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.