For God's Sake, Get on Message! Ten Tips for the Obama Campaign

Obama's campaign manager was recently quoted as saying, "There's a lot of hyperventilating about national polls," David Plouffe said, "When you look at battleground states, we feel very good about where we are." In response, I suggest that we'll stop hyperventilating AFTER we've won the election. Most of us are out here watching, listening to and reading media that shows a campaign continually in responsive mode and not in charge of the message -- add that to recent poll results and you'll have to forgive us if we're a bit nervous.

In the last eight years, we've gone from a national budget surplus to an insurmountable national deficit. Seven years after 9/11, Bin Laden is still at large. We've lost more than 4,000 American soldiers fighting in a country that wasn't involved in the attacks on ours. We and the rest of the world have witnessed evidence of US government sponsored torture -- and seen the world-wide good will that 9/11 garnered us squandered to pursue the interests of big oil. We've gone from fulfilled dreams of home ownership to record numbers of home foreclosures. Retirement savings that were growing are now devastated by market declines. This is the Democrats race to lose.

And, if the Obama campaign doesn't get on message, we WILL lose it.

As a Democrat, I am nervous and on the verge of desperation. As a media relations professional -- someone who does messaging and media training for a living -- I am simply puzzled. This is not hard stuff. The Democrats MUST stop responding and become more proactive. Here are ten tips for the Obama campaign, gratis:

1. GET ON MESSAGE AND STAY ON MESSAGE. McCain = Bush, the economy sucks, our national security situation is more dire than ever due to the failed Republican policies. Repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat...

2. STOP REPEATING REPUBLICAN PROPAGANDA FOR THEM. If you don't believe that McCain is a maverick, then say what he is. Say he's unpredictable and impulsive in his decision-making and ask people if those are really the qualities that we want in our Commander in Chief.

3. Stop talking about Sarah Palin and rebutting her lies. NOBODY CARES WHAT THE FACTS ARE. They are influenced by her persona -- the impression they take away from her appearances. When you allow yourselves to become distracted and start serving as a Republican fact-checker, you come across as petty and self-congratulating. Same applies to McCain.

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4. FOCUS ON OBAMA'S PERSONA AS COMMANDER IN CHIEF. Obama's special gift as a politician is to inspire people's trust -- work it to its fullest. Be hopeful and positive, sure, but also be strong and fierce. Show that Obama's leadership will combine the strength of the sword with the compassion of the chalice. He did a great job of this in his nomination acceptance speech -- but lately his pull-quotes are either wonky-to-the-extreme or on the self-congratulatory side.

5. BOLSTER OBAMA'S COMMANDER IN CHIEF CREDENTIALS. Get as many visuals of you with General Wesley Clark and other leaders in the fields of defense and foreign relations circulating as you can. The Republicans are running on the myth of McCain as a benevolent warrior -- and will be further ratcheting up the fear level in the weeks to come if their convention was any indication (repeated exploitation of 9/11 imagery, hundreds of recapitulations of McCain's POW story, etc.). GET AHEAD OF THIS ISSUE NOW.

6. USE MORE AND BETTER VISUALS in general. Recently, I was in South Carolina and saw, over and over again, one particularly ineffective Obama ad about reworking the US economy to employ more skilled labor again. Not only was the message was too esoteric for the purposes of the final 60 days of the campaign, but the visuals used in the ad were pathetic. Were they perhaps close-up photos of the time-ravaged faces and hands of working class Americans (toward whom the ad was apparently aimed)? No. The most common visual was windmills. Yes, that's right. Windmills. How working class America is supposed to be swayed to vote Democratic when they are viewing ads about windmills is just beyond me. Let's have some ads of a flag draped coffin in close up -- and then multiplied by more than 4000 times. Let's have some ads that feature a close up of a foreclosed home and a family who has been evicted -- then multiply that times however many thousands of foreclosures have taken place. Now those are visual that will reach working class Americans.

7. DON'T BE AFRAID TO GO NEGATIVE. Not all negative campaigns are equal. Describing John McCain as unpredictable, short-tempered and impulsive in his decision-making is a far different field of play than belittling John Kerry's war record. This is a war -- play to win. Once we're back in office, you can be as gracious as you please.

