By Dan Gerstein
(NOTE: This column originally ran on Forbes.com on the morning of the Inauguration)
To speechwriters like myself, Tuesday's inaugural address is the "Super Olympics" of public rhetoric--combining the intense, high-stakes expectations of the Super Bowl with the once-every-four-years pageantry and poignancy of the Olympic Games. As in past years, we'll order pizza, stock the fridge with Red Bull and tune in to William Safire's wordplay-by-play.
But this year will be different, extra-special--and not just for the obvious reasons or only for our fraternity of metaphor masters. For the first time since the advent of the professional political speechwriter under Franklin D. Roosevelt, the president giving the inaugural address will himself be an accomplished, literary writer. Which means that, for most Americans, this will be the first president in their lifetimes who they can plausibly believe personally came up with the lofty words of renewal coming out of his own mouth.
How's that for a change--especially after the verbal dissonance and distrust coming out of the White House for the last eight years?
The ramifications of having a writer-in-residence as commander-in-chief, though, go much deeper than that. Barack Obama's extraordinary linguistic abilities are arguably his most powerful political advantage at a time of grave economic insecurity. And they may well be what enable Obama to capitalize on his transformational potential, elevating him from an author of great turns of phrase to an author of great turns of history.
To understand why, it helps to first deconstruct the myth of Obama the speechmaker. That's how most people believe he became a phenomenon, by mobilizing and inspiring masses of disaffected Democrats (and more than a few independents and Republicans) with his words of hope and change. But the reality is that Obama was doing something much more profound than acting as a vessel and giving rousing speeches--he was trying to write the next chapter of American democracy.
We have grown cynically accustomed to political consultants and message-meisters creating pre-fab campaigns. But as I learned from some of Obama's political advisers, the Obama campaign really was Obama's campaign. It was his vision, his message, his arguments--and not least of all, his understanding of what the American people were feeling at this unsettling time and how they were yearning for a new politics as well as new policies.
More than anything, Obama sensed that most voters were exhausted by a generation of hyper-partisan political fights; they were desperate for an honest, respectful, grown-up dialogue about how to restore America's eroding greatness. So more than just launching a campaign, he set out to start a conversation. And to do so, he quite wisely chose a platform that maximized the utility of his intellectual and authorial gifts. Big speeches at big rallies were his best opportunity to communicate big ideals and big ideas.
These speeches, which for the most part Obama himself conceived and often wrote, also served a fundamental strategic purpose: to quickly and viscerally authenticate the biggest unknown entity to ever head a major ticket.
People who heard Obama's words did not just genuinely believe what he was articulating. They believed in his genuineness, that these were actually his thoughts and arguments. And that helped build a powerful bond of trust with millions of Americans that only intensified over time. It was the kind of connection that no number of TV commercials ever could forge--and one I doubt the first African-American president could have been elected without.
The best example of this, I believe, is the speech on race Obama delivered last April in the wake of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright debacle, which he wrote himself and insisted on delivering against the advice of his advisers. (To read the full text of the speech, please click here.)
I recently attended a political forum where it was discussed, and an audience member called it the greatest political speech he had ever heard. Not because of its eloquence or its arguments, the audience member said, but because it was real. Here was a mixed-race politician talking candidly about how his white grandmother would sometimes cross the street when she saw a young black man walking her way. This was an atypical display of courage, to talk on such a loaded subject. But it was also an atypical show of respect, showing white voters he understood them and was not judging them.
George W. Bush could never have conceived or written such a speech, which helps explain why he never formed the bonds of trust Obama already has with the heart of the American polity and why Bush was never able to rally the country to his side.
True, Bush did make some beautiful speeches in his presidency, none more so than his acceptance speech at the 2000 Republican National Convention. But it was painfully obvious even then, and much more so as we got to know him as president and listened to his faltering answers to reporters' questions at press conferences, that too often Bush wasn't leading but following--and mouthing the thinking of others.
