The Thief
In 1828, during the birth and rise of the newspaper, Emile de Girardin had a novel idea on how to use the newest writing technology, the printing press. He and a friend decided to start a periodical, but since they lacked capital, the weekly was entitled Le Voleur (The Thief) and it reprinted the best articles that had appeared elsewhere during the week, saving editorial costs. (from ''The History and Power of Writing'')
Joe six-pack?


"Who exactly is Joe Six-Pack and who are these hockey moms? That's what I'd like to know. ... Is that supposed to be terminology that is of common ground to all Americans? I don't find that. It leaves a lot of people out." -- Rep. Yvette Clarke

I pulled this quote from a Glen Beck article on CNN.com and must say that I am taking it totally out of the context Beck was using it in. His article highlights how Democrats are tending to cry racism whenever Obama's record is questioned – to me the quote has a totally different significance.

Listening to the Vice Presidential debates last Tuesday I couldn’t help but think along similar lines as Representative Clarke. I understand that the McCain-Palin campaign is firmly in the hands of the “Rovies” - the GOP political machine responsible for, at least in part, the successful campaigns of Ronald Reagan (Presidential 1984), George W. Bush (Congressional 1978, Gubernatorial 1990, Presidential 2000) and the unsuccessful campaigns for George H.W. Bush (Presidential 1980, 1992) – and they are a group of individuals that, if nothing else, have shown their capability to win elections but what are they trying to accomplish? I mean, I don’t personally know very many “Joe six-packs” and I don’t think I know any “hockey moms” at all, but it’s not a stretch to say that those people were already voting Republican before this mass appeal to the simpletons. I don’t get it. I’m neither a Democrat nor Republican (a different conversation all together) but it seems to me that in the middle of the defining revolutionary election of our time the focus should be on showing capacity for change instead of pigeon holing yourself by appealing to your already established voter base - even though that’s how you’ve won the previous two elections. Ok, so you need to make sure that their interests are attended to but you can do that just by sticking to the core principles and traditional ideologies which, being Republicans, they were going to do anyways. The times are changing. There is serious doubt among the American people that we as a nation are capable of weathering the many storms we currently face. With these changing times our politicians must embrace the idea of changing politics and so far McCain has yet to let his walk mirror his talk.

The only way the Republicans have a shot at this election is by A) Creating some level of reasonable doubt about the experience and decision making abilities of Obama and B) Convincing undecideds that McCain is committed to bringing real change into the White House. Resorting back to the standard Republican campaign practices of sticking to a handful of talking points, reinforcing the notion of stability and belittling your opponent seem like the opposite of change if you ask me. Now I DO think McCain would bring real change to Washington – don’t forget that for the past 20 years or so he has been the mold-breaking conservative, the lone wolf, the one whom Democrats always thought might be on the verge of changing stripes, one of the only tolerable Republicans besides Colin Powell and a few choice others– but how are you supposed to convince fence straddlers like myself that you are the steward of change if so far you’ve done nothing to distinguish yourself.

If he is going to make a real run at this and not get completely trounced I think McCain should abandon the strategy of constantly returning to buzzwords and catch phrases (maverick, pork barrel politics, cronyism, drill baby drill, etc.), focusing on a small number of chosen issues (erroneous government spending, lowering taxes, a more practical approach to Iraq and Afghanistan, elimination of dependence on foreign oil, government reform), highlighting a small number a personal experiences and achievements (being a POW, forecasting the financial crisis, history of appealing to both sides of the political spectrum, not being controlled by special interest groups), and continuously creating doubt about the character of his opponent (contradictory voting history, questionable personal acquaintances, unrealistic expectations for change, naivety, inability to comprehend certain foreign policy issues). Instead, at some point McCain is going to have to break out of the protective shell of cautiousness and humanize himself. Stand in front of the American public and say, in an unscripted way, this is who I am, this is what makes me different from my opponent and different from the republicans that have come before me and this is why I am the most capable candidate for the position. I've seen Obama do that, and I've seen McCain consistantly duck and deflect those types of questions. Despite McCain’s ability to establish a familiar personality during his primary campaign he has yet to display any of that same veal and vigor or straight talking, no nonsense approach since winning the nomination and if he can’t reestablish that soon it will be “good night Irene” for McCain and for Rovian campaign politics because the American people have been fooled by dumbed down language and appeals to emotion for a long time - but that time has come to an end.
Posted by Burkous.
1 comments
Thursday, October 09, 2008
1 Comments:
Blogger Kelly B said...
Some very good points! thanks for writing.

I think the Joe-Six pack stuff is strengthening the "us vs them" mentality that some americans just seem to thrive on. those people who were worried we were going to have to fight a war on american soil, "there so its not here", even though they're in an midwest town population 700. Yeah, it was never going to happen.

But it comes down to the fact that fear motivates people the most, so its "us vs them" and if barack and joe aren't us, joe six-pack, they're them (and go ahead and tack on any scary thing you'd like, terrorist, muslim, etc).

If these Rovian politics fail this time, I'd like to think its because the American people are finally at a point to see past the scare tactics and want to unite around the positive, unite around the better way forward.

But the cynic in me says if they fail this time, its because the 2nd biggest human motivator will prevail this time around: Greed. It's the economy, stupid, and Obama, not McCain, is talking Middle Class. We want affordable healthcare, lower taxes, and to send our kids to affordable competitive schools. And we vote. McCain has not appealed to the joe-six pack's wallet in these past two debates. And its what's on everyone's mind.

and as for mccain being more personable, well, i think tuesday was his attempt, my friends. and it was awkward. i don't think there's time to undo that.
10.10.08  

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