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Ideas for reconciliation
It's about time to think about practical, specific steps Obama should take to reach out to Clinton supporters and voters. So, I humbly submit my two cents.
1) He should not offer HRC a veep spot. Their styles simply do not mesh. He should however, ensure that she has a strong voice in the party and leadership positions are open to her, whether that be in the Senate or NY Governor.
2) He should promise that half of his cabinet will be female.
3) He should think seriously about choosing a female veep, such as KS Gov. Kathleen Sebelius or even a Clinton supporter like Feinstein.
4) He should offer to pay off her campaign debt, but not the money that she put in from her own pocket. I know this is a touchy topic, but I think we can reasonably make a distinction between her personal debt and other debt. I'd be willing to have the money I gave Obama be used to build the party, distasteful as the means might be.
5) He needs to spend at least one week in MI and FL apiece before the convention. The Democratic campaign apparatus in those states is far, far behind.
6) He needs to be honest about his learning curve in speaking to working class voters. But he can learn to speak the lingo without pandering. Really, his message needs to be that he feels their pain, comes from their world, and thus will NOT pander to them. Examples: insist that some kinds of manufacturing will not come be coming back to the rustbelt, but that rejuvenation of their communities is his administration's top priority. Promise that even though corn ethanol subsidies need to go, other types of ethanol manufacturing will be located in the Midwest. Insist that subsidies will heavily favor new solar plants in the rustbelt. Emphasize that universal health care will make working class voters much more mobile and relieve some of the nastiest economic downward pressures. Ultimately: no more sociology, much more specifics that articulate his vision clearly.
7) Something has to be done about the age gap, but I don't know what. I don't understand old people and their goofy biases.
8) Openly endorse Dean's 50 State Strategy and get serious cash flowing into red states to make McCain play some more defense. He can't make up the white working class vote gap unless they are part of the party across the nation. Targeting swing states only won't work this time.
Comments (9)
Dear Lone Oak:
A highly regarded exit poll in Indiana showed that 73 percent of the voters who voted for Clinton were thought that the Wright stuff was "very important." The point is that, although Obama "survived" the Wright flap, it damaged his reputation. Add that in onother poll, only 34 percent thought that Obama renounced Wright because he actually disagreed with him. Many voters thought he was only disagreeing to win political support. That's why I argue in my dailykos.com blog, "To Build the Largest Majority, Obama Must Deal Better With the Wright Stuff," that he's got to make a major speech in which he more thoroughly and convincingly deals with this issue.
May 9, 2008 7:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
For the most part, I agree with you that this is a major weak point in his campaign. But, we would seem to differ about how to deal with it. I don't think he should be doing a lot of big 'national conversation' speeches because that is not the kind of discourse that will convince an awful lot of these voters. (I'm a sucker for those, but I'm one of those elitist snobs with a post-graduate education.) Do you really think he's going to make any speeches that are much better than the last two? He has to prove his street cred before they will listen to any more speeches like that. I think that means doing on the ground work like #6 above.
May 9, 2008 7:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
Loneoak, you've got the most reasonable plan I've yet heard. Have you sent it to Obama's campaign?
But--
Important to whom? Did they think it was important to other voters or to them? Did it perhaps even make them vote for Obama because it's been blown out of proportion and choked off the political discourse? Did some actually approve of his renunciation of Wright for political reasons? After seeing how well things went for Obama this Tuesday, I think we have to give the American electorate a little more credit than to assume the worst.
But for the GE, you're right about reaching out. Expect much more from him on class, race and gender. Expect that he'll get even better at talking honestly about his views and saying what he means without pandering or talking down to voters.
May 9, 2008 9:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
How do I send suggestions to Obama's campaign?
May 9, 2008 9:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
Not sure what you mean about the age gap. I'm 63. I think it's more a matter of whether people are open, not what their age is.
As for speeches, I think Obama is a man who can speak to different groups, can read an audience, can speak to people in ways that make sense to them. He's a former community organizer after all. He did that while teaching Constitutional Law. He's a man able to walk in many spheres, talk to many kinds of people, speak both the language of the street and the language of the Academy.
I think the country as a whole needs healing. And while he has a huge task ahead of him, I am confident that he, better than any other politician of our day, can bring us closest to the healing that is needed.
May 9, 2008 8:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah, sorry, the age thing was a little glib. But, Obama does have an age gap. Even more than the white working-class vote, older voters have been Clinton's bulwark. Any ideas about how Obama can deal with this real and daunting demographic gap? It would probably be along the lines of any gap he has to close, which is convince folks that despite his surface differences, he is really all about reinforcing classical American values in the best sense.
May 9, 2008 9:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think that it depends on the source of the gap -- and, some gaps may be less critical than others, since anyone who was making a policy-based decision will probably quickly see that Obama's positions are similar to Clinton's.
For the general public, I think he also needs to demonstrate his own executive capability and ability to enact specific policies. Based on my own contacts who don't pay close attention to politics, I still hear that raised as concern. In addition to addressing that by adapting his tone and the content of his presentations, I think this is a point where the VP pick could be critical. If people can believe that Obama has the right ideas and vision for the country, but have a difficult time believing that he'll be able to implement them, then he needs a second-in-command who is extremely capable in that regard.
For older voters, is it possible that one of their reasons for choosing Clinton in greater numbers was a belief that her health care plan was superior? If so, then perhaps there's something specific he could do there; I've heard it suggested that adopt Hillary's plan, but I can't imagine that happening. Perhaps there's some other concession that he could make, though?
It's
May 9, 2008 11:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
You can't reconcile with someone whose still kicking you in the crotch.
May 10, 2008 12:51 AM | Reply | Permalink
Good LOL. This old person's "goofy biases" has much to do with how well life was for my family with the Clinton economic plan, and several other things as well:
Bias #1: My 28 year old son, formerly an Obama supporter now supporting Hillary, went to college with tremendous help from a Pell grant based on the Clinton plan.
Bias #2: We had health insurance that covered dental and did not cost us a fortune. We've lost all of that in the last 6 years and believe Clinton knows how to fix it because she was a part of the WHC presidency that has already worked on this and knows what doesn't work.
Bias #3: I lost a long-earned promotion to a person who had less than half my experience. He was very personable and schmoozed the boss quite effectively. He almost ran the company aground before he was fired and I got the job. There is a big part of me that feels experience matters more than charm when it comes to running this country.
Bias #4: Color doesn't mean a damn thing to me. I don't think of Obama as black. I think of him as just another man who wants to run our country; a man who has the audacity to run for the Presidency with only 3 years of mediocre national politics under his belt. It's time to see what a woman's perspective can do. Especially a woman with the experience, intelligence, drive, energy and tenacity of Hillary Clinton. I learned from my wife how the feminine approach to conflict makes all the difference in obtaining successful and lasting resolution, and I believe with all my soul that it's time for a woman president.
So, there you have it. Goofy? One day you'll be labeled the same way for many of the same reasons.
May 10, 2008 1:03 AM | Reply | Permalink
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