Compounding Bush's inarticulateness was his inattentiveness. He spoke in black-and-white terms that glossed over the nuances of many important issues, leaving many to question his understanding of them. Even worse, at least half the country never believed Bush understood them or even cared enough to speak directly to them. Some attributed that behavior to arrogance, others to cluelessness. Either way, it led to a massive confidence gap, which rendered Bush's presidency inert for at least his last two years in office.
A big reason that Obama has been able to soar above that gap--and to convince millions of Americans that a rookie senator, four years removed from the Illinois state legislature, is the right man to lead the country at a time we are enmeshed in two wars and our economy has collapsed--is his unique training as a constitutional law professor.
That experience, beyond giving him an understanding of the complex tensions inherent in our system of self-government that few politicians ever approach, taught him to appreciate different perspectives on complicated issues. It also taught him how to think and write precisely and persuasively to skeptical audiences.
It's no accident, then, that independents and Republicans who disagree with him on many issues have nevertheless warmed to Obama's leadership style. Or that Republicans in Congress have been so receptive to his entreaties for cooperation on his economic recovery package. He knows how to speak their language. And, more importantly, he knows, much like his rhetorical role model Abraham Lincoln, how to engage us all in the common vernacular of democracy.
That will be the central focus of Obama's address on Tuesday. Whether history will little note or long remember the actual phrases the new president uses in his speech is immaterial. His challenge is one of will, not words. That is, he must galvanize the country--not necessarily around a specific agenda, but around a set of shared values and a common sense of purpose.
His immediate goal will be to get us to sing from the same civic hymnal and re-familiarize us with the culture of consensus-building. That's the only way he--and we--can break the politics of paralysis and rescue the economy, wind down the wars in Iraq in Afghanistan and regain our standing in the world.
Our writer-in-chief's longer-term goal, I suspect, will be to cement his bonds of trust with the American people and deepen the stores of political capital he will need to hold the country together through the trials ahead. The kind of fundamental change Obama is promising won't happen overnight; his talents for persuasion and mobilization will continually be tested by future events as well as by old political fault lines and bad partisan habits.
If Obama can get the country to buy into a new era of responsibility and resist the pressures of division, he will guarantee his reelection in 2012. Further, he could very well write his own ticket into the small circle of America's greatest presidents.
Dan Gerstein, a political communications consultant and commentator based in New York, is the founder and president of Gotham Ghostwriters. He formerly served as communications director to Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., and as a senior adviser on his vice presidential and presidential campaigns. He writes a weekly column for Forbes.com.
Friday, January 23, 2009
Monday, September 15, 2008
Feeblepoint
By Bill Dunne
Memo to those on the fast track, or who’d like to be on the fast track: Beware of using PowerPoint as your main vehicle for presentations. Don’t take our word for it. Here’s Bill Lane in his memoir of his twenty years as speechwriter to Jack Welch at GE: "There is a way to be quickly taken for the opposite of a leader, and to be typecast within seconds as a dork, a dweeb, a jargon-monkey, a bore . . . It's called PowerPoint." Lane adds another warning: “Bore a stock analyst or a portfolio manager, and you represent a boring stock.”
Okay, he may be blunt — even brutal — but he’s spot on. There are few better ways to bore an audience than to “talk to” a succession of slides. As a means to excite or inspire or motivate, which normally is the goal of most high-level speeches or presentations, PowerPoint (or any similar slideware) barely beats smoke signals. Testaments as to its failings pop up all the time — including in prominent articles in the Wall Street Journal and New York Times. A cartoon in the New Yorker magazine has an executive sitting behind a desk and saying to an underling: “I need someone well versed in the art of torture — do you know PowerPoint?” But, like the Energizer bunny, PowerPoint’s reign as the presentation medium in today’s corporate world keeps going and going and going.
If you really want to be on the fast track, forget slide decks. Think story instead. We’ll get back to that in a moment. But are we saying slideware is useless? Not at all, not if used well; it’s just that it is seldom used well.
