Don't Think of a Maverick! Could the Obama Campaign Be Improved?

Throughout the nomination campaign I was struck by how well the Obama campaign was being run, especially how sophisticated the framing was. I was heartened that my five books on the subject might have had a real effect. But recently I have begun to wonder. It looks like, in certain respects, the Obama campaign is making some of the same mistakes of the Hillary campaign and the Kerry and Gore campaigns.

The Dayton speech on education had fine policy, but was the first really deadly dull Obama speech I've heard. It started out with lots of numbers. True, but dull. And he is promising more of the same policy wonk speeches. He's right that we are facing serious realities, and he's right to say what he intends to do, but the old inspiring Obama just isn't there. And the surrogates -- Biden and Hillary -- are policy-wonking it too.

I hope I'm wrong. Given my great respect for those who ran the nomination campaign so well, I wonder if I should say anything at all. But, as I predicted, Palin has turned out to be effective and the Obama campaign has not been effective in dealing with her. I've been getting loads of email asking me to say something to the campaign. So with some hesitation and a great deal of respect, I will simply point out what I see.

Four years ago I wrote a book called, Don't Think of an Elephant! The title made a basic point: Negating a frame activates that frame. If you activate the other side's frame, you just help the other side, as Nixon found out when he said, "I am not a crook," which made people think of him as a crook.

The Obama campaign just put out an ad called "No Maverick". The basic idea was right. The Maverick Frame is central to the McCain campaign, and as the ad points out, it's a lie. But negating the Maverick Frame just activates that frame and helps McCain. You have to substitute a different frame that characterizes McCain as he really is. There are various possibilities. Let's consider one of them. Ninety percent of the time, McCain has been a Yes-Man for Bush. Think in terms of questions at a debate. If the question is, is McCain a maverick?, you are thinking about him as a maverick, even when you are trying to find ways in which he isn't. McCain wins. If the question is whether McCain is a Yes-Man for Bush, you put McCain on the defensive. People think of him as a Yes-man 90 percent of the time, and try to think cases when he might not have been. This is not rocket science. It's the first principle of framing.

The "No Maverick" ad also misses an opportunity. It correctly observes that McCain's campaign is loaded with "lobbyists." But most of the people the ad is trying to reach don't know just what a "lobbyist" is. McCain is saying he is fighting against the Washington power structure. A lobbyist is a "member of the Washington power structure." If you use such a phrase, you can point out that McCain campaign itself is part of the Washington power structure, the old-boy network.

But these are small, easily fixable problems. Just change a word here or there. The campaign is facing bigger internal problems. Let's start with the statement by Rick Davis, McCain's campaign manager, that the campaign is "not about the issues."

In 1980, Richard Wirthlin -- Ronald Reagan's chief strategist -- made a fateful discovery. In his first poll he discovered that most people didn't like Reagan's positions on the issues, but nevertheless wanted to vote for Reagan. The reason, he figured out, is that voters vote for president not primarily on the issues, but on five other factors -- "character" factors: Values; Authenticity; Communication and connection; Trust; and Identity. In the Reagan-Carter and Reagan-Mondale debates, Mondale and Carter were ahead on the issues and lost the debates, because the debates were not about the issues, but about those other five character factors. George W. Bush used the same observation in his two races. Gore and Kerry ran on the issues. Bush ran on those five factors.

In the 2008 nomination campaign, Hillary ran on the issues, while Obama ran on those five factors and won. McCain is now running a Reagan-Bush style character-based campaign on the Big Five factors. But Obama has switched to a campaign based "on the issues," like Hillary, Gore, and Kerry. Obama has reality on his side. And the campaign is assuming that if you just tell people the truth, they will reason to the right conclusion. That's false and they should know better.

Chris Cillizza, in his Washington Post column, made the mistake of calling this a matter of "personality." DLC theorists Bill Galston and Elaine Kamarck have previously made the same mistake. Voters are smarter. Since they don't know what the situation will be in a couple of years, it is rational to ask if a candidate shares your values, if he's saying what he believes, if he connects with you, if you trust him, and if you identify with him. That is a rational thing to do. Not just a matter of personality.

