Why Inspiration Will Make Obama the Strongest Candidate in November - And a President that Can Lead a Progressive Realignment in America

There are only two groups of voters who decide the outcomes of elections and are targets of communication that can be affected by political campaigns. They are "persuadables" and "mobilzables".

In general elections, persuadables are the voters who are switch hitters. They always vote, but they sometimes vote for Democrats and other times for Republicans. They have to be persuaded to vote for our candidate.

Mobilizables don't have to be persuaded to vote Democratic. They would support Democrats if they went to the polls, but often don't vote. They have to be mobilized to come out and vote.

The messages campaigns aim at persuadables are about the qualities of the candidate. The messages that work with mobilizables are not about a candidate -- they are about the voters. They are aimed at overcoming the sense of many potential voters that the act of casting a vote really isn't that important -- to their lives or those of the people they care about. Often we need to overcome the feelings of voters that they don't have much power to control their lives in general.

Very often, candidates are good at delivering one of these two messages but not the other. They are either very appealing to "persuadable", swing voters, or they motivate the Democratic "base" - but they don't do both.

That's where inspiration comes in. Inspiration is the one political message that works with both groups.

By inspiration I mean something very specific. Being inspired is about feeling empowered. When you are inspired by a speech or story or movie it isn't the "facts" or proposals that affect you. Its how experience makes you feel. When you're inspired you feel that you, or the country, or your group can overcome obstacles and do things you previously couldn't do. You feel that you can be more and achieve more than you could before.

Inspiration persuades "swing" voters because the candidate makes them feel good in his presence. He makes them feel more powerful and meaningful.

But inspiration also mobilizes voters because it overcomes the major obstacle to voter's participation -- the feeling of powerlessness.

It's his ability to inspire that allows Barack Obama to appeal simultaneous to swing "persuadable" voters and the vast number of "moblizable" voters who don't vote in [residential elections.

Obama's attraction to swing voters isn't that he promises to "compromise" with the right -- or adopt right wing values. It is that he inspires them with the traditional progressive values:

• That we're all in this together, not all in this alone;
• Unity not division;
• Hope not fear;
• That people are not commodities to be paid what the market will bear and discarded when they aren't needed, but human beings whose happiness and success are the purpose of the economy.

Inspiration comes from appeals to values, not ten point plans.

If Obama is the candidate for president this fall, he will attract Democrats, independents and even some Republicans. But he will also bring out a massive surge of young people, minorities, and many others who have never voted before. His candidacy will transform the presidential electorate.

That's why Obama is without doubt the best candidate to lead a potential progressive realignment of American politics this fall.

But just as important, Obama would be the best president to pass a progressive program of structural change that can democratize the distribution of power in America -- health care, tax, electoral, and trade reform -- new labor laws to allow average people to organize to defend their standards of living -- universal access to higher education. We won't pass this agenda if we rely on the insider game in Washington. Success will require a massive, on going mobilization of people across America. That will require inspiration.

If Hillary Clinton wins the Democratic nomination, she can win the General Election --though it will be harder. She could be a good president.

But Barack Obama could be a transformative figure in American politics, like Roosevelt or Kennedy -- presidents who used the power of inspiration to fundamentally alter American politics.

Economic self interest is a critical -- and often determinative self interest for voters. But it isn't people's only self interest. That's why the poorest counties in Ohio voted for Bush in 2004. That's why the working class Kansan's in What's the Matter with Kansas turn to cultural conservatism. People want meaning in their lives. They want purpose. They want to be part of something bigger than themselves - and to be able to personally play some significant role in that larger human endeavor.

That was the power of John Kennedy's call four decades ago to "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country". That's the power of Barack Obama's candidacy today.

Comments

[massimo1]

It strikes me that though Obama may be Mr. Inspiration, if he wins the presidency, his will to inspire will be sorely tested by the GOP as well as sore losers in his own party. Good luck to us all. We'll need it.

[BARRISTER]

Massimo, you donna hav o worry; Hussein will not win in November. He wont even come close.
The Republicans are quietly rejoicing at the liberals who are so dumb to think that Barak "inspires" anyone. The Confederacy will take care of his "DREAMS". He wont win ANY Confederate State and therefore cannot win the General Election.
FOUR MORE YEARS OF REPUBLICAN CRIMINALISM will result.