So how to explain the PowerPoint Syndrome? Expedience is certainly one explanation. You’re on the hook for a presentation due next week but haven’t had time to prepare? Just dive into the corporate server and pull up a collection of slide decks, tweak a bullet point here and there, and, voilà, pressure’s off. Only thing remaining is actually delivering the presentation.
But there, friends, is the rub. For the nature of PowerPoint — or “cognitive style,” as Yale’s renowned graphics professor Edward Tufte puts it — makes it fatal to a memorable, or even a coherent, presentation. Tufte even points to one instance in which the over-reliance on PowerPoint to convey information may actually have had catastrophic results.
He refers to the study-commission report on NASA’s Columbia shuttle disaster of 2003. The report suggests that the disaster might have been averted if mission controllers had had a full, narrative description of the situation they were looking at. Instead, they got a PowerPoint deck. The commission highlighted one crucial detail in particular that NASA had apparently overlooked in making the decision to go ahead with the shuttle’s re-entry into the atmosphere. And why wouldn’t it be overlooked? It had been buried as a cryptic sub-sub-bullet item at the bottom of one slide in the large PowerPoint deck.
Inherent Defects
Charts by themselves are lousy at telling a story. That’s one problem. Another is that they’re lousy at distinguishing the more important from the less important or the unimportant. Slideware language typically consists of incomplete thoughts or meaningless fragments. The connective tissue that might persuade the listener to buy into the speaker’s position — the transitions, explanations, elaborations — is missing.
A third defect is divided attention. The human mind doesn’t do well in processing multiple sources of information at the same time, and yet you’re trying to force the audience to read bullet points and simultaneously to listen to you. Ain’t gonna happen. A chart is either a distraction from what you’re saying, or you are a distraction to those who are struggling to read a chart.
A fourth defect, from a pure performance standpoint, is that a speaker is left to wing it when it comes to weaving a coherent narrative from a list of abbreviated, acronym-plagued bullet points. A coherent narrative is one that not only makes sense but is also free of the “ums” and “uhs” and other verbal ticks that, instead of keeping an audience interested, makes them flee to their BlackBerrys and Treos. Captive audiences are a thing of the past.
Chock full
So here’s the lesson in all this: When you’re on tap for a presentation, first develop the story you want to tell. “Story” means a narrative that stimulates basic human interest or emotions and draws people in to your message. It means connecting with your audience on a gut level. If you succeed in that they will follow you anywhere and not worry much about the details. If you don’t succeed in that, it doesn’t matter how much detail you shove at them.
Any organization populated by humans is naturally full of stories — whether inspiring, motivating, or simply entertaining. If anyone doubts it, he can look up a past article in the Harvard Business Review written principally by Gordon Shaw, a strategic planning executive at 3M Corporation, along with business professors Robert Brown and Philip Bromiley.
Shaw notes that slide presentations are essentially lists, and that lists present only an illusion of clarity. “If you read just bullet points, you may not get it, but if you read a narrative plan, you will. If there’s a flaw in the logic, it glares right out at you. With bullets, you don’t know if the insight is really there or if the [presenter] has merely given you a shopping list.”
In contrast, he says, “Stories give us ways to form ideas about winning.” And it doesn’t matter how seemingly dry the underlying topic is. 3M’s Post-it Notes? Delightful story. Masking tape? Ditto. Sandpaper? Ditto. They all have basic human-interest angles to them. People remember stories. They don’t remember lists.
Reeling Off
Conflict or tension is the heart of a good story, and that’s what Hollywood screenwriting coach Robert McKee teaches in another Harvard Business Review article directed at executive speechmakers. McKee explains why your pitch shouldn’t be a matter of just reeling off facts and statistics and citing a few authorities. “[T]he people you’re talking to have their own set of authorities, statistics, and experiences,” he says. If you don’t connect with them on some emotional level (or “gut level,” as we said above), they are questioning and arguing with you “in their heads.” No connection, of course, means messages don’t get through.
