Advice for Obama

Posted on 09/12/2008 at 9:32 pm by Bob Cesca

I’ve been trying to avoid posting or linking to “OH NOES! Obama had better [insert frantic advice here]!!!!1!!1″ entries. Maybe I’m insane, but I still subscribe to this philosophy.

However, George Lakoff wrote a wonderful piece yesterday, and I dig it so much mainly because he’s advising Senator Obama to be… Senator Obama — rather than trying to crowbar Obama into the mold of another candidate.

[In the primaries] Barack ran on what his biography showed about his values; his willingness to say what he believed (authenticity); his ability to connect, communicate and build trust through his sincerity; and on the use of his biography to get voters to identify with him. The beauty of Obama’s nomination campaign, right through his acceptance speech at the convention, was his ability to frame realities through running on those five character factors. The campaign performed brilliantly.

But post-Palin, the Obama-Biden campaign seems to have become the Gore-Kerry-Hillary campaign. They are running on 18th Century theory of Enlightenment reason: If you just tell people the facts, they will follow their self-interest and reason to the right conclusion.

The 1992 Clinton-Gore campaign largely ran on Enlightenment reason (“It’s the economy, stupid!” and, “Everything that should be up is down!”) and won, so it’s not a hard and fast rule. Then again, one out of four isn’t a winning record.

Nevertheless, Lakoff also warns of something that drives me nuts every damn day: Democrats SHOULD NOT repeat Republican frames.

The Obama campaign just put out an ad called “No Maverick.” The basic idea was right. The Maverick Frame is central to the McCain campaign, and as the ad points out, it’s a lie. But negating the Maverick Frame just activates that frame and helps McCain. You have to substitute a different frame that characterizes McCain as he really is. There are various possibilities. Let’s consider one of them. Ninety percent of the time, McCain has been a Yes-Man for Bush.

What about instead of ‘maverick’ they use… McBush?

And along the same lines, from now through November 4, Democrats should not be complimenting the damn Republicans. I’m looking at you, Joe.

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  • camel54

    Yes damn it. No more of this, “John’s my friend…” No more of this, “He is a war hero” or “I honor his service.” Jesus, is it really hard to know not to do that stupid shit? I definitely think Obama should not allow the attacks to go unanswered. I don’t want to see him attacking with distraction and lies, but I want them to eviscerate people who lie about him when those people have so many weaknesses.Also, I made this tonight to make myself laugh. Nothing special but it did the job. Thought you might get a kick out of it.http://vimeo.com/1720927

  • FrictionSoul

    Another senator from Illinois got it right:”I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts…and beer.” – Abe Lincoln (attributed).We don’t want to sit down and have a beer with McCain. But if Obama would just send every redneck the facts and a six-pack, wouldn’t we just love that kind of pandering?

  • http://www.broadwaycarl.blogspot.com Broadway Carl

    I agree with the framing theory, but I do think that “More of the Same” with Bush and McCain hand in hand is their version of McBush. Maybe it’s not as strong as we’d like it to be, but if they keep hammering away, it’ll take it’s toll (keeping my fingers crossed while I type this.)

  • JJD

    Old. Senile. Lecherous. Creepy. Bad-tempered.

  • http://livefreeordie08.wordpress.com LiveFreeOrDie08

    Would it be legal to organize “Keg Parties for Change?” I think that would be a FANTASTIC campaign strategy. I completely agree that we’ve saturated all the “intellectual” demographics. We’ve now got to find a way to cross into the “faith based” voting block (ie. Vote Republican because if you don’t you will burn in hell) and the “Bubba” block…the folks that vote for their guns & against gays, etc.Obama’s always looking for the common ground to work to resolve issues…I’d say that a keg-a-palooza some night in a converted field would pack ‘em in, and give O a chance to hit them with some “straight talk”. O could show up with a few NFL alums and toss the ball around after speaking or maybe even participate in a pick up game. Round the night out with a big-screen projection of Sunday Night Football (assuming you can get permission for group broadcast)and he’d be just one o’ the boyz by the end of the night.