Unfortunately, it is also easy to manipulate these things with marketing techniques. As Cillizza points out, McCain and Palin are being marketed as American icons: the war hero and the ideal mom. Obama and Biden were marketed (honestly) as realizations of the American Dream, living hope that it is still possible -- with Obama as the lone figure with the charisma, character, and talent to actually unite the country and bring back the dream.

So far, the McCain-Palin narratives are proving powerful. Palin has enormous charisma of her own. Meanwhile the Obama narrative is being given up in favor of "the issues." It is as though, after the Republicans attacked Obama's charismatic leader persona, the Obama campaign gave up on it, instead of realizing that they could capitalize on it.

Barack Obama's campaign manager David Plouffe released the following statement: "We appreciate Senator McCain's campaign manager finally admitting that his campaign is not in fact about the issues the American people care about, which is exactly the kind of cynical old politics people are ready to change." But Plouffe, very much to his credit, beat the Clinton campaign in just that way. Hillary played the policy wonk and lost. Barack ran on what his biography showed about his values; his willingness to say what he believed (authenticity); his ability to connect, communicate and build trust through his sincerity; and on the use of his biography to get voters to identify with him. The beauty of Obama's nomination campaign, right through his acceptance speech at the convention, was his ability to frame realities through running on those five character factors. The campaign performed brilliantly.

But post-Palin, the Obama-Biden campaign seems to have become the Gore-Kerry-Hillary campaign. They are running on 18th Century theory of Enlightenment reason: If you just tell people the facts, they will follow their self-interest and reason to the right conclusion. What contemporary cognitive scientists have discovered (See my new book, The Political Mind: Why You Can't Understand 21st Century Politics with an 18th Century Brain), and what Republican marketers have known for decades, is that the Enlightenment theory of reason doesn't describe how people actually work. People think primarily in terms of cultural narratives, stereotypes, frames, and metaphors. That is real reason.

Realities matter. To communicate them, you have to make use of real reason. That's what Obama did in the nomination campaign when he used his personal narrative to communicate about the country's needs. Obama needs to go back to being Obama. The Obama campaign's job is to shine a light on those realities through Obama's unique personal qualities as a leader and communicator.

The Obama campaign has problems with conservative populism. They don't seem to understand it. Conservative populism on a national scale was invented in the late 1960s. At the time, most working people identified themselves with liberals. But conservatives realized that many working people were what I have called "biconceptuals" -- they are genuinely conservative in their mode of thought about patriotism and certain family issues, though they are progressive in their understanding of nature (they love the land) and their commitment to communities where people care about each other, etc. So conservatives have talked to them nonstop about conservative "patriotism" and "family values", thus activating their conservative mindset. At the same time, conservative theorists invented the ideal of "liberal elitism": that liberals look down upon working people and are not like them. Conservatives have been working at constructing this mythology for nearly forty years and liberals have stood by and let it happen. Palin is a natural for the conservative populists. She understands their culture.

Conservative populism is a cultural, not an economic, phenomenon. These are folks who often vote against their economic self-interest and instead vote on their identity as conservatives and on their antipathy to liberals, who they see as elitists who look down on them. Simply giving conservative populists facts and figures won't work.

They tend to vote for people they identify with and against people who they see as looking down on them. The job for the Obama campaign is to reverse the present mindset that the Republicans have constructed, to reveal the conservatives as elitist Washington insiders who cynically manipulate them, to get conservative populists to identify with Obama and Biden on the basis of values and character, and to have them see realities through Obama's leadership capacities. Not an easy job. But it's the real job.

Debate Preparation

I am concerned about the upcoming debates. There are two aspects of debate prep: internal and external. Let's start with the external, since it's less obvious. What happens in a debate depends very much on questions asked and the framing used to ask them. It's the job of a campaign to get questions asked that use their own framing and language, not the opposition's framing and language. The McCain campaign has been very active in prepping the press to ask his questions with his frames: The Maverick Frame, the Country First Frame, The Surge Is Working Frame, the Victory Frame, The Drilling Frame, the Change Washington Frame, and so on. McCain can answer questions based on these frames easily and forcefully, as he did at the Saddleback debate, which he won handily.