Says McKee: “If you look your audience in the eye, lay out your really scary challenges, and say, ‘We’ll be lucky as hell if we get through this, but here’s what I think we should do,’ they will listen to you.”
How, then, do you connect? How do you develop a story?
First: Make it personal. Think of something that has happened in your life that can be related to the message of your talk. Something about yourself or your kids, your spouse or your uncle, a friend, a colleague, anybody you know. If it’s about some failure or misstep on your part — some doubt or fear or confusion — so much the better. They’ll be vastly more receptive to what you say next.
Maybe your message involves a subject you fear is too dull, too arcane. Say, for example, computer visualization. Well, tell how you, or somebody you know, first realized that you or he or she was color-blind. That kind of stuff can’t be put on a chart.
Second: Develop and organize your presentation — in writing. This, together with the subsequent expansion into a full draft, is — naked commercial plug here — what a professional speechwriter can help you do. A written narrative forces you to think through the logic and persuasiveness of your argument, enabling you to spot any flaws or weaknesses, and correct them, before the audience gets its shot.
Third: Only after that process has begun should you start thinking about what charts and visuals might be used to reinforce your main points. And that’s what their proper role should be, to reinforce, to punctuate your main points. Whatever visuals you choose, try to make them impactful — like big animal pictures, or cartoons and the like. Along with the smallest number of words possible.
Fourth: Refine and rehearse the narrative — aloud — until you’ve got it internalized. (Note: We didn’t say memorized.) Once comfortable with the flow, the logic, and the messaging, you may then choose to use the full script as your podium or Teleprompter support. Or you may shrink it down to a set of notes, to whatever level works for you. Whichever way you do it, you want the audience focused on you and your ideas.
Is this hard? Hey, no pain, no gain. The preparation may indeed be harder than sorting a slide deck. But the rewards? There’s the real bottom line.
Or as a senior GE executive told Bill Lane to pass along to other GE executives: “Tell them they are going nowhere in the General Electric Company if they can’t do a great business presentation.”
If nothing else, that means story first, PowerPoint, if anywhere, last.
Dunne, a Gotham team member, is managing partner of Dunne & Partners, LLC
Memo to those on the fast track, or who’d like to be on the fast track: Beware of using PowerPoint as your main vehicle for presentations. Don’t take our word for it. Here’s Bill Lane in his memoir of his twenty years as speechwriter to Jack Welch at GE: "There is a way to be quickly taken for the opposite of a leader, and to be typecast within seconds as a dork, a dweeb, a jargon-monkey, a bore . . . It's called PowerPoint." Lane adds another warning: “Bore a stock analyst or a portfolio manager, and you represent a boring stock.”
Okay, he may be blunt — even brutal — but he’s spot on. There are few better ways to bore an audience than to “talk to” a succession of slides. As a means to excite or inspire or motivate, which normally is the goal of most high-level speeches or presentations, PowerPoint (or any similar slideware) barely beats smoke signals. Testaments as to its failings pop up all the time — including in prominent articles in the Wall Street Journal and New York Times. A cartoon in the New Yorker magazine has an executive sitting behind a desk and saying to an underling: “I need someone well versed in the art of torture — do you know PowerPoint?” But, like the Energizer bunny, PowerPoint’s reign as the presentation medium in today’s corporate world keeps going and going and going.
If you really want to be on the fast track, forget slide decks. Think story instead. We’ll get back to that in a moment. But are we saying slideware is useless? Not at all, not if used well; it’s just that it is seldom used well.
So how to explain the PowerPoint Syndrome? Expedience is certainly one explanation. You’re on the hook for a presentation due next week but haven’t had time to prepare? Just dive into the corporate server and pull up a collection of slide decks, tweak a bullet point here and there, and, voilà, pressure’s off. Only thing remaining is actually delivering the presentation.