8. KISS: keep it simple, stupid. Every time we Democrats get into the "we're right, so if maybe we just explain it well enough then they'll understand" mode, we lose. The reality is that the vast majority of people feel condescended to when things are "explained" to them. Most people function on "gut" feelings and imagery and understand things best when they are presented in simplified, symbolic and concrete terms. This isn't because most people are stupid, however. It's because life is overwhelming as it is. People do not have the time, attention or inclination to take in and process units of complex information. If we learn nothing else from the influence of Karl Rove, let us at least learn this.

9. THE SUPREME COURT. My God, the stakes are high. Perhaps some ads that delineate how high and use testimonials from women might be in order? We do, after all, need to reach undecided women. My bet is that Sarah Palin's glamour will be a little less appealing once women are reminded that, under a Supreme Court dominated by Republican-appointed judges, their daughters might face a future in which they will not have the freedom to terminate a pregnancy even in the case of rape or incest.

10. GET ON MESSAGE AND STAY ON MESSAGE. McCain = Bush, the economy sucks, our national security situation is more dire than ever due to the failed Republican policies and the loss of the American moral high ground. Repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat...

Mr. Plouffe, with all due respect, when we see a few of these changes in effect, maybe then we'll be able to feel good with you. Until then, I'm keeping my paper bag at the ready.

Leah McElrath Renna is a Managing Partner of Renna Communications, a progressive public interest communications firm, and a practicing psychotherapist.

Comments

[ngershman]

We keep hearing about these (3) problems over and over again. This time, we offer up tips--

ACCUSATION: Obama rarely address the concerns of the elderly.
OUR TIP: Start using the word "elderly", "seniors" etc. instead of some blanket term which lobs a bunch of demographics under one amorphous umbrella.
ACCUSATION: (especially in the Jewish community) a) Obama's a Muslim and b) he and his family prayed for years in a racist church.
OUR TIP: Obama, get an ally/advocate in the clergy (rabbis, pastors, etc.) who can address the charges and dispel their fears that the first order of business for the first Black man in office is NOT to take revenge and scour the planet of white people.
ACCUSATION: I can't forward a single Obama propaganda video to my Republican friends to convert themm because the tone of those videos are always so strident even if the facts are right.
OUR TIP: Treat the target audience like they're your oldest friend from High School who just happens to be a Republican. Talk in a tone of voice that is not patronizing or sarcastic, just concerned about the consequences of a McCain-Palin future on their children, their aging in-laws, and their business.

[grata2ude]

Yanno what? If the media and I count the author of this article would live up to their responsibility to cover facts and not all the stupid "lipstick" controversies then maybe people could make intelligent decisions.

Today on MSNBC, they went to the speech Obama was giving in Norfolk Va at a school. First he addressed the lipstick facade. He handled it well. But then he went into a discussion of what he plans to do to improve education in the country. Well they cut his speech off in the middle and then the pundits got on and all they had to discuss was the lipstick nonsense.

I am sick to death of this National Enquirer mentality of the press. Instead of focusin on the issues that Obama was talking about they focused on nonsense.

Then then went into the McCain/ Palin gathering also in Va and both McCain and Palin all they did was make soundbites about how great they are and how mean and bad Obama is. No issues, No plans...... and you guessed it, the pundits again went into the lipstick discussion.

Media......do your jobs. Stop spreading nonsense.

[OneLiberalLady]

AMEN! The media are letting us down in a huge way, even some of the writers that generally delve deeper are buying into the Republican crap of "change." Change! When they have a tired old warrior and are offering hardly any new positions from the Bush years, they are suddenly looked upon as the change agents who will rise above old politics. This is unbelievable to me, and is not Obama's fault, although some of the criticisms of the Obama campaign do seem fair enough.

[syllabubjones]

So you put these rats in a bag and then you swing the bag over your head. When you open the bag to let the rats out, they stumble around, confused, distracted, dizzy. This is the infamous Saddam Hussein analogy about how he maintained control over the Iraqi people.

Karl Rove loves the rat game, and clearly, he knows something about rats. Enter George W. Bush in a skirt, aka the GOP VP candidate from Alaska. The bag starts swinging.

If you want our country to be run by someone other than a crew of dirty rats, then stand up in support of Obama, using your own kind of bullhorn and being as loud as you want.

