How To Bring America Together (Or, The Idiocy of National Unity)

Dear Presidential Candidates:

The men and women of the media are not your friends.

They work for a big business, whose oxygen is attention. They live or die on grabbing and holding audiences. To stay in business, they need combat, conflict, heat, meat, flip-flops, gotchas, losers, boozers, hairpin turns, heroes with feet of clay, Rockys, Quixotes, cliffhangers, firewalkers, comebacks, kickbacks, zingers, 'wingers.

And yet at the same time the media root for and egg on mudwrestling and foodfighting, what they say they want is a cathedral -- bipartisanship, consensus, a Serious Debate on The Issues, Bringing America Together.

Boy, is that a sucker punch. The truth is, they think that stuff is really b-o-r-i-n-g. No combat = no attention. If you want a case study of the media's ennui with unity, look at how they've covered Bush for the past four years. The country has never been more united in opposing him and his policies; words like "idiot" and "incompetent" are what come to mind first when 70-plus percent of the country think of him, which is as close to a landslide as America ever gets. Yet from the coverage Bush and the Republicans receive, you'd think that his opposition resides in a wild-eyed fringe.

Hey, Hillary Clinton: Junk the juggernaut thing. The media need a narrative that won't stop, and your foregone-conclusion thing ain't it. Your national polls will mean bupkis in Iowa and New Hampshire. In 1984, Walter Mondale went into Iowa with all the trappings of frontrunner invincibility. In an eight-man field, plus uncommitted, he won 48.9%. That's right: with nine choices in the caucuses, he nearly got an absolute majority. Yet it was Gary Hart, whose second-place showing at 16.5% was basically in the toilet, whom the press anointed not-Mondale. Hart became a phenom; his distant Iowa loss was the match that lit a national media firestorm. Game on! said the press. It's a horserace! Pay attention! In the week between Iowa and New Hampshire, Mondale dropped 8 points in New Hampshire, while Hart surged 13 points, won, and nearly knocked Mondale out of the race. I know, I know: some people think that would have been a good thing. But my point isn't to rerun that campaign; it's to remind the frontrunner that for the press, juggernaut = boring = just shoot me.

Hey, Barack Obama: Your turn-the-page, bring-America-together message was a terrific curtain-raiser. It got the press's attention: Something different! But you need a second act. And you're not going to find it in the audacity of hope, for one big reason:

The voters are not your friend. That is, what voters tell pollsters about what they want from politics is useless to you.

Sure, Americans say they want leaders who get things done, work across the aisle, put partisanship aside for the common good, blah blah blah. They also say they eat vegetables. The reality is that there is no voting majority in postpartisanship, and for good reason.

The majority of Democrats -- hell, the majority of Americans -- are boiling with outrage at Bush and the Republicans. You know what? They're right. They don't want a new president who'll make nice with Mitch McConnell and James Dobson; they want someone who'll smash them to smithereens. This is no time for Jerry Ford's "our long national nightmare is over," his "healing" pardon of Nixon; this is a time to bring lawbreakers to the bar of justice, to make Constitutional criminals accountable. This is no moment for "the issue is competence, not ideology," Dukakis's losing message; this is a moment to break the stranglehold of religious extremists on government, and to call a liar a liar. This is no season for third-party or fusion-folly Perots or Bloombergs; this a season for reclaiming politics from billionaires, for making Party mean something, not nothing.

Hey, John Edwards: You've got the Two Americas thing down, and no one's going to call you Republican lite. But the only message the media is letting the voters hear from you is Inauthentic. The trial lawyers money turns your hose-out-Washington message to mud. To the press, the big house and the four-Benjamins coif expose your populism as politics-as-usual. The storytellers and gatekeepers in the circus that politics has become are never going to pronounce you not-Hillary (and not-Bush) until you first become not-Haircut. Confession, rehab, renewal: that's what your story needs now. You can't skip a chapter in your narrative; the media will only let you get from today's phony firebrand to tomorrow's populist president if you first walk through the valley of the shadow of Oprah.

Hey, Al Gore. That's all I have for you. Just "hey." Dunno what else to say.

Comments

[thatvisionthing]

Hey, Mike Gravel: TOO. REAL. for corporate media! Heyyyyyyy.... Really man, we miss you.

Hey, Al Gore: Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country.

Hey, Marty! Thanks!

[bowserbois]

ABSOLUTELY RIGHT ON!!!!!!! We want the gloves taken off and the repugs beaten into a pulp, begging for us to let them live. No more mister, or ms. nice guy!!!!!

[RedSt8r]

"you'd think that his opposition resides in a wild-eyed fringe."

Yes, one would. That's - you guys.

[swkidder]

Hey Marty: This is all I have to say to you ... Great Piece. Bravo. And I rather like John Edwards. Actually, I just love his wife, and if he could win her and keep her in a marriage for 30 years ... he's probably an essentially decent human being. That's a good start. Would you consider a future column in which you gave each candidate some specific advice? Start with Edwards.
I wouldn't vote for Hillary if she were the only one running. And I'm a 59 yr.old Caucasion, highly educated woman so I should be squarely in her "sweet spot." I think she sold her soul years ago to Corporate America and she has neither the money, nor any intention, to buy it back. She sounds as though she sticks her finger into the air to see which way the polls are blowing, and that's what she'll be saying today - a perfect political animal without Bill's charm. And that makes her exactly what we don't need.
Barack Obama needs to spend the next 3 days camped in front of videos of Martin Luther King, after which he might be able to grasp what we lost and what we so desperately want from a leader. He doesn't have to be MLK - it's O.K. to have a different style of communication. What he does have to do is learn to speak with the same righteous anger as the King, and quit sounding so innocuous. Grown-ups can, and should, get angry about the things that affect the world we're going to leave our children. Leaders do something about those things.
And Edwards has something really important to say about what happened to this country when we destroyed the path upwards into the middle class. Because, with the destruction of that opportunity, came the anger and the fear and the competition ... and now, God help us all, the incredible ugliness.
So, a future column for each, please?