But there, friends, is the rub. For the nature of PowerPoint — or “cognitive style,” as Yale’s renowned graphics professor Edward Tufte puts it — makes it fatal to a memorable, or even a coherent, presentation. Tufte even points to one instance in which the over-reliance on PowerPoint to convey information may actually have had catastrophic results.
He refers to the study-commission report on NASA’s Columbia shuttle disaster of 2003. The report suggests that the disaster might have been averted if mission controllers had had a full, narrative description of the situation they were looking at. Instead, they got a PowerPoint deck. The commission highlighted one crucial detail in particular that NASA had apparently overlooked in making the decision to go ahead with the shuttle’s re-entry into the atmosphere. And why wouldn’t it be overlooked? It had been buried as a cryptic sub-sub-bullet item at the bottom of one slide in the large PowerPoint deck.
Inherent Defects
Charts by themselves are lousy at telling a story. That’s one problem. Another is that they’re lousy at distinguishing the more important from the less important or the unimportant. Slideware language typically consists of incomplete thoughts or meaningless fragments. The connective tissue that might persuade the listener to buy into the speaker’s position — the transitions, explanations, elaborations — is missing.
A third defect is divided attention. The human mind doesn’t do well in processing multiple sources of information at the same time, and yet you’re trying to force the audience to read bullet points and simultaneously to listen to you. Ain’t gonna happen. A chart is either a distraction from what you’re saying, or you are a distraction to those who are struggling to read a chart.
A fourth defect, from a pure performance standpoint, is that a speaker is left to wing it when it comes to weaving a coherent narrative from a list of abbreviated, acronym-plagued bullet points. A coherent narrative is one that not only makes sense but is also free of the “ums” and “uhs” and other verbal ticks that, instead of keeping an audience interested, makes them flee to their BlackBerrys and Treos. Captive audiences are a thing of the past.
Chock full
So here’s the lesson in all this: When you’re on tap for a presentation, first develop the story you want to tell. “Story” means a narrative that stimulates basic human interest or emotions and draws people in to your message. It means connecting with your audience on a gut level. If you succeed in that they will follow you anywhere and not worry much about the details. If you don’t succeed in that, it doesn’t matter how much detail you shove at them.
Any organization populated by humans is naturally full of stories — whether inspiring, motivating, or simply entertaining. If anyone doubts it, he can look up a past article in the Harvard Business Review written principally by Gordon Shaw, a strategic planning executive at 3M Corporation, along with business professors Robert Brown and Philip Bromiley.
Shaw notes that slide presentations are essentially lists, and that lists present only an illusion of clarity. “If you read just bullet points, you may not get it, but if you read a narrative plan, you will. If there’s a flaw in the logic, it glares right out at you. With bullets, you don’t know if the insight is really there or if the [presenter] has merely given you a shopping list.”
In contrast, he says, “Stories give us ways to form ideas about winning.” And it doesn’t matter how seemingly dry the underlying topic is. 3M’s Post-it Notes? Delightful story. Masking tape? Ditto. Sandpaper? Ditto. They all have basic human-interest angles to them. People remember stories. They don’t remember lists.
Reeling Off
Conflict or tension is the heart of a good story, and that’s what Hollywood screenwriting coach Robert McKee teaches in another Harvard Business Review article directed at executive speechmakers. McKee explains why your pitch shouldn’t be a matter of just reeling off facts and statistics and citing a few authorities. “[T]he people you’re talking to have their own set of authorities, statistics, and experiences,” he says. If you don’t connect with them on some emotional level (or “gut level,” as we said above), they are questioning and arguing with you “in their heads.” No connection, of course, means messages don’t get through.
Says McKee: “If you look your audience in the eye, lay out your really scary challenges, and say, ‘We’ll be lucky as hell if we get through this, but here’s what I think we should do,’ they will listen to you.”
How, then, do you connect? How do you develop a story?
First: Make it personal. Think of something that has happened in your life that can be related to the message of your talk. Something about yourself or your kids, your spouse or your uncle, a friend, a colleague, anybody you know. If it’s about some failure or misstep on your part — some doubt or fear or confusion — so much the better. They’ll be vastly more receptive to what you say next.
