then, listeners automatically assign the laundry list of unattractive attributes on their own. And then they hammer that label home. Relentlessly. Mercilessly. Even, some might say, to an imbecilic degree.

Then they win the election, so the crown of imbecility might reside elsewhere.

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Labeling is a simple concept. It assigns one theme -- communicable in one or two words, if possible -- that summarizes the shortcomings of the candidate, and indicates how those shortcomings will negatively impact the lives of voters. Most amazing of all, the Republicans have effectively used the same label now three times in a row: Elitist. I don't see the same technique being used to any effect from the Democratic side. In fact, I don't see it being attempted.

What I've noticed so far have been scattered and uncoordinated laundry lists of accusations against John McCain. Literal-minded criticisms. I don't know why it needs to be pointed out after the elections of 2000 and 2004, but those laundry lists don't win elections. They're a bore to listen to. No one cares. Or, they might care, but they're busy people, with stressful lives. They haven't got the time, or the energy, to put together all the particulars. The packaging of the message has been so poor they've literally fled to the political party that offers them less.

The argument against John McCain and the Republican party is so basic, and so obvious, that it might seem that it only needs to be stated in flat terms. I beg you to do more than that, to adopt some of those "Rovian" techniques, to effectively eviscerate John McCain, and to win this election. We are a nation in need of great leadership. If it's offered in digestible fashion, people will accept it. If it's not, they won't.

The questions posed to you in every newspaper across the country have become similar: "What do you mean by 'change'?"; "What kind of changes do you intend to make?"; "How will you change things?"; and, "How will those changes help me?" The answer I pray I'll hear tonight, and for the remaining weeks of the campaign, will include a label for John McCain and his Republican brand that's recognizable, irrefutable, that will stick, and that will forever after render every McCain utterance suspect to scrutiny, and to doubt. Secrecy and Deception. Use the label. Explain how all our problems -- economic, environmental, military, judicial, and political -- stem from secrecy and deception, perpetrated by the U.S. government upon its citizens for the past eight years, and how John McCain has supported, and will continue, and further enhance, those secretive and deceptive practices, and policies. And then explain how your antidote -- openness and honesty with the American people, and a government overseen by the American people -- will alleviate them.

I don't know why this hasn't been done already. I don't know why a label wasn't already prepared to stick on whichever candidate the Republicans nominated. So, though I'd think there's a speech already written for tonight, in case that's been overlooked as well, here is some suggested text:

My fellow Americans: We've been sinking for eight years into an ever-deepening age of secrecy and deception. Eight years ago, a vice-president decided our nation's energy policy behind closed doors with oil company executives. And now, gas prices for consumers have skyrocketed, while oil company profits have set records. Eight years ago, a corporation-loving president decided that markets should be unregulated, and that those markets would always balance themselves for the benefit of all. And now, mortgage companies have collapsed under the weight of their own unchecked greed, and record numbers of families are facing foreclosure. Seven years ago, a terrible attack on our nation occurred, and an entire administration used falsehoods about that attack to start a war they'd long been eager to fight, that has exhausted our magnificent military, and that has made no one safer. Beginning eight years ago, our entire nation's judicial system has been secretly, and illegally, staffed with people chosen for their one-sided partisan beliefs, insuring that even our courts are unjust. When citizens have gathered to demonstrate in protest against any of the actions of this administration, they've been rounded up in KGB-like fashion and arrested. This is not the United States I grew up in, and it's not the one I intend to lead.

Over the past eight years, your government has passed a set of laws that lessens the quality of the air you breathe, and they've called it "The Clear Skies Initiative." They've lowered the quality of your children's education, and called it "No Child Left Behind." They've taken away the very civil liberties that make the United States the most unique nation on Earth, and called a "Patriot Act." Every title is misleading, saying the opposite of what it intends. Every one is a deception, perpetrated on the citizens of this great nation by their own government. Each program's title is just as backward as the thinking that went into creating it. For eight years, we have had an administration that's kept its citizens working for it, and for its corporate partners, instead of the other way around. It's backward, it's deceptive, and come November, it's going to be over.

What do I intend to change? I'm going to level with the American people. I'm going to put your government back to work for you -- which is the way it's supposed to be. There will be no secret meetings with industry heads to decide policies that affect this nation's citizens. You're going to have a government you can see, a government you can affect, and a government you can trust. A government that once again provides for you, instead of merely pretending to. A government that offers protection from corporate greed, instead of protecting greedy corporations.