[nolalily]

Barrister. "If I wish it, that will make it so."

Just keep living in the immediate days of reconstruction and the old south will keep crumbling into the dust like it has in the last one hundred and fifty years.

Or, naw, never mind. It's just that you're so, so, well, backward.

[afgail]

Obama has won in Maine, Nebraska, Wyoming, Missouri, caucus states and the south where the population is 30% black. Red states one and all. He has won one big blue state, Illinois. Not a formula for winning in November. Furthemore, he reverted to type today. He was in the senate today while the FISA bill was being voted on. He was one of only three senators who was "not voting". The guy is an empty suit all ambition but no guts and no integrity. Try and explain that away you Obamabots.

[BARRISTER]

Oh no!!!

HE VOTED "PRESENT" AGAIN!!!!

[doubleplusgood]

No. Neither Clinton or Obama voted on it. No need to as It passed 68-29. Get your facts straight before 'contributing' to the debate.

[RichLiberal]

This is a typical fantasyland article that ignores the fact that there are "reasons" for the hostility in today's policital climate, and there are "reasons" why people feel powerless and that we are not "all in this together".

And Obama does not intend to address those reasons, he intends to compromise with them, which will only serve to make the problems worse.

Don't you realize that Bush thru his tax policies and basically all that the Republicans have done since Nixon was elected in 1968 is about replacing our Democratic system with an unaccountable aristocracy.

These people hate the Constitution because it has prevented them from achieving their goals and so they have been systematically in the process of dismantling it. These people are trying to restore the Royal aristocracies, opposition to which was the basis of the foundation of this country and the Constitution.

Do you think this is going to change with Obama's appeal for hope and change? Bill Clinton was absolutely correct in regarding Obama's whole vision of what is going on in America as a fairy tale.

America faces a monumental social crisis and it will require a President who is not afraid to undo the Republican tax structure which is designed to create an unaccountable American aristocracy. Bill Clinton, who has already shown he can do this is dismissed by Obama as being out of touch with what's needed today. On the contrary, Hillary is very much in touch and will do what is needed, however Obama will not, because he is sold out from Day One.

[splendidindependent]

Some people be they conservative, liberal or moderate or Republican, Democrat or Independent believe that one of the most fundamental problems with our country right now stems from the demagoguery and demonization that goes on in our political discourse. When discourse devolves into he said/she said, untruths and basic name-calling, then the substantive differences on policy get lost and we wind up making decisions on who seems like a person we'd like to have a beer with or other foolishness. I say that because in your rant you call Obama "sold out" and say he is supporting the "aristocracy" despite the fact that he worked for years in inner-city Chicago as a community organizer around key issues for poor/working class folks. And you say that despite the fact that he has promised to cut taxes for middle-class families while doing away with the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. Now, given those truths, it seems your comments are a bit like the demonization and demagoguery that are degrading our politics. Think about it.

[Wonderwheel]

RichLiberal, you are part right about the uncertainties of an Obama presidency, but you are all wrong about Bill Clinton. Clinton was not a challenge to Republicans. In fact Bill Clinton's legacy is based on his appeasement of Republicans in NAFTA and welfare reform (deform) and his failure to win against Republicans on health care. Clinton was a wimp after his first year in office and did nothing opposed to Republicans after his failure on health care. If he had had any intestinal fortitude he would have introduced single payer health care every single year of his presidency and vetoed every Republican back leglislation until it was approved!

[Plank]

I think Obama can be directly credited for the huge voter turnouts we have seen in this election. More and more people are engaged in this important democratic process than never before. People are inspired by Obama's message and as you stated, feel empowered. For the first time in many years, I feel that the cynics, the bigots, the pessimists and the political hypocrits have less monopoly and less impact in the debate.

[tgood]

Primarily Hispanics will feel empowered by Obama.

Obama solicits La Raza backing

July 23, 2007

Sen. Barack Obama told La Raza in Miami Beach yesterday that he marched in an immigration rally.
http://washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070723/NATION/107230063/1001

Excerpts:

MIAMI BEACH, Fla. — Sen. Barack Obama told the nation's largest Hispanic advocacy group yesterday that he earned their support for his presidential campaign by marching in last year's May 1 immigrant rallies and challenged them to learn whether others met that standard.

