Forget Racism, Use Memorable Ads to Make McCain's Economics Scary
In recent posts, Marshall and Gitlin are pointing to the increasing use of racial innuendo by the McCain campaign. This is their only route to victory, and there is little question that they have figured out how to do it well with minimally expensive ad buys that get the 24-hour media folks blabbering: presumptuousness, uncaring to troops, images of black candidate near beautiful young white women. McCain also, not incidentially, took a move last week to get lots of "McCain rejects affirmative action" headlines before the low-attention public. He is successfully playing on white fears of a black candidate, no doubt.
BUT -- here is the point -- McCain will ALSO succeed brilliantly if bloggers and pundits and media heads start blabbering about racism right now. That will bring race front and center to the campagin, exactly what Rove-McCain want! In addition, McCain benefits a lot from the whining responses of Axelrod and the Obama campaign. They keep saying "this is not the John McCain we know," not the "honorable John McCain." That is a very weak response and all it does is validate that, underneath, McCain supposedly IS honorable. This approach will allow McCain to take the low road this summer - smearing his opponent in August, just like they did with Kerry four years ago -- and then "rediscover" his basically honorable self for the closing phases of the campaign after Labor Day, when of course there will be a foreign policy crisis manufactured to play to his supposed strengths.
Bottom line: the McCain campaign has a diabolically clever strategy for keeping the focus off the economy and off the scary Bush-McCain economic notions for as long as possible. And give it to them, they are doing brilliantly well. With low budget ads magnified by the media, they are controlling the narrative. It does not matter at all that the TIMES and POST say they are lying days later -- the lies have already served their purpose. And the Brittany-Paris ad cannot be rebutted anyway. Today, it has taken the focus off Obama's town meetings on the economy, which were themselves giving rise to tepid headlines ("Obama refines ideas on the economy'' YAWN.)
What to do? Obama and those who support him should NOT wander off into a bunch of meta-analyses of racial innuendo in the McCain approach. And we should stop saying this is not the real, honorable McCain. This is indeed the real McCain -- and he needs to be put back on his heels.
That could be done with some hard-hitting ads about lies in his campaign. But I think it would be much better to use funny contrast ads -- "is this the real McCain?" -- featuring "Harry and Louise" type kitchen table people talking about McCain's terrible economic and domestic policy ideas and what they would do to real people. Forget McCain has gimmicks and Obama is serious, the approach of the energy response ad. Make McCain and his advisors and his extreme nostrums the issue -- and make them the risky threat. Force McCain to start explaining his own risky and dumb ideas -- but do it with as much advertising innovation as possible, coordinated with Obama words and surrogate attacks.
Why should this be hard? To wit:
-- McCain wants to cut taxes for millionaires and stick ordinary Americans with $XXX a month charges for Iraq and probably for more wars, too. He wants us to have nothing left for health care or Medicare or making college affordable or investing in creating new jobs to create energy and repair bridges.
-- McCain thinks "Social Security is a disgrace" and wants younger Americans to withdraw their contrbutions to the system, leaving nothing to support our grandparents and cheating them of their future benefits. How can that work when employers are dumping pensions and the stock market is so risky?
-- Worst of all -- McCain wants to raise taxes right now on every American who gets health benefits from his or her employer. $XXX a year! When employers don't give benefits, or drop them when they are taxed, he will give each person just a few thousand or less to buy health insurance on their own. But my cousin just tried to buy a plan, and it costs $XXXX more than that a year." And did you hear that McCain will let the insurance companies dump you or deny coverage if you are sick. His plan is just what the private companies want -- and would leave millions of people worse off than ever.
For the life of me, I cannot understand why Obama's campaign is letting the summer pass without putting McCain back on his heels about such scary, unpopular ideas. Meetings with Bernanke are no substitute!
Perhaps they started the summer thinking they should stay positive, build Obama's bio with a lot of soft ads and photo ops. But now they need to correct course. Their approach is losing ground -- it is allowing the campaign to become a carping referendum on a relatively newcomer black candidate, a recipe for disaster. Contrast policy ads now could hardly be criticized, after McCain started the negativism with lies and character attacks.
