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Loading ...Besen: What Obama must do to win
For Barack Obama to become president, the Democrats have to stop acting like bureaucrats and sell their candidate, while tearing down John McCain. The national convention must transform sonorous issues into sellable sound bites and overcome Republican attempts to smear Obama. Here are four things the Democrats need to accomplish at their convention if they hope to retake the White House:
Unite the Party: Hillary and her increasingly irrational supporters need to get a grip and move on. The election was hers to lose and she did so by not planning past Super Tuesday, giving Obama a string of caucus victories that propelled him to victory.As a result of this monumental strategic blunder, Obama pulled ahead and Clinton fought back, turning this once warm and fuzzy primary into a political brawl. I know feelings were hurt and egos were bruised. There are also many women who are bitterly disappointed because they wanted to see a woman president.
The incessant whining of Clinton supporters, however, is beginning to work the last nerve of Democrats who actually want to win. Obama and Clinton’s policies were often so close as to be nearly indistinguishable. It is simply inconceivable that one could support Clinton and then opt for McCain – unless race plays a pivotal factor in the decision.
That’s right, I said race. How else could a Clinton-supporting woman now vote for John McCain, who will put Roe v. Wade in jeopardy? How could such a person who professes to care about women’s issues vote for McCain when it is obvious that a barrier breaking black man will do more to help a woman get elected as president in the future? It does not make sense unless there is an ulterior, underlying motive.
I think the party will unite because Hillary has even more to lose than Obama. If she (or Bill) is blamed for a loss, it will be career suicide. People who might be natural supporters of a forthcoming Clinton candidacy will shun her if she is perceived as the jealous villain who put McCain in the Oval Office.
Define Obama: On Monday, Michelle Obama was transformed from a Republican-created cartoon of an angry black woman who disliked America, into a working mother with strong family values. Barack must be as successful as his wife in marketing himself to the American people.
By the end of the convention, voters must feel like he is tough enough to keep them safe, feels their economic pain and has the judgment to overcome reservations about his experience. He must also connect with the burping fools slurping beers on wobbly barstools who want to be reassured that Obama is warm enough to share a cold one.
Fortunately, Obama is a gifted orator who could read graffiti on a bathroom wall and make it sound like the Gettysburg Address. He must flash every bit of his effulgent brilliance – or his candidacy may be a flash in the pan.
Caricature McCain: How can McCain keep our house in order when he can’t even count the ones he has?
This is the type of question that must be ruthlessly raised at the convention. McCain needs to be defined as an out of touch George Bush clone who is past his prime and surrendered his dignity to win the GOP nomination.
I can’t tell you how many people I have met who say they, “miss the John McCain” of 2000. The onus is on the Democrats to relentlessly drive home the point that this “maverick” no longer exists and has been replaced by a party hack that is the candidate of the past. McCain should be portrayed as a dangerous, hot tempered curmudgeon who barely understands the Internet, wants to reignite the cold war and is not forward thinking enough to get us out of Iraq, much less propel America towards future economic or military greatness. And, as a Bush enabler, he is as responsible as anyone for the miserable failures of the past eight years.
Finally, McCain is going to the well too often on his POW experience. Democrats should remind voters that the McCain of 2000 was humble about his heroism and did not use it incessantly as a campaign talking point.
Gay Issues: Democratic National Committee Treasurer, Andy Tobias, set the tone when he said at the podium, “As a gay man I yearn for a president who believes in equal rights for all Americans.” Ted Kennedy also included GLBT people – and Obama or Biden should follow his lead. This would mark a sharp contrast with the upcoming GOP convention, where a concerted effort will be made to bring home social conservatives at the expense of GLBT Americans. If the Democrats can shave off enough GLBT people on the fence, they might win Florida or other swing states.
The 2008 Democratic convention must defy convention by combining Obama’s signature brand of hope with hard knocks against McCain. If the Democrats let this strategic moment pass, our nation will be stuck in the past and doomed to repeat history.
Obama was mesmerizing. The Democrats accomplished everything I asked for and more. As a result, Obama is much more likely to be president than he was a few days ago.
Ah, the posting has now been removed. Not surprisingly, my e-mail was returned as undeliverable. So many of these nut job groups non-functioning ‘Contact Us’ e-mail addresses!
Hi Wayne – Maybe you can ask one of the people at 365gay.com why they are letting the ADF post on this site? This is an ANTI-GAY organization! Are they trying to intimidate us? I’ve already e-mailed them letting them know that we are on to them and how truly pathetic they are!