[JimR]

Well-put, and right on the money!

[Macready]

"The majority of Democrats -- hell, the majority of Americans -- are boiling with outrage at Bush and the Republicans. You know what? They're right. They don't want a new president who'll make nice with Mitch McConnell and James Dobson; they want someone who'll smash them to smithereens."

You are so right Marty . . .but will we get it .. . I doubt it very much . . . we seem to have careerist politicians in bed with their lobby groups . . . a first step would be to break the murdochisation of the MSM; we need politicians with moral scruples and courage; politicians who aren't afraid to impeach; what we have for the most part are a lot of sick sorry excuses . . . the Kucinichs, Dodds, Kennedys, Pauls, Edwards are not numerous in Congress nor amongst the prez campaigners ... we seem to be getting more of the bush status quo dispite the fact that the public are mad as hell and want to see big changes . . . America has ceased to be a democracy except in name . . .big business and special interest groups are pulling all the strings . . . it's a sad sick state of affairs . . .

[Levittown]

If we can get the NASA people, the ones who planned the Mars expeditions for little robots to design a voting machine we can depend upon, we can have an honest election. You would be surprised that an honest count would be about 55 to 60 % in favor of the Democrats and that would help unite the people. They would finally, after eight years of pain and shame, feel the country will be on the road to good times again. It also requires that big business decides to think big about their employees. Too many have been reduced to part timers and too many have been furloughed. Workers are buyers and we need customers more than ever. The holidays will show that the unemployed will buy less and receipts will show it.

[NorCalNative]

Marty, my only hope for Democrats is that they find it within themselves to do the right thing for the constituion. I don't think Bush is an idiot or incompetent. I do think that his party is relentless in practicing their form of radical Republicanism.

I don't want a President of ANY party to have enhanced or extra-constitutional powers. Based on what is already in the public sphere I believe that most of the Bush administration deserves to spend the rest of their lives behind bars.

[Janelynne]

Marty, you rock. It is time for the Democrats to be the adults, not the groveling, sniveling babies. Despite the lack of authentic journalism and despite the raw power and secret deals stemming from the White House, America has begun to figure it out. The American people want leadership to deliver us this awful war, to liberate us from the indignities of this administration, and to put American back on its Constitutional footing. We don't need the suggestor, we don't need the decider, we need the leader.

[MinuteMan]

Seems like Gore could enter with the promise of putting America back on track and a return to accountability (crimes were committed and they will be investigated and prosecuted). The combination would promise to move the country forward without turning a blind eye to the abuses during the past 8 years---besides the GOP says it hates "amnesty"; give 'em a taste.

[lovethesinner]

I believe we are fooling ourselves when we call our party the Democratic party. I believe it is transitioning into a completely corporate owned entity which, for the moment, should be called the "Democrati-graphic" party.

A "Democratic" party would be a party of principals.

The target entity, (the "Demographic" party,) would be a wholey owned subsidery of the major corporations (GE, Halliburton, et al) that will use phoney focus groups (Frank Luntz) to dictate public opinion, rather than discover it.

At the moment, we seem to have principals but, for the sake of elections, prefere not to live up to them.

Perhaps I'm just an optimist.

[milo9]

I think the bloggers perception is accurate, at least for me. I don't want to make nice, I want a reckoning. I want both the Democrat enablers and Lockstep Republicans who have effed up our Country and Constitution to be exposed and brought to justice. Brushing everything under the rug is not going to cut it.

[RustyNeverSleeps]

Close, Marty, but no cigar. The Democrats have as much blood on their hands as the Republicans, because pandering gets votes. What the voters don't want is a federal government.

[jpshotwheels]

I so agree, let them show the outrage of the American People, and forget about what the media is going to say about you, for showing the anger. I for one and truly ticked off and powerless to do anything about it, except write, email, call, to complain. What good has it done, not a bit, and the Democrats just keep doing the same thing the Republicans did for six long years.

Clinton can forget my vote, Barak isn't angry enough and I don't care what happens to the Republicans as long as they go to jail. Edwards showed some passion on the debate last week, he needs to show more. Kucunich is great but no one gives him any air time.

Al Gore would be our only hope and I would love to see the look on Clinton and Bush's face when he announced it. This would put the Shock and Awe on Bush & Cheney's agenda. Let us Pray.

[Bondaroid]

Question? Why doesn't any of the Democratic candidates have the courage to appear on Fox News for a debate? Can they not handle the tough questions they should be getting or do they need softballs? Hillary's last performance with Tim Russert moderating proves that out. A friendly moderator asked a question in which she tried to take both sides, which she does quite often, and she folded.

The problem with these candidates only appearing on friendly ground is that they themselves are weak. The Republican candidates at least have the courage to appear in PBS, CNN, MSNBC/NBC, CBS and ABC debates as well as Fox News with moderators such as Chris Matthews and Tim Russert. They are more comfortable stepping out of their bubbles then the Democratic candidates. If a Democrat is fortunate enough to win the presidency they better be able to handle tough questions, right now they can't.