But remember (a) be as wise as the serpent but be not like him, (b) don't let yourself get dizzy and (c) this is a team sport. A house divided against itself cannot stand. Be a link in a strong united front, and in January 2009 we will be free again. If you can't keep your head as you're being spun, you're not gonna make it. And if you criticize the one of us who best can, you risk losing it for all of us.

Fool us once, shame on you. Fool us twice, shame on us. Fool us three times, we're just fools.

[OneLiberalLady]

Your reference to the Karl Rove rat game is interesting. I have just been pondering why it is that the American people seem so willing to be taken in by the shiny new wrapping (Palin) that has helped to repackage tired old McCain, and I think it has to do with the success of the Rove/Nordquist strategy to drown government in a bathtub. They have effectively done that, or almost. Therefore Americans no longer expect any solutions from their government (like new regulations to avert more mortgage and banking crises) and are willing to settle for being entertained. And the Republicans are masters at distraction.

[roxn]

Repeat, repeat, repeat...

That's what the Democrats could do better. Though with McCain's houses, they got it right. When Pelosi was asked, then are you against wealth, she said we are not concerned that John McCain has more than one house, but we are concerned that John McCain can't remember how many houses he has!

She was on message - and did not back down or feel guilty when she had to deliver the daily-blow against the McCain Camp.



It always puzzles me though - this absolute obsession with staying on message
- all the time - remember Subliminable!!
Well, at the same time Gore was sitting there like he never got into trouble in his whole life.
He was ON message!

Sometimes a bit of trouble can do you good!

It reminds me of something Jim Carey said. Most people wouldn't do things because they were afraid they would be embarrassed. I would do them and then plan what I would do after I felt embarrassed.

I thought today was good - Obama had the spotlight he laughed the McCain attack off and nailed the message home!


Obama had a crowd of 200,000+ Berliners - saying Yes We Can, to McCain, that was nothing. Now he and his new woman are attracting crowds of 20,000, and they're not complaining. Though when Obama would attract 70,000 - that was somehow wrong.

Remember that's how he won the primary!
He inspired and sent home the message with large amounts of people.

[toochie50]

EVERYONE SEE HOW MUCH MONEY OBAMA'S TAX PLAN SAVES YOU:
GO TO www.obamataxcut.com
So easy to figure out how we will all get a great tax cut!

[Clayton139]

We and Barack Obama has to find an intelligent way of getting connected to the people and the Democratic party energized again! We can't take 4 more years of the Bush/McCain policies! We squandered the last 8 years badly with the Bush administration with NO energy policy's or a matter of fact 30 years. We have to get energy independents! 10 Trillion dollars of debt and lied us into a war. The economy down the tubes Housing, Banking, Markets, Inflation! We need ET now instead of IT new ET-(Energy Technologies) and/or all technologies for the future as we need it. No good news on the horizon unless we change! We need real answers this time for America or else it will be the fall of all of us and the world as a whole, as we know it. This is the most defining moment in our history in the USA.
We are going to have to change to live, and compete in this world and not make so many enemy's and try as we can to work towards the future and deal with real threats as they arise...! I believe Barack Obama is the CHANGE we need..! From a 51 year old white guy from the Southern IN. IL. Line.

[Karnameru]

No offense, but I find the tenor of this post somewhat regressive. I get that the point is to get elected and use the media to aid that, but this is the same mentality that led to the putrid Repub campaign tactics in this election. At some point we have to trigger a serious discussion on why this political system is fundamentally broken, and needs to be radically reimagined by thoughtful, creative people that will show what a new American politics might look like. Increasingly the media is realizing its own ridiculousness, with each new so-called "breaking news" item that has these talking heads discussing inanities and probably feeling cheap afterwards.

So yes, do what it takes to get elected, but also expose this mainstream media trash heap for what it is, don't just play the same game over and over again.

Change is in the air, and that ain't mere rhetoric....

[Leah McElrath Renna - Huffpost Blogger]

Here is an interesting idea for those of you who have commented or contacted me directly wanting to do grassroots and viral advertising not directly connected to the Obama's campaign's efforts:

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=8131

If you act on this, I hope you will consider posting a comment with a link to your efforts.