When will we see some truly clever ads and some economic offense from Obama's campaign? The McCain/media presumptuous riff is racially tinged nonsense. But the belief of many of his friends that Obama has been trying to coast and has not played good offense on bread and butter issues is true enough. Democrats have reason to urge him, and join him, in doing much better ASAP, before the crucial summer time is gone.
How about 'McCain has been paid over $51,000.00 in US Senate salary since April 8th, and has not showed up for one vote'
In fact, he hasn’t actually voted on anything in the Senate since April 8. McCain now ranks as the #1 most absent senator of the 110th Congress, having missed 61.8 percent of the votes. He even beats Sen. Tim Johnson (D-SD), who took several months off while recovering from a brain hemorrhage.
link
McCain is another in the line of inept wealthy Republicans who do not have the knowledge or motivation to do anything but advance personal interests and let the country continue to decline.
July 30, 2008 3:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
You're right that we're dealing with the real McCain. The supposedly "honorable" McCain was always just a a cranky old man under an affable, mavericky mask.
I also like your idea of highlighting McCain's bad ideas.
But we shouldn't let him off the hook for running a racist campaign. Bloggers should feel free to write the truth about McCain and his surrogates -- they're courting the votes of ignorant racists.
Theda, you're great when you give us ideas about things to talk about. But I hate it when you tell us all what not to say.
July 30, 2008 3:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks for your comment. I do not mean to say people in this discussion should not say things -- or debate racism, for that matter, which I just did myself. I mean that, strategically, it would not be wise for the campaign or for major commentators (not us) to feature this issue. The McCain-Rove approach is to racialize this campaign. They will do it by innuendo, but they also succeed to a point if it becomes a big brouhaha. That is what makes this campaign so tricky, and what makes it so important to figure out how to put economic issues on the agenda. In a way, no Democrat for years has really managed to do that.
And I am really not happy when I see a headline like the one today at TIME's "The Page" indicating that Axelrod is outraged at an ad -- and quoting him saying this is not what we expected from McCain! Good grief, if you did not expect it, you are not very prepared. And if you are truly suprised, don't say so, counter-strategize!
Even in the primaries, I felt that Obama was often a step behind, always countering Clinton, not setting the agenda. Cannot always do that -- and they did it really well for the first half of the foreign trip -- but his has to be the goal.
July 30, 2008 3:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks Theda. I also hope that we avoid running a counterpunching campaign. Obama needs to control the message both by telling us about his ideas and by telling us why McCain's ideas are so bad for the country. There isn't time for his people to get into debates about "McCain said this or that."
And I'm with you all the way about not even entertaining the notion that McCain is anything but what we know him to be -- an old man who will do anything to become president. Anything.
July 30, 2008 3:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
I know Obama is trying to define himself as being Presidential, but I think you make a valid point. McCain is the alternative to Obama. McCain is just plain scary. Every time he talks about his own positions he loses ground.
McCain is in a really tough spot. His economic and tax ideas are not popular with the general public but if he moves to the center, he risks losing his deadender supporters.
July 30, 2008 4:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
Your ad ideas are wonderful - and if they were used, this year's "daisy/bomb" devastators. The strength of Obama's campaign is genuine grassroots affirmation that he's the best man for the job, and that the job is turning this country from its catastrophic course. He wasn't created by the ruling elite or its subservient media; quite the contrary, he is relentlessly belittled and assailed by the media's deceitfully "fair" coverage. Giving voice to the concerns and alarums of "just folks" Americans are what we need to insulate ourselves - and our potential allies - from the toxic enchantment of "serious" spin.
July 30, 2008 5:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's been known to work before;
Destor calls the alternative "counter-punching." Lots of liberal bloggers like to call the alternative "fighting back" or "getting a spine;" I think that's because they wrongly confuse a presidential race with day-to-day working party politics.
The main point: if you spend time arguing about your opponent's talking points in a presidential race, the opponent wins something.
Yes, it's gotten so standard that everyone does it on teevee, surrogates for candidates or lobbyists for causes won't answer questions straight but keep trying to reframe to their own talking points. Just because it maddens many of us sometimes doesn't mean it still doesn't work for a presidential candidate, it does. It's an old p.r. standard called "creating a buzz," and the internet has empowered it exponentially. You simply don't want to be giving buzz to your opponent's narratives by debating them too much. To the fight-back crowd: it's not spineless, it's smart and disciplined.
