The Right Tone
Here's a clip of Obama today in Berea, Ohio, rightly accusing the Republicans of lying about his energy program when they reduce it to tire inflating. He's indignant but not irate. He plays at disbelief that his opponent could be so crass. He sounds like a triumphant man, a man who knows he's in the right and yet has been kicked in the kneecap--ineffectually--by losers. His tone says, Can you believe this? "It's like these guys take pride in being ignorant." The crowd jumped to its feet.
He's right, of course, but also, I suspect, effective. I suppose somebody could argue that when he says the Republicans would be better off consulting energy experts than dwelling on Britney and Paris, there are voters with whom this won't go over so well. The populace is supposed to detest experts. They're, you know, elitist, and so must the president be if he wants to talk to them. For myself, I would be happy if he kept striking this gong. Imagine: "John McCain is the man who hugged George Bush--the president who thought he could do without the Iraq experts, the man who could do without the hurricane experts, the man who turned the whole government over to lobbyists instead of people who know what America needs. John McCain and George Bush--two privileged men who think they have a right to sneer at people who know something. The leaders of the Ignorance Party."
On both domestic matters and Iraq, there ought to be a giant majority of Americans who know the Republicans are not just corrupt but wacked out, brain-dead, ignorant, contemptuous of fact, therefore dangerous--dangerous in Iraq, dangerous with Katrina, dangerous with the economy, dangerous with climate change. Dangerous.
I'd bet that this majority is ready for the Party of Reason. Combine reason with compassion and you win. If I'm wrong, and they're not ready, no pander will trick them, and they'll vote for ignorance again. Take a chance on the truth--straight talk, you might say.
August 5, 2008 9:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
Dr. Gitlin recommends a daily worry of five minutes and no more. P. S. For reassurance on Obama's rather stable (though small) lead since the end of the Demo primaries, see Seth Colter Walls channeling Alan Abramowitz on Huffington Post (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/08/05/is-obamas-lead-in-gallup_n_117058.html).
August 6, 2008 8:37 AM | Reply | Permalink
In the words of Disraeli and Mark Twain,
“There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.” I remain worried, but I'll try to hold it down to a few minutes a day.
August 6, 2008 11:53 AM | Reply | Permalink
I did like Obama's mocking tone today but I think it is wrong and pehaps dangerous to label republican politicians as stupid. Incurious, yes, but very clever with the political tools that they have when speaking to their particular constituencies. I much prefer yesterdays formulation; McCain isn't racist, he is just cynical. That distinguishes the snake oil salesmen from the buyer and gives the buyer a choice.
But I would like him to take your advice and repeatedly call republicans dangerous. Obama needs to constantly point out the obvious dangers that their policies have exposed us to because the media isn't doing it even though it should be their first priority.
But that line of attack also cuts across the republican brand and their attraction to those who seek secutity above all else. If Obama can get make that connection obvious then it could be a landslide.
August 5, 2008 11:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
I hear you but disagree in a sense - Obama needs to campaign against McCain on not "Republicans"
August 5, 2008 11:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
He should take a leaf from FDR (see my last post in the Book Club): attack "the Republican leadership," not "the Republican Party."
August 6, 2008 8:39 AM | Reply | Permalink
For the GOP, ignorance is definitely bliss... they are just hoping the rest of America is not paying attention. They have evidence from the past to show America doesn't really pay attention. They even gloat about how dumb they are:
McDumb as Bush
Unfortunately for them, with America going to hell, the electorate is finally paying attention. Stupidity is not a qualification for CIC anymore.
August 5, 2008 11:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
And for those voters, at the same exact town hall meeting, he said the pledge of allegiance with his hand over his heart, looking for all the world not like a clone of Dukakis on policy but like a patriotic commander-in-chief grabbing control of a situation:
Man heckles Obama about Pledge of Allegiance
If he can continue these sort of passionate responses, instead of lapsing into droning on policy, which he sometimes does, I wouldn't worry about it, he'll do fine. I saw several lengthier clips and I think he did great.
I think what you label the "expert" problem is misunderstood. Talking policy is not the problem. Not showing passion about the policies you're advocating is the problem. He has a past tendency to lapse sometimes into professor mode, Professor (as in: "one the one hand, we could do this, on the other hand, we could do that",) and that's when the expert problem appears.
August 6, 2008 12:02 AM | Reply | Permalink
we got our winning slogan folks
August 6, 2008 4:28 AM | Reply | Permalink
While I agree certainly that the Republican leadership and much of their membership has embraced ignorance wholeheartedly, and that the US has possibly been irreparably damaged by it (at least in this generation), I almost choked on the ice I was munching when I saw the words "Party of Reason." Surely I'm mistaken and this is a new party going by that name, and not the Democrats you're talking about? For the last eight years, they've proved themselves, with the exception of a few standouts, to be the party of compromise and appeasement.
At the end of the day, all any of them want is our votes, and we ought never forget that, even with the guys we like. If the Republicans thought experts would get votes from their constituents, they'd embrace them as quickly as the Democrats would banish them to get votes from their own.
August 6, 2008 5:54 AM | Reply | Permalink
Why assume that the Republicans have their fingers on the pulse of America? Don't we have ample reason to think that they're trapped by their ideological zealotry?
August 6, 2008 7:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
The only pulse the major politicos of either party have their fingers on is the poll's.
August 9, 2008 7:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
Wonder how much we're going to promise the auto companies ($35 billion to $40 billion?) to keep Michigan blue this November.
August 6, 2008 11:23 AM | Reply | Permalink
Obama has been hitting the right tone.
"Is that the best they can do?"
"They have nothing to say, so they talk about me..."
But what is missing - the the repetition. THAT's the most effective part of the Republican machine. All of their surrogates repeat the same central thread. over and over and over
If Obama can marry repetition to his current tone, I think we may have a story that sticks.
August 7, 2008 9:44 PM | Reply | Permalink