Obama/Biden 2008 -

Leah

[moonwatcher]

Obama should speak in simpler terms. A lot of Americans do not understand some of the words he is using. Example: perverse; Do you think that the average American knows the meaning of that term?
He should call a spade a spade. That person doesn't stretch the truth. That person is liar.
He should use 527s to tell the truth of McCain's lies. Right now he is a small voice in the wilderness. No newspaper except the Washington Post has done anything to refute the McCain of Palin lies. . If commentators or newsmen are not going to refute out and out lies, then the 527s are going to have to refute them for him. I doubt Gibson will be any better.
Keep staying on message of America's problems , what you are going to do about them and McCain's record. We have a good candidate. Hit back with the truth. Get some 527s to help you.

He's being too nice. Get down there and slug it out. As I told my sons, Don't let them get away with anything. You're in the fight of your life.

[pie8ter]

Jesus Christ!

This is exactly what I am trying to get it across to Obama's campaign. He is using big words to describe simple things. Don't say "misleading". Say it like it is. It's a "LIE". The word "misleading" comes off as an elitist. Some average Joe Sixpacks don't know what the heck some of the words that Obama uses in his normal conversation or speeches mean. I understand it's hard to be George B, but use simple words and simple sentence structures.

[pie8ter]

This is exactly what I am trying to get it across to Obama's campaign. He is using big words to describe simple things. Don't say "misleading". Say it like it is. It's a "LIE". The word "misleading" comes off as an elitist. Some average Joe Sixpacks don't know what the heck some of the words that Obama uses in his normal conversation or speeches mean. I understand it's hard to go to the level of our current president when it comes to language, but use simple words and simple sentence structures.

[pie8ter]

Jesus Christ!

This is exactly what I am trying to get it across to Obama's campaign. He is using big words to describe simple things. Don't say "misleading". Say it like it is. It's a "L*I*E". The word "misleading" comes off as an e*litist. Some average Joe Sixpacks don't know what the heck some of the words that Obama uses in his normal conversation or speeches mean. I understand it's hard to be someone I won't name, but use simple words and simple sentence structures.

[bbrecht]

Excellent points. I hope you are heard.

[libbygirl]

I'm so tired of all the bloggers telling Obama and his campaign what they should be doing. Everyone seems to know best what he should and shouldn't do. Why can't we all just help him do what he's doing.......trying to talk about the issues and not get pulled into the mud with the Republicans?

This is my first year to vote Democratic and so I'm getting an insight into how Democrats might be there own worst enemy. Instead of all pulling together behind their candidate and fighting for him, they stay divided and try to second guess how and what he's doing. If you want Obama to win, as I do, let's just let him be an example to us as he continues to try and keep things focused on the issues that are so important to all of us. Let's prove that the good guy and win this this year.

[nomobull]

exactly

[kauffmanr]

WE knew this was coming, now its time to see if the democrats have learned anything from the last 30 years. and clinton supporters, stop gloating. the only reason clinton won anything was because the republicans had to deal with a third party candidate in 1992 and then clinton was an incumbant.

the republicans know how to run psychological wars in political campaigns. dont let it get to you. keep volunteering, donating, and above all... keep believing. if obama continues to be the genius that he has shown himself to be over the last 20 years he will win. we just have to do our part and not fall into the trap of losing hope.

[exurbia]

democrats need to take back the campaign before they can take back the country. if you can't drive the news cycle and can't maintain the momentum in the camapign how the hell is anyone supposed to believe that you can change the country. while i have absolutely no doubt that mccain is more of the same,i also have no doubt that the obama team is also more of the same ... totally incapable of mounting an offense and, mistakenly, completely committed to the idea that in the end reason will win out over irrationality. i'm sorry but in a campaign as absurd as this one has become someone in the obama camp better wake up and go after mccain's obvious weaknesses. he's reckless, confused and dangerous ... and so is palin. if there is not just a strong response to the perverse "sex ed" ad as well as all the other lies but also a sustained assault on mccain we're going to be talking about "what if"during another four years of misery. I FOR ONE AM SICK OF LOSING TO LESS QUALIFIED OPPONENTS. issues .. yes ... but also a strong offense that includes exposing the other side for what they are.