July 30, 2008 7:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
oops, my poor link code obliterated the link; my blockquote is from Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It's_the_economy,_stupid
July 30, 2008 7:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
p.s. you know, it's interesting that a campaign getting an opponent to debate their points or framing or narrative is very similar to the way "trolls" work on the internet, and the "don't feed" prescription for that applies, too.
July 30, 2008 7:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
This is my first post but Theda's points are so well taken, I wanted to jump in, too. McCain's meme that it is just too "risky" - this word is used to describe Obama 24/7 on cable news and talk radio - is fast becoming part of the narrative the press is formulating for Obama. In another month, many voters will believe it to be true.
When I first heard it, it struck me funny because I find McCain an unbelievably risky choice. I was wrong. This is deadly serious.
The Obama campaign needs to immediately turn the tables and show that McCain, with his rush to unnecessary war, his "bomb, bomb, bomb Iran" statement and his hideous economic policies, is the risky candidate. They should use the word "risky" over and over again. Theda has listed tons of material they could use.
I am disappointed in the Obama campaign's reaction to all this. They need to fight this characterization of Obama hard or else it will soon be part of his narrative. Once it's written, it's hard (impossible?) to change. Look at McCain.
The only reason he's still a viable candidate is because the MSM and many people are still clinging to his storyline of 2000. None of his awful behavior sticks to him.
July 30, 2008 9:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
All true and on-point remarks by Theda. I agree that
bold delivery of the economic message--the consequences of the Repugs long-time, failed approach vs. a robust Dem program--can inoculate Obama against much of the nonsense being pitched our way.
The creativity in the ads is key. Who did Bill Richardson's clever primary season ad where he was applying for a job, albeit as an over-qualifed applicant? Or the Oregon senatorial candidate who used his prosthetic arm to uncap a beer for a voter? Of course, I'm not talking about those ads being replicated, but we need some outside the envelope thinking on the advertising.
July 30, 2008 10:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
"Meetings with Bernanke are no substitute!"
I agree. I saw something the other day about Obama meeting on something having to do with the criminally inept mortgage and securities fiasco with, gag, Robert Rubin. At some point this will get spun back around in McCain's favor. Citibank is a disaster and even the loudmouths on CNBC have been known to take potshots at Rubin--like what does he do there, and why wasn't he doing it? And then there's the Democratic programs to promote low income home ownership.
I think it's already all prepped. "Yes, Obama is too risky. Bush appointees cleaning up the messes of Clinton appointees and Democratic policies." It doesn't matter how much of a mess Bush makes abroad, the state of the US economy over the next few years is all that's going to play for real in Peoria.
I'm left with the impression that Obama is way more concerned with getting in with insiders in the financial sector. I don't know what that, especially these days, is supposed to do to reassure those voters who aren't quite compelled by his economics.
So even though Obama leaves me, personally, a little cold on this issue--I think he's Clinton, the presidency will make him nice and rich down the road, and he certainly loves to hear himself talk--McCain's economics *really are* scary. And unpopular.
I've never, ever quite gotten why Obama thought that his personal "story" was the single thing that he could always fall back on. (Or maybe I think I do, and I don't like it). Alas, it's just not that important to most people.
So, Obama needs to get back to work being the Democratic candidate. Not to mention that I really think that if he can't take out McCain on economic issues, he can't win. It's not like there isn't a lot of material.
July 30, 2008 10:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think you are right. The right will try to pin the economic mess on Clinton and the left. I just don't see it working if Obama plays it right.
In reality the cause of the problems comes from 7+ years of laissez faire economic policies under Bush. Any restraints placed on Wall Street and financial institutions were removed and the fox was allowed to raid the hen house. And the McCain (and Phil Gramm) vision for the economy is for less regulation in order that the markets be allowed to 'solve the problems on their own'. And of course leaving the market to its own devices is how we got here in the first place.
He needs to attack this position head on and make it clear 4 years of McCain can only make matters worse.
July 30, 2008 11:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
I posted this on another thread - I really think it's time for some scare ads. The difference is that instead of the hypothetical armageddon scare ads, these scare ads are about TODAY, the REAL devastation we're facing as a result of 8 yrs of Republican corrupt politics, enabled by many Democrats.