Obama's On Your Own Frame for McCain is one the press should bring up. And whether our economic problems are all psychological, as McCain has said. And Obama's riff on empathy, and caring for one another being the basis of our democracy. This is a matter for Obama to decide, but the press should be prepped about what the moral and character issues are for Obama, as well as what the policy issues are.

McCain won because he used short answers, and answers that reflected deep conservative values. Obama hesitated, tried to give nuanced answers, and came off looking like he had no values. Obama needs to train, to give fast, straight-on, inspiring responses that link his major themes -- empathy, responsibility (both social and personal) and aspiration -- to the foundational ideals of our country. Obama's values are America's values, and that has to come out loud and clear.

Additionally, he must show just how extremist the McCain/Palin ticket is.

Drilling

Senator Obama occasionally uses a rhetorical strategy that I believe is counterproductive. In response to a conservative position he rightfully opposes, he will sometimes try to sound sweetly reasonable by using a conditional sentence of the corm: If A, then B. Here B is the conservative position he is against, and A consists of one or more reasonable proposals that he knows conservatives would never accept. If we raise fuel efficiency standards on cars, get rid of the oil company subsidy, invest hundreds of billions in renewable sources of energy, ... , then I might be in favor of limited office drilling. This is reported in the news as Obama changes his position on drilling, when he hasn't changed it at all. Knowing that the if-clause could not be accepted by conservatives, he isn't really making a commitment to offshore drilling. But the fact is that, to many people, it looks like he supports drilling, and in so doing, he is helping to legitimize drilling.

Meanwhile, an opportunity is being lost. The Drilling Frame is being accepted. The Drilling Frame works like this:

You drill. You hit oil. You pump it up. There's lots of it. Prices go down.

What is left out of the frame are all the crucial facts.

The timeline: It's ten years from drilling to getting gas at the pump.

The amount: It's very small compared to what we use. We'll barely notice it. There isn't enough to significantly bring down prices.

The danger: Drilling is killing: Offshore spills can destroy fishing grounds.

The world market: The oil will go on the world market, which means that China, India, and other countries will drive up the price. There may be no saving at all.

Global Warming: More oil can only increase global warming.

A Diversion: Drilling takes investment away from alternative energy.

Just stating the facts won't change the frame. But the right visuals might. Start with the existing frame and visuals. Add each pitfall visually, one by one, so that it becomes clear at each stage what will go wrong. Visuals are powerful, and they can be used to put McCain on the defensive.

The Moral: Obama needs to be Obama again, the inspiring figure who gives us hope, not the dull policy wonk. He underestimated McCain's debating abilities, and needs to prep both externally by giving the press new questions to ask, and internally, by being precise and making his values clear. And he has to remember that voters vote on the basis of values, authenticity, communication, trust, and identity. If he is going to bring realities into the campaign, he has to do it via a strategy that includes all of those.

Natural charisma and brilliance are not enough. There's some hard work to be done.

George Lakoff is the author of The Political Mind: Why You Can't Understand 21st Century Politics with an 18th Century Brain. He is the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Distinguished Professor of Cognitive Science and Linguistics at the University of California at Berkeley.

Comments

[SusanfromGeorgia]

Hhow about us everyday supporters? We don't usually have a forum with debate rules. So, being a message framing user, I've come up with a few shorthand phrases that can help everyday people change how people think about McCain, Palin, and the Repubs. Some of these I've seen on the Web, Daily Kos, etc. This is not the most comprhensive or elegant form of message framing, but a start. So next time some Repub says Dems are "tax and spend", we can come back with "Spend and Borrow Republicans", or how about "Credit Card Republicans", "Republicans are all about "Debtor Governing, " or "Bankruptcy Politics." Again this is not the narrative framing that Lakoff is writing about in this article, but it's some short simple phrases anyone can use to come back to negative framing of Dems as tax and spend WITHOUT repeating the negative frame.

[LizM]

You are quite obviously not paying attention. Joe Biden has been on the campaign trail constantly since being tapped as running mate doing all of the things you suggest and then some.

Why does he continue to be ignored and dismissed by the media and blogosphere!? Please, help me understand!