"Find out how many senators appeared before an immigration rally last year. Who was talking the talk, and who walked the walk — because I walked," Mr. Obama said at the National Council of La Raza's annual convention in Miami Beach. "I didn't run away from the issue, and I didn't just talk about it in front of Latino audiences.­"

The Illinois Democrat said the recent Senate immigration debate "was both ugly and racist in a way we haven't see since the struggle for civil rights."

Mr. Obama was the most forceful, promising "in my first term we will make this a priority and get this done."

This is the group Obama is proud to march with and promise to push amnesty first thing when he's elected. Take a look at just how much of our tax dollars are being funneled to this racist group.

The Truth About LaRaza by Rep. Charlie Norwood:

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=13863

Mr. Obama, you can keep walking as far as those of us who don't go along with your open border policies are concerned. We won't tolerate your race baiting tactics to please Hispanics to get their votes. You promise Americans change but out of the side of your mouth, it appears you're speaking only to Hispanics and illegal aliens. Yeah, you'll bring change alright. More people for us to support.

[ConcernAmerican]

More than 70% of latinos in Florida voted for Hillary instead of Obama. Why is that?

[clsez]

CHEAP TALK is hard to buy.

So while Hillarity is denouncing Barack as all talk and cheap talk, is she doing this through a different orifice?

So when no one buys her brand of talk, does it somehow become prohibitively expensive? Emphatic yes. I say her talk has been judged overrated and her actions definitely stink. See Healthcare 1.0

Also she says she is ready from day one to run a nation when her microcosm campaign is a shop of errors?

Who is still listening her vitriol?

[TrueBlueMajority]

Finally someone has been able to articulate the post-partisan appeal of the Obama campaign.

So many of us long for a president who uses the power of inspiration to fundamentally alter American politics in a POSITIVE way after so many years of "fake feel good" propaganda from the VRWC.

[Forwhatsitsworth]

He does have the gift of the gab! That will certainly send the VRWC running!

[December7]

Obama's message is resonating especially with the the young who are sick and tired of being caged in ideological pigeon holes, grounding governance to halt. But after the Bush/Clinton dynasty's I guess many Americans only look at issues as pay-back. No wonder Hilary talks of reality checks, unable to see what is possible, believing she has "made change" for the last 35 years.

Unfortunately is hard for some to visualize a greater America beyond the drugde they are used to. Its easy to forget the greatest companies in America including Microsoft, Google and organic farming have emerged only in the last 25 spearheaded by novices whom nobody gave a chance.

Fortunately our time is now, Go Obama

[GoldCanyonGal]

Obama appeals to the 'American Idol' crowd...ha­s anybody told them they can't vote (repeatedly) from the text messaging on their fons yet? He stages his 'pep rallys', uses crowd control like a Republican (like GW) and buses in the youngsters to beef up the adulation and fainting maidens in the front row! Repubs will eat him for lunch!

[mikekev58]

The youth vote in the general election has been a phantom in past years. When the person at the center of their movement is no longer involved, even the young primary voters stay home. Should Obama lose the nomination based on the rules governing the Democratic nominating convention, his young followers will feel deflated and will stay home.
Democrats have won without the youth vote before, because it was never there to begin with. And Hillary can win without them this time.
But...can Obama win without the party's base, the "old vote"? I don't think so.

[LuluDoll]

As a 45 year old white woman who has never once watched American Idol I think this is a pretty empty comment.

[Herrington]

Look past the candidates. Look at the polls leading up to the primary season. Observe that approval ratings for the President and Congress are at historic lows. This election is about an angry, fed up people. It is the Republican’s worst nightmare, an angry torch and pitchfork carrying mob. Why the Republicans keep bringing the country back to the same brink is a question of pathology.

It has become about candidates at the prospect of electing someone to carry the message of the people to Washington. But do not lose sight of the fact that it is the people speaking and not the candidates. 2006 was a preview, where 15 years of Republican legislative domination was nearly overturned in one election cycle. As it was, nearly every Republican that was vulnerable lost their job.

If Obama had not shown up, the crowd would have anointed someone else, very probably Clinton, as their messenger. All the accusations of empty campaign rhetoric need to be viewed in the perspective of whoever is the more anti-Bush, anti-Republican, anti-status quo candidate, wins. I am not Bush is the strongest argument of any of the possible arguments.