And now a new Republican candidate has presented himself. A man who's equally skilled at deception. He presents beliefs that are the opposite of what he claimed to believe just a short time ago. He wants you to believe he's got your best interests at heart. In fact, he calls you his "friends" in every speech he gives. But for the past eight years he has supported 90% of the deceptive and secretive policies that have brought us to where we are now. 90% of the deceptive and secretive policies that have taken your government away from you, and handed it over to corporate interests at your expense. And he intends to continue, and to increase, the trend. Quite simply, this man is not to be trusted. He will speak the opposite of what he intends, just as his Republican "friends" have for the past eight years. He will hide his real intentions, he will refuse to let you see your own government at work, and he will not respond to your demands. If he's anything like the man he's devoted the last eight years to defending and protecting, he'll even refuse to allow any court or judge to hold anyone in his administration accountable for any crimes. That's not the America I grew up in, and it's not the one I intend to lead.

It's time to break free from the politicians, and the party, who say one thing while doing another. Who hide behind executive privilege and show taxpayers only doors that have been closed in their faces. John McCain represents the politics, and the party, of deception and secrecy. He wants to keep you locked away and locked out, just as George Bush and Dick Chaney have done for the past eight years. It's time to say, "No more." It's time to open the doors of government, to welcome this nation's citizens back in, and for us all to walk back out, together, into the light of day. That's what I promise to do. And, in doing so, and with your help, we will rebuild our economy, in honest fashion, and with sensible regulation. We will deal honestly, and firmly, with both our allies and our enemies, so that the world will know we mean what we say. We will strike a balance between sensible energy policies, and the development of newer and cleaner forms of fuel. Between taxes that citizens can afford to pay, and government services that citizens deserve to receive. Between the many faiths we all hold dear, and the science that allows us to live and to practice them. When these balances have been restored, openly, honestly, and transparently, Americans, and America, will be proud once again.

Please, Senator Obama, please. Please say something like that.

evanhandler.com

Comments

[MarilynnK]

Are we Democrats too nice for our own good? We are the party of higher standards for healthcare, education, sensible economic policy and good stewardship of our environment. To let someone as mendacious as Rove define us as anything else--as the bad guys--is incomprehensible.

[KyleCope]

Actors: is there anything they can't solve?

BTW, if you think the right wing controls the media, you are either deaf and blind physically, or so drunk off of liberal blogs you can't see straight. Have you watched MSNBC lately? Are you going to tell me it's not in the tank for Big O? CBS (which was for Hillary, thanks to its news exec producer - formally protecting the Clintons at CNN, but now backing Obama). Ditto NBC with Chris "Obama gives me chills" Matthews, ABC with that midget George, etc. etc. etc.

The reason Republicans win elections, like it or not, is that the liberal elite (and the media conglomerates they run) are already preaching to the converted, the East and West Coast blue states. There are a lot of states in between. Dems need to effectively court middle America, but their platform naturally clashes with the majority of most of the country's beliefs.

[Swerinjer]

The right wing controls the media. Only Democrats get called on questionable motives while repugs always get the benefit of the doubt. Every story always goes through the repug frame. I'm sick of it. How can anyone editorialize about political performance without pointing out the media bias??? Whenever you ignore it you legitimize it.

[pastgone]

A lot of folks don't get what you are saying. Let me sum it up. You have to attack your opponent's character, and you have to do it in a gut-level and symbolic fashion. It doesn't matter if it's true, really, and it doesn't matter if you're being a hypocrite. The Republicans might try to turn the attack back on you, they might argue against it, but that doesn't matter. You just have to find something that sticks, and keep pounding it home, every way you can, subtlely, in code, unfairly, even stretching the truth is OK.

I wouldn't say secrecy and deception, however, although I think that's very powerful. I would say CORRUPTION AND DECADENCE. You can include secrecy and deception inside corruption. But the thing is, these people are filthy rich, they WALLOW in money, and they got it through being corrupt and stealing it from the American taxpayer. Now, THIS argument will win hearts and minds.

[thefixisin]

I can't believe everyone out there can read an article like this and not come to the conclussion I came to in 2000 the republicans are cheating, plain and simple. Nothing we do can help us win until we prosecute the cheaters and all that are involved!

[schatsie]

Wow, that is so powerful, SECRECY AND DECEPTION works for me....

I love the paragraph explaining it. and you have to remember the repugs will be loading up the air waves with lies about Obama and fighting back those lies really does distract from the very root message that they keep secrets and lie.... (so why even credit anything anything at all that they say.)..

Love you Baby, greatest article I have read on Huff!!!!

[breakingpoint]

He should have picked Hillary.