[BillCarson]

>Please, help me understand!

He was virtually ignored during the presidential primaries as well. He's been completely overshadowed by Sarah. A good man with no charisma?

[LizM]

Actuallly, there was nothing "virtual" about the way his presidential campaign was ignored in the early primary process this election cycle.

And, of course, when the media and blogosphere aren't ignoring or dismissing the leader among Democrats on national security, foreign policy and the judiciary, then they are wholly misrepresenting his record and policy proposals or propogating the media-conceived and driven national myths of epic proportions about Senator Biden.

What I need help in understanding is why and when did Americans become so content to settle for so much less than the very best? Can you help me with that?

[biabouman41]

The Republicans have chased Obama campaign off his game in respect to his charisma; and that is how he is going to get back in the game: by giving charismatic speeches, and being fearless. Also, I feel they need to see what the Republicans do well: They speak from the same script. McSame's campaign has obviouly asked all of their surrogates to use certain specific words when they appear on tv etc, and when responding to specific events they use specific phrases. The Obama campaign needs to do the same thing and if they don't lead we should do it from the grassroots. So here goes: OUR REFERRENCE TERMS, to be repeatedly used: McSAME: self-explanatory. WARLIKE: McSame's responses to Iraq, Iran, lebanon, Russia, China, Vietnam etc., GREATEST-T­AX-OF-ALL: explains McSame's indirect taxes, the price of his coming wars, the give aways to the super-rich, Republicans bail out of the banks. RIP VAN WINKLE: when he ignores the need for coprehensive health care, does not adequately vet his running mate. TEMPER:when he is questioned closely or when he awakes from a slumber to find the world has passed him by. PANAMANIAN: ( a touch gratuitous?) when McSame implies his opponents are non-American, unpatriotic.

[formerprosecutor]

Ok, I just returned from several hours manning phone banks here in the heart fo the Ozarks; expecting my calls to be 75% for McCain, I am pleased to report that 75% of the voters I reached plan on voting for Obama!!!!! Just so you know, the McCain voters I reached cussed me out and said some vile things about Obama. Am I surprised? Sort of, I did expect just a "click", but the hateful energy behind the McCain supporters is indicitive of their leadership I suppose. But what an energizing experience to hear the support from everyday workaday people. Keep fighting and volunteer; everyone one of us little people can bring a new fresh wind through out country.

[ethel08]

Did anyone see Drew Westen last night on NOW? He said much of the same as Lakoff here. I'm glad that Obama is defending himself, but he needs to stop being on the defense and start explaining his values better. Why is that Democrats let themselves be presented as valueless--or conflate policy with values? As Lakoff points out here, the values that Obama stands for are American values. They are about hard work, responsibility, and community, and he doesn't have to come up with nuanced policy answers to give a compelling but quick statement about what he will do to support those values.

Here's the Westen interview for those who are interested:
http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/436/index.html

[BillCarson]

>Here's the Westen interview for those who are interested:

Thanks for the link. Dr Westen and Dr. Lakoff are two of my favorite bloggers.

In a way the Westen interview was depressing. Obama is making the same mistakes as Kerry and Dukakis The democrats had 8 years to get their act together and they didn't learn a thing. Why didn't they listen to Lakoff and Westen? Sad.

[WorldGriot]

Thanks George! Great post and great suggestions. What those who disdain our worrying misunderstand is that when the base is uninspired, the candidate cannot win. That is the only reason Sarah Palin is great for the republicans. she energized the base. But the moment she did, our man stopped! What the F***! OVER? When the going gets tough, and all that --so Let's go. You don't pull your high scoring point guard when the opposition picks up their game. you pour it on. Come on Barack! ACT LIKE YOU GOT GAME! Now is the time to bring it! Dammit. We’re not panicking! we are bored! you have taken away our battle cry “YES WE CAN". Jordan didn't have to always score the most points, but he had to be Mike! you are Barack. And you are the point guard of this team. WE EXPECT YOU TO LEAD US INTO A RESOUNDING ASS KICKING OF THESE NEOCONS AND PAY THEM FOR EVERY SINGLE STOLEN ELECTION SINCE 1980 WHEN REAGAN WAS elected under false pretenses. This is big! This is our time! Gore gave up, Kerry gave in, and we are no longer in a giving mood!