Creamer seems to favor bringing the most possible people into the process. I must agree. Obama’s crowds are bigger and the passions stronger. I hear no material difference between the legislative priorities of Clinton and Obama. What is left is who will create the most excitement. Call the Obamanistas stupid and gullible if you must, but their votes count too, legally, morally and ethically. And they are on the same side as you, even if they cannot articulate why.

[mhopgood123]

I am a Barack Obama supporter and have been following the campaign closely. Having read numerous articles, blogs, and commentaries, I have to say this article is one of the best I have read regarding Obama's widespread appeal. Like you, I think Obama could definitely win the general election basically running on the promise of hope and inspiration. The idea we can change the way things have been done in a long time, that the best is yet to come and that a progressive America is something possible is what is motivating many people to vote. If Obama were to lose the election due to some Clintonian manipulation of the pledges and superdelegates, I think we will see a lot of people who will stay at home come the election in November. I will be one of those.

[mikekev58]

What if he loses the nomination fair and square? I predict you will stay home irrespective of how he loses the nomination. You're in it for the emotion, and if The Uniter is not the nominee, all the air will go out of "The Movement".

[splendidindependent]

Honestly, although it would be a tragedy if the superdelegates went against the will of the people, I still believe that the Democrats would probably win. If they snatch the election from Obama, folks would be disappointed and shocked, and some African-Americans might even stay home. But folks are so tired of the Bush-flavored form of Republican politics that many Dems and most independents will come out and vote against the candidate who they feel will continue Bush's policies. Given McCain's switch on some policies and his Iraq stance, that means he will be skating uphill all the way.

[rwe]

Inas[piration??? no substance, plans, results , to speak of... and now it is coming out that his pep rally's are staged.

[Forwhatsitsworth]

...Staged? But he does have the gift of the gab..the Republicans won't be able to stand up to a strong, exceptional speech.

[LuluDoll]

Inspiration and substance. It's all there. You can not "stage" what is happening. It's real. But go ahead an keep repeating the talking points.

[vsign]

I think most people on this list don't know the country between the coasts. I know middle america. McCain is the perfect choice for the republicans to beat Obama.

If the Democratic Party gets hood winked into believing Obama can win, we'll just have another republican for eight years. The Republicans think they can defeat our party so bad (if it's Obama) that we won't recover. I agree.

[amberglow]

this is not inspirational--let him go be a sexist pig back in IL-- "... I understand that Senator Clinton, periodically when she's feeling down, launches attacks as a way of trying to boost her appeal," he told reporters. ..." -- http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080215/ap_on_el_pr/obama

This is not ok by any means--and certainly not "unifying" or any kind of "change" from the bad old days.

[justmeinAz]

Clinton ran attack ads, and Obama said,"hey, she's running attack ads." What's the problem here? Running a positive campaign doesn't mean walking around with a "kick me" sign taped to your back.

[mikekev58]

Except that The Uniter's campaign was distributing anti-Hillary literature in Ohio that was not supported by facts.

[MegWe]

Please check the context of this comment. It was given in response to a reporter's question about Hillary's latest vitriol attack ad. I think his response was very calm given the lies and distortions that he was asked to comment on. The Clinton supporters name calling is getting so tiresome.
Sen. Obama is not a sexist pig. Ridiculous.

[rudytwo]

Let me tell you what Oboma inspires in me. Being a lifelong democratic and having voted in every election since my first presidential election (1968)and yes I am one of the few people who admit voting for George McGovern. If Hillary Clinton is not the party nominee I will be inspired not to ever again vote in a presidential election until a women (and I don't care which party she is from) is the candidate.­.. It is with a heavy heart that I will not vote for the first African-American but if we truly want change in Washington a woman would produce it.. Another male of any color will not. By the way I am a male from PA..

[justmeinAz]

Most powerful political position in the world, and gender trumps qualification, ability, and chances for success. Great. You've just single handedly explained why feminism is a four letter word to some people. Your brand of feminism serves no one. An incompetent or unscrupulous person in the White House is not a smaller tragedy for the world if that person happens to be female. Women like you need to get over yourselves and view other people as individuals, not mentally breaking them into the "he's" and the "she's" and that's as far as you care to think. Lucky for this country, the vast majority of our women aren't as narrow minded and shallow as you.

[MagisterLudi]

JustMeinAz posted: "Lucky for this country, the vast majority of our women aren't as narrow minded and shallow as you."