[lakephillip]

It seems you got your wish

[elizaW]

Here's the problem with your argument. The Democrats also are guilty of lies, half-truths and manipulation. It is true that the last eight years have not been this country's finest but exaggerating the negative of every single thing that Bush was part of it doesn't strengthen your case it only makes you look like someone preaching your version of the Bible. Preaching will not sell your argument as much as a rational unexaggerated dialogue. To do this you have to acknowledge that McCain isn't Bush, just like Obama isn't Kerry. To insist that McCain and Bush are the same because McCain voted for many of Bush's proposals is to completely ignore the evidence that shows McCain to be a maverick. Finally, you can't blame Karl Rove for the elitist label, Obama has brought that on himself. It doesn't matter that Obama had humble beginnings if he is now flaunting his expensive education, hanging with the Hollywood crowd, and talking down to the very people he needs...Middle America. One of the reasons Bill Clinton is such a genius is because he's that rare thing, an elitist that all people can relate to. Obama doesn't have that gift.

[timinhi]

You are a very smart guy. If I ever run for office, will you be my campaign manager/speech writer? Keep up the good work. We need voices like yours. A lot of people say that we need to adopt Rovian tactics in order to win. The mistake they make is that they think that simply means being mean-spirited and name-calling. I think you get the real point, which is to matter-of-factly point out the ills perpetrated on us by Bush/McCain and Co., attach a meaningful label to them and keep pounding them on it. When THEY called Gore an "exaggerator," or Kerry a "flip-flopper," they weren't calling them evil baby-eating devils. But the labels were slightly humorous, ever-so slightly based in truth, that with repeated use, came to personify our candidates and resonated with voters. Like you say, all the perceived negatives they threw at our candidates became distilled down to those labels, and it gave people a simple excuse to justify not voting for our guys.

[Steve1]

EXACTLY!

I've been saying these same things to some of the Dem elites for years, yet they just say, "young man, you don't know how all of this works" when all the while we keep losing elections. It's almost as if the Dems have been trying to lose, as you noted, are elections that were loser proof.

Who are these Democratic Party geniuses who keep telling our candidates to play it safe and for God's sakes don't say anything that will offend the Reeps. No, we wouldn't want to get that fat little puke Karl Rove actually working, instead of making these elections cakewalks. If the Dems simply told the truth about the neocons and how that effects their paychecks, their children's future, the air we breath etc., and hammer the Reeps over the head with the anvil of truth, I'm not sure how we could ever lose an election. Of course now we need Obama to follow up this speech with a race that old man McCain's feeble mind won't have the ability to follow.

Now, I just read McCain has chosen Alaska Governor Palin as his Veep. This is hilarious, because how on Earth is she going to take over if/when McCain kicks the bucket in office. She's only 44 and absolutely unqualified to be president. She's the Reeps candidate of change? What a joke. Now, will the Obama folks take her on or play patty cakes with her until November 4.

[Billie]

The fact that Obama did not mimic craven Rove-style tactics is part of the change he represents. And I believe that anyone who doesn't know, at this point, what Obama means by change doesn't really want to know.

[suzy22]

Can I vote for you!!!!! you really nailed it. Maybe you should start writing speeches. that was wonderful....
thanks, Evan..

[nypoet22]

it's not the lack of attack labels that lost the last two presidential elections. mcbush is enough of a label, and it has been repeated quite well. but that should be a smaller concern. the two factors that have not been adequately addressed the last eight years have been ground organization and election fraud.

cons and their networks of compromised media and clergy have been incredibly effective at mobilizing the right-wing lunatic base, and have rigged elections through various forms intimidation, inconvenience and downright fraud. registration purges, broken or inadequate voting machines in dem districts, intimidation squads and computer tampering are just a few of the techniques that have been employed, and many are still in place. i live in florida so i know what i'm talking about. obama's people would be well-advised to focus more on protecting votes and voters after they've left their homes for the polling place.

[sonshine]

I hear Obama and others around him saying the things that you and others want him to say. I strongly believe that this myth that people don't know what Obama stands for is perpetuated by people like you. If it were true I would agree with you but I'm hearing the details all the time.

[11907281]

Ears wide shut, comes to mind.

[ehandler]

I believe you're misreading my statement. I'm not perpetuating anything about Obama not stating details. I'm pointing out the generalized failure of Democratic party candidates to effectively frame their opponents, as their opponents have tended to do to them. I'm aching for Obama to post a label onto John McCain that will resonate with the public, and that will be hard for McCain to shake. I'm hopeful the process might begin tonight.

[rockyersocksoff]

I appreciate your essay.

I believe the bullsh*t title you're thinking of was the "Clear Skies Act." Or "Initiative."

Clean Air Act was about 35 years ago.