Disdain Versus Change
Last week in this space I applauded the fact that a few important shards of reality broke through the predictable pageantry of the Democratic National Convention. This week, it is hard not to boo the truly fantastical specter of the RNC, where reality was banished from the hall.
Like others, I will critique the non-reality of it all (see Bob Herbert, e.g.), but I also think there is a critical, forward looking lesson from the past two weeks about how the fight is evolving, and what Democrats need to do to win this election and get America back on track.
It's their disdain versus our hope.
The whole frame of the RNC--running against the Washington establishment--was ludicrous, of course, with the ticket headed by a 26-year senator whose agenda is almost perfectly in sync with that of the past eight years. I tried to listen to all the big speeches, but to hear Romney argue that it's the liberals who have screwed everything up, or Palin, charismatic as she may be, gleefully mock Obama, or the chant of "drill, baby, drill" from the crowd, or McCain wax substance-free, ad nauseam, proved to be too much for me.
One of the best responses came from Obama himself.
"You wouldn't know that this is such a critical election by watching the convention last night. I know we had our week and so, you know, the Republicans deserve theirs. But it's been amazing to me to watch. Over the last two nights, if you sit there and you watch it, you're hearing a lot about John McCain - and he's got a compelling biography as a POW. You're hearing an awful lot about me, most of which is not true. What you're not hearing is a lot about you."
Watch the clip. He goes on to talk about what the R's managed to ignore all week: health care, alternative energy, jobs, the recession, the middle-class squeeze, strengthening unions (well, it's not like they would have come out for that one, though I did find it curious that they kept bragging on how Todd Palin is a member of the steelworkers' union--I get that they're making a play for the Reagan democrats, Hillary's white-working class vote, etc, but again, the spectacle of them courting these folks with their deeply anti-union agenda is hard to watch).
Obama's comments--"they're talking (albeit, lying) about me, not you"--were particularly notable compared to those made by McCain's campaign manager Rick Davis, who said the other day:
"This election is not about issues. This election is about a composite view of what people take away from these candidates."
So these are the battle lines, and they're worth a bit of deconstruction. It's not just the old,
"we're about issues, they're about personalities." Like Obama said, it's about reaching "you," the voter, but each camp is going after a very different you.
Obama is correct, of course, in that they're not talking about your real struggles, the challenges you face. They're not talking about the part of your life wherein good government can actually make a difference. That's because they've failed to govern competently and they're bereft of ideas about what to do next.
But they are, in their coded, Rovian way, talking about "you." It's just not the "you" that can't find reliable, affordable health care, or the you whose job was offshored, or the you who would like to know the plan for reversing the eight months of consecutive job losses, or the you who's asking why we're about to bail out Fannie and Freddie.
The "you" they're going after is the one on which they successfully played the fear card in 2004. They played that card again in 2006, but you didn't pick it up, and they noticed. So now they're going after a different you.
They're stoking your disdain for "elitism"--a deeply weird tack given the status of so many of their principal players--for the media, for the Washington establishment (again, incredible). Remember the McCain adds accusing Obama of being a celebrity? It's the same thing: disdain for this unusual guy who's just too damn popular.
In fact, if you had to find one word to characterize that convention last week, "disdain" would be a fine choice. We think of negative campaigning as saying bad things about your opponent, but the negativity of conservatives in this election goes much deeper than that. It's a pernicious drive to tap into the electorate's cynicism, distrust, and disdain.
Did you see Giuliani and Palin tear into Obama for working as a community organizer? It was cast as a critique of his lack of experience, but I also heard pure disdain for helping the have-nots and powerless. (And it's been pointed out that the evangelical Palin should recognize that Jesus was a community organizer and Pontius Pilate was a governor.)
What happened to the "morning in America" party of their patron saint Reagan? There's no optimism to these folks, just cynicism and disdain for the electorate: "Hey, you're a women for Hillary...well, then you'll want to support our new VP (pay no attention to their hugely disparate views);" disdain for the planet: "drill, baby, drill!;" disdain for the facts: "Obama will raise taxes on the middle class and small businesses!" (He cuts taxes much more than McCain for both groups.)
They're so busy spewing venom, they don't have time to think about the "you" that could use some seriously good government right about now. We face so many profound challenges both here and abroad, in no small part because we've been operating from their fantasy play book for so long. WMD's, Americans don't torture, Brownie's heckuva job, Mission Accomplished, the economy's fundamentals are sound, we're all whiners stuck in a mental recession...all of this nonsense keeps today's conservatives so busy assaulting reality that any actually useful initiatives have been almost totally crowded out.
But how do we make this election about the right "you," not the disdainful one who gets a negative charge out of dumping on Davis's "composite views," but the one who wants and needs a return to reality-based governing? As Drew Westin has pointed out, if this fight ends up being about our lists of good ideas versus their emotional grab, we lose.