Here's a difference between true Democrats (most of whom support Clinton) and Obama mob:
Clinton Democrats will vote for Democrat in November because party affiliation is an important criteria for TRUE Democrats.
Whereas for the Obama mob only their messiah will do.

If Clinton is nominated ( as it is likely) the Obama mob will sulk in the corner muttering about conspiracies and lending their support to Republicans by staying home and whining about Clinton.

Personally, I think Obama is an OK rookie politician,

but I've grown to DESPISE his shrill and hysterical and largely uninformed followers.

[mikekev58]

Come now...and you're not taking Obama's race into consideration just a wee bit? Be honest. You and the rest of the Obamanistas want to be a part of history, i.e., the generation that elected the first African-American president. It's understandable, but please don't try to deny it.

[rhettab]

I too voted for McGovern and worked for Gary Hart's campaign. I'm also one that's marched for women's rights since the 60's. HOWEVER, the "feminists" who believe that we're either with Hillary or against women are taking the women's movement back 50 years! Obama has more feminine energy in his little finger (the healing energy) than HRC has in her entire body. Why isn't she (and all her female supporters) talking about what we were fighting for....the Equal Rights Amendment!!!! That's the issue here - where has she been on that issue?

[rudytwo]

I think I am starting to understand why some women stay in abusive situations­..
I do admire African-Americans for supporting Obama,I would too. Obama and Clinton vary so little on the issues blacks decided that race matters. You only have to look at the numbers to understand that. For white men the only thing that matters is power, ie., the have it and are not about to give it away. Women have an opportunity to make historical breakthrough and most of them vote for another male. Oh well...

[justmeinAz]

This is the feminism that makes sense. It's about ideas, not anatomy. kudos.

[LDW]

What chance is there that Obama will be a 'transformative' president? A damn slim one, by my reckoning. The only transformation he's really worked hard at for the past dozen years is to tranform himself from office to higher office. And for every position he's had he spends his efforts glad-handing his way up to a higher position. And he's not afraid to fight dirty, except he hasn't bothered to soil his hands with the real work of legislative change.

Expecting that he can accomplish great things when he can't even hold his own in a debate is not reasonable. He does know a lot about constitutional law, voting rights and Chicago back-room politics and how to play them, but he doesn't seem to have much of a grasp on world events, economic affairs, or the tax system or healthcare.

Obama - Present.
Hillary - President!

[fun2bfree]

Does being for Hillary make you deaf, blind and dumb (as in stupid)? Do you READ ANYTHING posted? Have you done ANY research at all into Obama's or CLinton's record or do you just make garbage up and then post it? I am convinced I am living in upsidedown world. The candidate who is all talk, who is all about her name and not much else is CLINTON. The candidate with a substantive record of legislative achievement and plans is Obama- it could not be clearer.
And of course there is her little problem with telling the truth over and over and over and over and over -for years.

Posts above and all over talk about how Obama supporters are just seduced by talk and can't articulate why they are for him...and then Obama supporters like myself post on board after board about his record, his positions, her record, her votes, her lies, her deceptions all documented-none of this has anything to do with race or gender or Monica or Bill or who looks or sounds better...
Go to the Library of Congress website. Look up the bills each has sponsored- Obama's record is far more substantial that Clinton's.
Look at the bills he has passed-- ETHICS REFORM, OPENNESS IN GOVERNMENT, TRANSPARENCY. all the way back to his days in the IL SENATE.
Go to his website to find the names of some of these laws. Under ISSUES-ETH­ICS... Go to her website and good luck even finding the word ethics on there...sh­e may not be familiar with the subject. But these are just facts that none of us articulate.

Gotta go--Must go drink some more Obama Kool-Aid now!

[swdemocratforchange]

Excellent post "fun2bfree­"....I have said the same on other blogs as well, but yours is more detailed and insightful­...THANK YOU!!! Senator Obama is the real deal & yes, I've been drinking the same Obama Kool-aid..­..pretty good isn't it!!!

[GomezAdams]

Obama won't win the generals, the middle will run to McCain.

[justmeinAz]

McCain is now officially pro torture. He also is lavishing praises on Rove. And he likes to appoint conservative supreme court judges, which we now have one too many of. I don't think he's quite the middle magnet he may have been years ago.