Maybe your message involves a subject you fear is too dull, too arcane. Say, for example, computer visualization. Well, tell how you, or somebody you know, first realized that you or he or she was color-blind. That kind of stuff can’t be put on a chart.
Second: Develop and organize your presentation — in writing. This, together with the subsequent expansion into a full draft, is — naked commercial plug here — what a professional speechwriter can help you do. A written narrative forces you to think through the logic and persuasiveness of your argument, enabling you to spot any flaws or weaknesses, and correct them, before the audience gets its shot.
Third: Only after that process has begun should you start thinking about what charts and visuals might be used to reinforce your main points. And that’s what their proper role should be, to reinforce, to punctuate your main points. Whatever visuals you choose, try to make them impactful — like big animal pictures, or cartoons and the like. Along with the smallest number of words possible.
Fourth: Refine and rehearse the narrative — aloud — until you’ve got it internalized. (Note: We didn’t say memorized.) Once comfortable with the flow, the logic, and the messaging, you may then choose to use the full script as your podium or Teleprompter support. Or you may shrink it down to a set of notes, to whatever level works for you. Whichever way you do it, you want the audience focused on you and your ideas.
Is this hard? Hey, no pain, no gain. The preparation may indeed be harder than sorting a slide deck. But the rewards? There’s the real bottom line.
Or as a senior GE executive told Bill Lane to pass along to other GE executives: “Tell them they are going nowhere in the General Electric Company if they can’t do a great business presentation.”
If nothing else, that means story first, PowerPoint, if anywhere, last.
Dunne, a Gotham team member, is managing partner of Dunne & Partners, LLC
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Unconventional Wisdom XII: How McCain Can Seize the Creative Middle
By Mark Penn Name
Some advice for John McCain from a moderate Democrat on how to connect with non-Republicans watching at home:
1) Don't call Obama a "young man." It's borderline insulting, and it was the worst moment of Joe Lieberman's speech.
2) Use cards, not a teleprompter. (This is a radical suggestion, I know, but I stand by it. You come off better this way.)
3) Re-up your town hall challenge. It's not too late. Why should we settle for three debates in the final two months?
4) Say something genuinely challenging that the zealots in the hall can react to only with silence. Your brand is courage, so demonstrate it. Don't worry, there will be enough applause lines when you attack big spending, champion tax cuts, sing the song of the surge and the like.
So challenge the party on immigration. Say we need to close Guantanamo. Say you know how much they disagreed with you on campaign finance reform and the gang of 14--but you'd do it again if you could. Return to your principled stand against torture. Catalogue a couple of the ways in which your party has lagged: on tackling climate change, on confronting corruption. Palin will send the base to the moon; you need to bring them back down to earth a little if you want to woo the middle and chart the course to victory.
5) Say something that sounds honest and real about health care. You're utterly tone deaf on what is many Americans' top domestic concern. Your refrain is that you're going to "bring down costs." Say you'll work with Democrats and Republicans to expand coverage to those who need it. If you can't summon even a twinge of your trademark moral outrage about the fact that millions of Americans can't afford a visit to the doctor when they need it, you'll lose millions of people like me.
6) Make clear that you understand earmarks--your whipping boy--are more symbolism than substance when it comes to bringing down the deficit and enormous debt. Most analyses say you're less responsible than Obama in tackling multi-trillion dollar long-term liabilities and borrowing costs. So acknowledge that you understand the enormity of the problem and will demand that everyone make sacrifices to get the country out of hock.
7) Say that you can work with a Democratic Congress, if that's what the people deliver (and they will). Say you expect it will be a sometimes contentious but ultimately productive relationship. But a Democratic Congress unrestrained by Obama will be dangerous. Or at least that's your argument.