John – it seems I’ve accomplished quite a bit with this column. If you haven’t noticed, the Democrats have done exactly what I have said they should do. If they don’t follow my advice – and the similar advice of others – they will lose…badly.
As far as a campaign advisor – I’ve been around politics for 15 years and once served as a communications director in a US Senate primary. Not that that means anything – as the campaign pros – like the ones that advised John Kerry not to respond to the Swift Boat ads – are usually wrong.
There are those of us who know that if the Democrats don’t overcome the wimp factor – they will lose, once again. There are liberals, such as myself who are fed up with losing and don’t believe in unilateral political disarmament and passivism. Politics is a contact sport and we need to rough up the Republicans to win.
If you think reading “The Secret” and thinking positively will win us the election – see Dukakis, Kerry and Mondale.
I think this column was a lucid road map and the Democrats can ignore it at their own peril.
Finally, it was wonderful to see Hillary do the right thing. If she had not, her political career would be over. Instead, she was terrific and has remained a party hero – thus making her the favorite in a future presidential race.
You know what Wayne, I’ve always loved your articles and the work you do. I just don’t know how you got so far off the mark with this article. You have achieved nothing but the opposite of what you set out to do. Last…when do you become a campaign advisor?
I wonder how productive it is to so harshly come down on bruised Hillary supporters. I do believe that only will exacerbate the issue. Before asking Hillary supporters who are still sensitive and not transitioning well, which by the way is a very small number of people, to get a grip, you should be asking the equally small number but very vocal Obama supporters to learn how to diplomatically deal with people who disagree. It is my opinion that this is no longer a Hillary Vs. Obama issue. Its become an Obama supporter vs. Hillary supporter. Because these folks are not bound by the fair play of the campaign offices, they often say very stupid, hurtful and counterproductive things.
Things for you to remember if you want a unified party in November.
1. Hillary Clinton did not loose. And Hillary Clinton Supporters are not losers. Remember, when the votes are counted, she did get more votes.
2. Stop talking to Hillary supporters like we are somehow mentally deficient, and if we only new the facts about Obama we would have made the “right” choice.
3. Stop acting like Hillary Supporters are irrational and illogical. We have had a 16 year love affair with the Clintons. Her LGBT platform has been well known for vastly longer than Obama’s. Many people had much more time to envision her presidency. Even through much of the primaries she was still the favorite to win.
4. Clinton Supporters are NOT going to switch sides. Because we vote for Obama does not mean we are no longer Hillary people. Many of us invested countless hours of our lives, not to mention blood sweat and tears, working extremely hard to crack that glass ceiling. Dont expect us to just forget about that.
5. Start communicating with us in a way that is respectful of not only us and our massive effort, but also the Historic advances she made.
6. 99% of us will vote for Obama. You are right. How anyone can have their hearts on Hillary and then jump to McCain is absurd. Stop stirring the pot and start to mend those bridges.
I live in Indiana and was and still am a devoted Hillary Clinton person. I now sit on Obama’s LGBT out reach committee. I am often approached because of my ties to Hillary and others who worked their tails off for her. Its reading articles like this that make my job vastly more difficult. I submit to you that perhaps its the rogue vigilante Obama supporter who needs to, as you put it, Get a Grip.
I think at this point Obama is only going to earn the votes of the educated, leaving him with so few votes it really will not matter. Despite my urging all of my straight friends to vote for Obama for even just my sake, they all said they favored McCain as a person over Obama and they have already cast Republican votes. I feel like I lost every single one of them.
The thing that upsets me most, is they all seem to be blissfully unaware of how politics affect their lives, because politics don’t. When they think of gay people they only think of media stereotypes and people who hit on them in high school, essentially creeping them out. Even though they know I’m gay they almost always seem to forget that fact. They’ll use the F-word frequently around me and think it’s ok as long as they’re not referring to me, and they seem to generally posses a strong disposition against any minority group. Did I mention they’re all Atheists, though and irrational religious beliefs are in no way motivating this behavior? These guys are a representation of the future white, male American voters. They come from every state in the union. My only friends who even mildly care about politics are GLBT themselves.
That being said. I doubt we’ve really made any progress. We may think we have. But No. I think much of GLBT rights-fighting policy in recent years has been sending us back to the stone ages due to our continuing to pander to our own base and not get enough of the word out to straight people. No self-respecting heterosexual in our society would be caught dead reading a site with any news focused on the GLBT community, and that’s a cultural issue we should try and fight to see change. As a psychologist, myself, I always try to do my part to express the empirically defined truths of the world to those around me, but my views, coming from an out gay man, are always weighed against years of reinforced stigma, and dozens of high school teachers, college professors, and even certified mental health counselors who got to my friends and those around me first. What did they all have to say? Nothing good for my or your sake, that’s for sure, and certainly nothing that would qualify as ethical.