Obviously, we need to elide our ideas with narratives that emotionally resonate, as Obama effectively did in his acceptance speech. It's helpful to point the hypocrisy so clearly on display last week at their convention, but too much of that and we just end up vying for the same negative vein they're busily tapping.
This doesn't mean they get a pass. Part of the narrative that Obama et al must continue telling stresses how damaging their ideas have been, particularly over the Bush years, and how McCain/Palin double-down on the worst of those ideas: supply-side tax cuts, endless war, no serious energy policy beyond drilling, privatize Social Security, health care reform that eschews risk pooling, the whole "you're on your own" agenda Obama castigated in his speech.
But the positive part of our agenda is equally important and it is simply this: we have will and the skill to honestly assess where we've gone wrong over the past eight years, and to make the needed changes to get America back on track.
We can look, open-eyed, at the current economy, with its contracting job market, banks failing in the wake of the housing bubble, and unprecedented levels of inequality and do something about it, something very different than what we've been doing: progressive tax changes (cuts for the those on the losing side of inequality, increases for its beneficiaries); an alternative energy plan that creates jobs while investing in independence from fossil fuels; a re-regulatory agenda to break the shampoo cycle of the macroeconomy (bubble, bust, repeat). They look at the same thing, somehow see an endorsement of Bushonomics, and push for more of the same.
It's the same with the war, where they're so busy supporting the Cheney/Bush/surge success story, that their eyes are off the ball. Did McCain even mention the resurgence of the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Pakistan and Afghanistan?
I admit it, Mr. Davis, these are "issues." And while I know you'll be fighting to make this election not about them, we'll be relentlessly linking them to the real lives of the people you and your team are trying to collar with cynicism, disdain, and mockery.
And while it will be a close one, in the battle of hope and real, substantive change against cynical disdain, I think we'll win.
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"It's a pernicious drive ... cynicism, distrust, and disdain". Works for their base! 54 mm stupid people voted for Bush based on family "values" and not issues. Gay marriage was the big evil then; now it is abortion & creationism. You are giving too much credit to a large population for having the ability to think independently about issues. Majority of American people are not well versed on politics, economics or world events. This society has ADHD, internet, texting etc has reduced every sentence to 2 line sound bites. Most Americans do not read voraciously or engage in debates as much as Europeans do. Education in this country has been declining steadily for years, particularly in science and math, which are areas that promote logical independent thinking. Creationism and wallowing in ancient ideology will make this country a "has been" within the next 10 years. But guess what? just PRAY! isn't that supposed to be the anwer for everything?
We should demand our leaders meet a certain test. All major occupations require candidates to pass a stringent exam. Doctors, lawyers, financial advisors etc. Prez/ VP jobs that have influence over the fate of many and we choose them arbitrarily? Test them on world history, economics etc. Heck, ask Palin if she can name the CEO, CFO of FNM, FRE, since she did not seem to know that they were private entities until the bailout. Her vocabulary for GSE = "God Sent Election" for her career. PRAY JARED, DON'T THINK!
I don't think that the Republicans are bereft of ideas. To a significant extent they've succeeded in creating an overpopulated corporate police state with a massive, privatized penal colony; an automobilized, oil based economy; a dumbed down citizenry of disposable labor, cannon fodder, breeders. and consumers. The melding of the U.S. with the fertility cultures to our south. Institutionalized torture; the Unitary Executive; allowing 9/11 and disallowing any comprehensive 9/11 investigation; stealing a Presidential election; illegal invasion of the Middle East and the subsequent deaths and dismembering of millions; the U.S. border kept open against the will of the vast majority, blind support of the nationalis
Good post.
In Your Dreams? (nightmare) . . . . Time to wake Up NOW!!! . . the Parties OVER! . . Love It!
What does this even mean?
'It has never been about me, but about you' said a wise man not so long ago. It seems that you all don't get. Ask yourself what you can do to make real change happen! Go out and tell people why they are much better off voting Obama than continuing on this republican road to doom...
The Republicans have proved time and time again over the last 40 years that their tactic DOES WORK! When are the Dems going to get with the picture? Mr. and Mrs Average American don't give a hoot about the issues when you can throw personalities at them all day. Why do you think reality shows are so popular? Because the average person cares very little about substance and more about apperance.
It seems to me that it wouldn't be that hard to turn the game around on the Republicans. The Dems have a great message and I truly feel that theirs is the direction this country needs to take, but if they don't start getting a little bit dirty in this campaign they're never gonna win. If the GOP wants to make this a game of personalitles the fine.
And one last thing... Who's sick and tired of hearing about McC's POW experience? Okay great, you got yourself shot down. Let it go now, its getting old and annoying.