8) Define your foreign policy. Sure, Bush's "humble but strong" promise evaporated like a puddle in the West Texas summer. You've surrounded yourself with neocons and those of the "American greatness" school. Is that really your animating philosophy? Or are you going to be tough and realistic in ways Bush hasn't been?
In picking Biden and repeatedly passing on chances to deviate from Democratic orthodoxy, Obama has painted himself as a typical Democrat. In a Democratic year, that may be enough. But it gives you a huge opening to seize the creative middle. Cite not only Reagan and (Teddy) Roosevelt, but a couple of Democratic heroes (and I don't mean Joe Lieberman).
Penn Name is a former Capitol Hill speechwriter
Some advice for John McCain from a moderate Democrat on how to connect with non-Republicans watching at home:
1) Don't call Obama a "young man." It's borderline insulting, and it was the worst moment of Joe Lieberman's speech.
2) Use cards, not a teleprompter. (This is a radical suggestion, I know, but I stand by it. You come off better this way.)
3) Re-up your town hall challenge. It's not too late. Why should we settle for three debates in the final two months?
4) Say something genuinely challenging that the zealots in the hall can react to only with silence. Your brand is courage, so demonstrate it. Don't worry, there will be enough applause lines when you attack big spending, champion tax cuts, sing the song of the surge and the like.
So challenge the party on immigration. Say we need to close Guantanamo. Say you know how much they disagreed with you on campaign finance reform and the gang of 14--but you'd do it again if you could. Return to your principled stand against torture. Catalogue a couple of the ways in which your party has lagged: on tackling climate change, on confronting corruption. Palin will send the base to the moon; you need to bring them back down to earth a little if you want to woo the middle and chart the course to victory.
5) Say something that sounds honest and real about health care. You're utterly tone deaf on what is many Americans' top domestic concern. Your refrain is that you're going to "bring down costs." Say you'll work with Democrats and Republicans to expand coverage to those who need it. If you can't summon even a twinge of your trademark moral outrage about the fact that millions of Americans can't afford a visit to the doctor when they need it, you'll lose millions of people like me.
6) Make clear that you understand earmarks--your whipping boy--are more symbolism than substance when it comes to bringing down the deficit and enormous debt. Most analyses say you're less responsible than Obama in tackling multi-trillion dollar long-term liabilities and borrowing costs. So acknowledge that you understand the enormity of the problem and will demand that everyone make sacrifices to get the country out of hock.
7) Say that you can work with a Democratic Congress, if that's what the people deliver (and they will). Say you expect it will be a sometimes contentious but ultimately productive relationship. But a Democratic Congress unrestrained by Obama will be dangerous. Or at least that's your argument.
8) Define your foreign policy. Sure, Bush's "humble but strong" promise evaporated like a puddle in the West Texas summer. You've surrounded yourself with neocons and those of the "American greatness" school. Is that really your animating philosophy? Or are you going to be tough and realistic in ways Bush hasn't been?
In picking Biden and repeatedly passing on chances to deviate from Democratic orthodoxy, Obama has painted himself as a typical Democrat. In a Democratic year, that may be enough. But it gives you a huge opening to seize the creative middle. Cite not only Reagan and (Teddy) Roosevelt, but a couple of Democratic heroes (and I don't mean Joe Lieberman).
Penn Name is a former Capitol Hill speechwriter
Monday, September 1, 2008
Unconventional Wisdon XI: McCain Has More Reconciling To Do Than Just With The Base
By Matthew Dallek
I would look for three things from John McCain in his acceptance speech this week. First, he must decide how vicious he will be in attacking his rival Barack Obama. McCain has already staked much of his campaign on trashing Obama and making him unelectable. When he takes the stage in St. Paul, Americans should watch to guage whether McCain has truly embraced that strategy and made it his own--or simply let his aides cut ads that attempt to destroy their opponent as un-American and too weak to lead.