[Kranich]

So many of you asked for it and you got it- so deal with it. Clinton would be 20 ahead of McCain by now. Biden would be 10 points ahead if he were running. Any other Democrat would be 6-8 points ahead just based of what a crappy job Bush has done for the last 8 years. McCain will probably win- not because of the press, not because of rigged elections, but because once again we put up a candidate who gets early popularity in the primaries so everyone jumps on the bandwagon. Then we focus on trivial matters with the Republicans and whine about Carl Rove style campaigning and an unfair press while the election slips away. The next time you want something innovative and fresh go get your iPod.

[NoOstrich]

The most nervous man in America has to be Barack Obama. Or he should be.

He calls it "self confidence". Some call it arrogance. But whatever you call it, Obama has missed his big chance. If any of his handlers had any sense of history, they would have advised Obama to get on his knees and beg Hillary to run with him.

Barack was foolish and rash to run in the first place. His political inexperience only opened the door to McCain's very smart choice of that woman from Alaska.

I don't think he understands the concept of the fatal flaw. You certainly can't accuse Hillary of being ignorant of this, as she had a very upclose and personal view of her husband's.

I wonder if Obama has been too busy writing his memoirs to pay attention to the fact that the Republicans have tirelessly and ruthlessly out-strategised and out-manuevered the Democrats for 8 years, stealing Florida for George Bush in broad daylight.

Guess Barack thought he was special enough to be different. And when Oprah and Caroline Kennedy looked at him as if he were the messiah, maybe he believed it.

[nomobull]

projection is no winning argument but a sign of desperation.

[justShareandbeNice]

You arguments are very weak -- you just state Clinton would be ahead by 20 points. Are you kidding? Do you know how much baggage they had to work with with her? Do you know how many democrats don't like her (me included) and would only do lackluster campaigning for her?

Sheesh! It is always easy to say "well, if we had just done THIS then THAT would have happened". That is no better than betting on the lottery.

[BandH08]

The polls don't reflect any of this. [37% of Democratic women are pro-life] Look. There is a change coming and many Democratic women are embracing Sarah Palin, because they are living her life. They take their kids to school, work, pick their kids up, drop them off at various activities, come home, cook, clean, get everyone ready for bed and do it all over again the next day. This is middle American life, it's NOT about millionaires, Oprah, stadiums, ivy league schools and Hollywood.

The Democrats are losing this race because the ticket is not connecting with everyday Americans--PERIOD!
Hillary Clinton was able to win the states Obama will lose and this should tell us everything we need to know about Obama's judgment!

Like it or not Sarah Palin is an exciting woman that all women should embrace and be proud of--unless of course you live in New York or San Francisco

[Forsetti]

Everyday Americans want to elect somebody they can "have a drink with". That they don't want smart, dedicated, hardworking people but would rather have John/Jane Doe down the block as their leaders is a sad state of affairs. This mentality is what gave us GWB, twice. You would think that after this debacle we would want better for us than "someone we can relate to".

If you had to have neurosurgery would you want the best surgeon who was educated at the top medical schools and makes a lot of money or the surgeon who just eked by but is on your softball team?

Why should be want anything but the best for us as President?

[GHO]

Bad analogy. It does not fit this election at all.

What we have is more like a choice between the cocky, Harvard Med educated resident who has never performed this type of operation before and the experienced old surgeon whose hands aren't as steady as they used to be. In other words, two iffy choices, no clear good one.

That's the choice we've been handed in this election cycle.

[BandH08]

The above post IS the definition of elitism---and I bet the poster did not even attend an ivy league school---he/she is brainwashed however and this is a sad reflection on our current educational system.

[GHO]

Excellent post!

The dumbest thing Obama has done to date was attack Palin on experience. All that did was reopen old wounds for Hillary supporters, highlight his own lack of experience, and make him sound desperate and a little stupid.

A commenter on another post asked why it's bad to be intellectual and educated (referring to Obama not connecting with average Americans). The answer is that it's not bad to be smart - unless you decide you're the only one who is. Voters like the candidates who talk TO them, not the ones who talk AT them or DOWN TO them. Guys like Biden, who get on rants and tell reporters he's smarter than them, alienate voters.

If you want to connect with voters, you better care about what they care about - the price of gas, the price of food, jobs, and security. And you had better not go around bashing the people they look at as being "one of them" like Palin.

[nomobull]

where did he attack palin on experience or anything. link please