If we want Obama to honestly win I think he should act like a real politician and start lying his rear off about false promises he can’t possibly keep, including promises to continue reinforcing stereotypes and limiting the rights of minorities. He doesn’t have to mean what he says, but if he can find some group of people that American voters hate (that isn’t hard to do) he can use that scapegoat as a platform for populatity among the uneducated (and thus 90% of the United States voters) We all know that’s how Clinton, Bush, and every president all the way back to Truman won an election. It’s time to talk about this like adults and recognize that political correctness has no place in earning popularity points when most of the public responds to fear-mongering and hateful diatribes. Why else would churches be so popular? Why else would even my non-Christian friends favor the views of their hate-mongering, right-wing, conservative teachers/therapists over my own? Because people LOVE to hate.
You know Wayne, it’s people like you who keep attacking Hillary supporters with your childish insults that will cause Obama to loose. How about reaching out to them instead of being a prick. Do you really think insulting people and their views is the best way to get them vote for Obama? Really? With supporters like you doing McCain’s work by driving people away from him, McCain is sure to win.
And By Acclamation….
The Democrats have lost another election.
Two days in a row, Hillary is not only the talk of the convention but absolutely stunning in the way that she has carried herself.
Let us all look forward to 2012 and for a bright future for everyone.
Really David? – and exactly how do you know she was in this “for her own glory”? Do you know Hillary Clinton personally? I doubt it. And please spare me the rhetoric about how she dealt with things in the final weeks – Obama would have done the same EXACT thing had the shoe been on the other foot. The FACT is that she HAS devoted most of her life to good causes, the FACT is that her speech last night in support of OBAMA was BRILLIANT and the FACT will remain that she will continue to be a vital presence in the Democratic party.
OMG, Trace!
“the way I see him treat others(the Clintons)”! Are you wearing your 1950’s 3D-Movie Glasses. Hillary is brilliant. But she’s a bitter loser who was in this only for her own glory. I’m so disappointed in her, and I’ve supported her for years and years.
Hillary herself put it best – did you go thrugh all of this for me or for what you believed in (or words to that effect). I supported Hillary and although I have some reservations about Obama – he is nonetheless light years ahead of McCain. A vote for any other candidate is a wasted vote (and from a GLBT perspective – a vote for McCain). I suspect that there are a lot more people who are closet racists than we’d care to admit. The bottom line still remains – on most issues, Clinton and Obama were in step and very different than McCain. Voting for Obama at this point is something of a no-brainer – especially if you are GLBT.
Suppose for example you’re a voter and you have candidate X and you have candidate Y. Candidate X agrees with you on everything but you don’t think that person can deliver on anything. Candidate Y disagrees with you on half the issues but you believe that on the other half, the candidate will be able to deliver. For whom will you vote? – President Bill Clinton
Y’know, I keep reading that Hillary and her followers have to get over their loss and move on to support Obama just because he’s a Democrat and he won the primary races. Umm…no, I don’t.
I didn’t vote for Barack Obama during my primary because I didn’t like everything he stands for. I didn’t like his policy of saying what he’d change without saying how he’d make those changes. I didn’t like how he got mad at Hillary for supposedly playing the race card (she didn’t, it was people who worked on her campaign) but then played it himself during one speech that was supposed to put it to rest for the final time. And I don’t like the fact that he was adamant that they follow the rules and not allow the votes from Michigan and Florida to count during the convention, but now he’s the biggest supporter of letting them count, mainly because he’s getting votes from Michigan where he wasn’t even on the freaking ballot!
I’m planning to forego voting all together for President. And it’s not because I’m upset Hillary didn’t get the nomination but because I don’t believe in ANY of the candidates.
Yeah!
That’s gonna work! Call Hillary’s followers whiners. If they’re not upset/disappointed enough; that will certainly draw them over the top. Sounds like you are actually an adviser on Obama’s campaign.
And yes, Obama is a skilled orator. He is as skilled at giving speeches as he is poor at speaking off the cuff. That trait and that scripting does not endear him to many of the voters of this country.
Me, I’m honestly not certain at this point who I will vote for. The more that I learn of Obama and the more the way I see him treat others (the Clinton’s) the less I like him. I certainly would not turn my back on the man. He’s an old school politician. Platform wise, I’m fully Libertarian. I don’t think that Barr has a realistic chance of winning. McCain, I like the man but am afraid of some that are behind him.