[Demetre]

McCain and Palin are no mavericks. They are essentially sheep, following their corporate and Republican masters every chance they get.

[world4kids]

George Lakoff has helpfully identified the problem. Please, Obama campaign, take note! Go more effectively to voters where they live, the metaphorical heart and mind place.
Sen. Obama's calm temperament is not boring or passive. It's reassuring and suited to the job of president. He does not need to "become angrier". The worst thing he could do is to abandon his authentic personality.
He does need to use more impactful language and framing of his own, to prep the press and drive his own agenda rather than reacting to McCain's brand. Drilling, for example, is not okay or useful. It's easy to explain why. How did Obama come to support drilling at any level?

[Hiphopcrates]

While this might seem a bit more visceral, I invision an Obama video with just Barack and Charles Barkley on a basketball court, O has the ball, he drives at Sir Charles, fakes left and cleanly stuffs the ball. Beers to follow.

[USAFree1]

This is really simple. It is most unfortunate, but Obama is listening to the same old folks who advised the campaigns of both Gore and Kerry. Those people think they know how to win but look at their record. Obama needs to get back those advisers who helped him win the nomination. The ENOUGH will work if both Obama and Biden throw in those famous 5 characteristics.

[cf1721]

McCain has already staked out ,with the help of the media, a set of bogus national discussions where he portrays himself himself as the "natural people's choice" as "the one" .No need to explain why because he has "got the core values" that people believe in. Obama should attack Mccain by calling him
"the guy that won't cut your taxes" The guy who will deny you affordable health care, Do you really know
McCain?

[dudervision]

I'm just going to keep posting this!!!!!

Instead of messages of hope and excitement, all I seem to find here is messages of despair, critiques of how Obama is running his campaign, and meaningless rants against the lies being spewed by McCain and Palin.

ENOUGH!

ENOUGH being armchair quarterbacks and offering all this advice to Obama on how he SHOULD be running his campaign

ENOUGH whining that we're going to lose this thing and the American people are stupid and none of it really matters any more

ENOUGH ranting and raving about McCain and his total lack of honor or Palin and her total inability to be VP

ENOUGH!!!

Leave this site, head over the Obama site and VOLUNTEER

To sign up new voters

To make phone calls

To send letters to the editor

Find out where your county's electoral board take volunteer clerks for voting and sign up for that

Find some really inspirational stuff out there and get your friends fired up, then tell them to get their friends fired up....

GET OFF YOUR BUTTS AND HELP US WIN THIS THING!!

Obama has said it before. This election is NOT about HIM

It's not about Biden

Or McCain

Or even Palin

IT'S ABOUT US!!!

Remember in the phrase Yes, we can, the most important word is WE!

SO, IF YOU REALLY WANT TO WIN THIS FALL GET TO WORK!!!!

OBAMA BIDEN 2008, 12, 16, 20

[BillCarson]

>Leave this site, head over the Obama site and VOLUNTEER

http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/statepages

Especially if you're in Ohio, Pennsylvania or Michigan.

[USAFree1]

I am working, but I guess I'm still an armchair quarterback. AND, I've sent the Obama campaign the same comments.

[WolfLarsen]

He needs to be the heart not the head of the party and to speak from it passionately.

[leugim]

Agree. The fact is that Obama is trap in a "Fool if you do fool if you don't situation. The problem is how to answer to lies they throw at you. What people want to see is how he reacts to that. And so far I think he's done ok job.

[BillCarson]

Great article. Sadly, I don't think they are listening. They haven't listened for the last 4 years, why start now.

On the other hand, I have the title for your next book:
Don't Think of a Clinging Elephant.

[republicans4obama]

One of the smartest threads on Huffington.

The GOP is fighting small battles for news cycles and it's working. They are keeping Obama's campaign on the ropes...one day lipstck, another day wolves, another day sex ed for 6 year olds. I hope the Obama team reads this and gets back on message.

myspace.co­m/republic­ans4obama