Eg.:
Still a deadly insurgency in Iraq and resurgence of Al Qaeda. Troops mired in distant lands, increasing casualties and suicides.
Banking failures, run on IndyMac, Fanny Mae and Freddy Mac rescued by taxpayers, Depression era images
Thousands bankrupt and homeless
Escalating oil and gas prices
Inflation squeezing the middle class
And then McCain running petty, inane ads on Obama's "celebrity" and lies about neglecting injured troops. He's Bush Lite, and will continue this disastrous trajectory.
Go on Obama, hand us the Reality Check for the Bill of Debt that we've unwittingly inherited from Bush & Co.
My worst fear is of course that unlike Kucinich or Dean, Obama is fast becoming one of *them*.
July 31, 2008 1:35 AM | Reply | Permalink
Beyond the dog whistle appeals to racism, McCain’s ads are aimed at demolishing Obama’s character—something the GOP is expert at. Of course, they have to—they don’t dare run on the issues.
What astounds me is that Obama is still playing by The Marquess of Queensberry rules. It seems to me the most obvious line of attack should be McCain’s utter lack of principle. Steve Benen has cataloged 71 McCain flip-flops to date. Every time McCain opens his mouth he either displays total ignorance of the subject on which he opines or contradicts whatever he said the day before. When challenged, he has on several occasions claimed not to have said what the videotape clearly reveals that he did say. Whether one characterizes this as confusion, incompetence or dishonest (or a combination of any or all of the three), it surely constitutes a track record that should raise questions about McCain’s veracity. This is important, unfortunately, because the McCain campaign is trying, a la Karl Rove, to attack Obama on the very things they know to be their own candidate’s biggest vulnerabilities.
If Obama doesn’t start going after McCain on this stuff very soon, he will soon face a situation in which, regardless what his positions may be, he won’t be able to get a hearing for them due to the sheer volume of false character-assassinating noise generated by McCain and echoed with idiotic faithfulness by the mainstream media.
July 31, 2008 8:41 AM | Reply | Permalink
The ad ideas are good, but I'm not sure that the case for forgetting symbolic racism is that strong. Dukakis tried to let the issue lie, and Willie Horton killed him. When Lloyd Bentsen was finally goaded into calling out the implicit racial messages there, the tide started to turn.
I'd point to The Race Card by Tali Mendelberg on this issue. Looking primarily at the 1988 campaign, she makes a compelling case that coded race-based attacks are effective in raising doubt about a candidate among whites, but only so long as they remain implicit, but that they are repudiated even among those who have a relatively high level of racial hostility when the racial undertones are challenged in an explicit, public way.
It's an especially tricky balance, this year, to fend off tacit appeals to racism. But I'd hope that surrogates or independent actors will stay on top of this, and question racial motivations openly when it is appropriate.
July 31, 2008 9:41 AM | Reply | Permalink
Barack needs to make the same Britney, Paris add on John McCain, using Carol Channing and Tallulah Bankhead!
July 31, 2008 10:13 AM | Reply | Permalink
I'll be canvassing tomorrow and telling people this:
"We had less than a $1 trillion in debt when Carter left office in 1981. It took us over 200 years, 2 world wars, a civil war, umpteen recessions and depressions under both Democratic and Republican presidents to run up that tab. All the way back to George Washington and the guys in tri-cornered hats. Now it’s over $9 trillion. (That’s so ugly you have to say it twice to let it sink in.) $9 trillion. In twenty seven short years of trickle down, supply side economics, with huge tax cuts for the richest 1% we’ve ballooned that debt out of control.
John McCain said in 2001 Bush’s tax cuts offended his conscience. Now he wants to make them permanent. Those tax cuts and the crazy deficits they generate are why the price of gas, food and everything else are going up. And in the end our kids and grandkids are going to get stuck paying off that debt. We can stop this nonsense of borrowing from the future or go down in history as the dumbest generation that squandered America's wealth."
Guilt is a powerful motivator and it’s about time some of these fools started feeling it. It might not change their minds but it's a powerful argument against the "tax and spend" liberal meme they've spread for 30 years and I tell ya it blows Republican minds when they hear a Democrat talk about fiscal responsibility.
August 1, 2008 6:13 PM | Reply | Permalink