The analysis here is always 'intellectual' , 'rational' logical, but the Repubs are rallying their people through emotion/ affect. It is as if the dems and repubs are not only speaking different languages but come from disparate galaxies. Unfortunately for dems (us) you cannot defeat emotion through logical rational thought (i bring this up all the time here, sorry). Obama's message has to hit the swings or undecided votes viscerally, to challenge their belief systems, to jar them. Because as much as you all want to believe that elections (or human beings for that matter) are rational creatures, they are nothing of the sort. We are emotional and primary driven by our limbic system. The cerebral cortex and rational thought came much later in evolutionary development- thus when the Repubs jolt us with fear (brilliant on their part) they know the emotional side will take over and that is a war they generall win. That is why the dems must focus on the irrational side- stir up people not over analyze the issues.
Brilliant. Completely agree with this. This is the "high road" that the Dems always aspire to upholding, but they better stop doing that if they actually want to WIN and to govern WELL--and if they can't win, they can't govern and dig us out of this vast chasm the Republicans have dug us into over the past eight years.
What do we fear about the Republicans and what they stand for? Appeal to fear--seems to work for them.
Am I getting cynical? Nope, just realistic.
Just sitting back and analysing what is happening I kind of compared the Middle East with America.
The Middle East problems all seem to come from religous fanatics that keep their culture back like what existed in the Middle Ages. An example would be how women are treated and regarded by their society.
America now seems like about a third of it's population could be categorized in the same manner as religous fanatics.T
It seems fairly accurate to compare how the religous fanatics in both countries only have one dominate concern which is to see the entire country or it's population conform strictly to it's religous beliefs and fashion laws to conform to their thinking.
After reviewing and giving the latter lots of thought I feel very fortunate to live in a country that almost unanimously demonstrates a penchant for keeping religion out of politics allowing our politicians to deal with problems that affect their citizens not their religous beliefs.
PALIN POLITICIZING HER SON'S IRAQ TOUR OF DUTY
Palin sees everything in terms of her politics. Joe Biden's son is also going to Iraq, but he is not politicizing it! This tells you a lot about character. McCain who in 2000 vowed he will not politicize his POW experience is now doing so on a daily basis. Interesting world! What about so many veterans who have died or gotten seriously injured in America's past and current wars?
Considering who he is the son of (Palin), he will no doubt be buried deep, deep in the "Green Zone", if not Kuwait.
Well said. But how can we get this message across.
This is some cause for concern, but we expected McCain to be up in the polls after last week. This will change after the debates, when the No Information voters, apparently loath to read, will see Obama's clear message versus McCain's empty retreads. The VP debate should have the same effect, and this temporary Palin bump will be a memory.
1/3 of the country likes the extremist government of the Republicans: they want a religious-
1/3 of the country thinks the Republicans are despicable and want a government dedicated to making a better life for the citizens, not a government that exists solely to help the corporations steal our money and treat us like slaves.
1/3 of the country doesn't know what they think.
The Republicans appeal to their 1/3. The Democrats ignore their 1/3 and appeal to the Republican voters. The other 1/3 wonders what it is the Democrats promise.
The Democrats promise nothing to the working people. That's the point. They have no platform. They are like the cop on the beat who was given money to go around the corner, take a coffee break while the bank was being robbed. The Democrats have done nothing for the people for the past 8 years, have unclean hands because they accept bribes, and promise only more corruption. They cave on everything. We need a new party.
"The Democrats ignore their 1/3 and appeal to the Republican voters. The other 1/3 wonders what it is the Democrats promise.
The Democrats promise nothing to the working people. That's the point. They have no platform. They are like the cop on the beat who was given money to go around the corner, take a coffee break while the bank was being robbed. The Democrats have done nothing for the people for the past 8 years, have unclean hands because they accept bribes, and promise only more corruption. They cave on everything. We need a new party."
Are you just making this stuff up out of thin air? You obviously haven't read Obama's plan and haven't heard any of his speeches to labor and leaders, and aren't concerned with doing either.
Why should anyone listen to *you*?
Who are these undecided voters, and why are they so easily swayed by what is little more than locker room gossip?
America will get the government it deserves. If we are good enough to elect and protect Obama, then we will flourish - if not, and the GOP maintains power again, then our days as agreat nation are over.
It is truly a defining moment. We will choose our own fate. What is amazing is that so many (GOP) would cut off their noses to spite their face, by voting repub despite the last eight years.
According to some at the Republican convention, General Eisenhower too was merely a "community organizer" - of course on a much grander scale.
And Mayor Guiliani organized the response to future terrorist attacks by putting his command center in the WTC so he could be prepared for 9/11.
Great blog...may I borrow your phrase "reality - based governing"? I am organizing canvassing for Obama in my heavily Republican neighborho
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