Second, McCain must somehow pay tribute to a deeply unpopular incumbent president. After all, the hall will be filled with George W. Bush's diehard defenders. A lot of McCain's senior aides hail from Bush's camp, and McCain badly needs to fire up the Republican activists who believe that Bush has been a strong commander-in-chief and a solid steward of the nation's economic future.
Third, perhaps most importantly, McCain needs to walk a fine line: while championing many of Bush's policies (from tax cuts to Iraq to energy) in his convention address, he also needs to find a way to reinforce his image as a political maverick. This will not be an easy thing for him to do. While the John McCain of 2000 had a true claim to the "maverick" title, this year's incarnation not only has run a relentlessly shrill anti-Obama campaign; he has also embraced Bush's signature policies, and most tellingly, McCain has abandoned many of his positions that once had put him at odds with his own party and made him a maverick.
Instead of opposing Bush's tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, McCain has now made tax cuts the centerpiece of his economic agenda. Instead of criticizing the administration's inept handling of the war in Iraq as he once did, McCain has praised the president's wartime leadership and hailed the surge for helping achieve victory in Iraq. And rather than denounce the intense partisan divide and acidic rhetoric in American politics, McCain has taken Bush-style attacks to a whole new decibel level, even questioning Barack Obama's loyalty to the United States.
This is the fundamental contradiction in McCain's presidential candidacy -- he is simultaneously trying to assert his maverick bona fides while wrapping himself in President Bush's controversial and relatively unpopular policies. How McCain addresses, and whether he can overcome, that contradiction is probably the central challenge he faces in his all-important convention acceptance address. It will go a long way towards determining who becomes the next president.
Dallek, a former Capitol Hill speechwriter, is the author of The Right Moment: Ronald Reagan's First Victory and the Decisive Turning Point in American Politics
I would look for three things from John McCain in his acceptance speech this week. First, he must decide how vicious he will be in attacking his rival Barack Obama. McCain has already staked much of his campaign on trashing Obama and making him unelectable. When he takes the stage in St. Paul, Americans should watch to guage whether McCain has truly embraced that strategy and made it his own--or simply let his aides cut ads that attempt to destroy their opponent as un-American and too weak to lead.
Second, McCain must somehow pay tribute to a deeply unpopular incumbent president. After all, the hall will be filled with George W. Bush's diehard defenders. A lot of McCain's senior aides hail from Bush's camp, and McCain badly needs to fire up the Republican activists who believe that Bush has been a strong commander-in-chief and a solid steward of the nation's economic future.
Third, perhaps most importantly, McCain needs to walk a fine line: while championing many of Bush's policies (from tax cuts to Iraq to energy) in his convention address, he also needs to find a way to reinforce his image as a political maverick. This will not be an easy thing for him to do. While the John McCain of 2000 had a true claim to the "maverick" title, this year's incarnation not only has run a relentlessly shrill anti-Obama campaign; he has also embraced Bush's signature policies, and most tellingly, McCain has abandoned many of his positions that once had put him at odds with his own party and made him a maverick.
Instead of opposing Bush's tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, McCain has now made tax cuts the centerpiece of his economic agenda. Instead of criticizing the administration's inept handling of the war in Iraq as he once did, McCain has praised the president's wartime leadership and hailed the surge for helping achieve victory in Iraq. And rather than denounce the intense partisan divide and acidic rhetoric in American politics, McCain has taken Bush-style attacks to a whole new decibel level, even questioning Barack Obama's loyalty to the United States.
This is the fundamental contradiction in McCain's presidential candidacy -- he is simultaneously trying to assert his maverick bona fides while wrapping himself in President Bush's controversial and relatively unpopular policies. How McCain addresses, and whether he can overcome, that contradiction is probably the central challenge he faces in his all-important convention acceptance address. It will go a long way towards determining who becomes the next president.
Dallek, a former Capitol Hill speechwriter, is the author of The Right Moment: Ronald Reagan's First Victory and the Decisive Turning Point in American Politics
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Unconventional Wisdom X: Obama's Blackjack Moment
By Robert A. George
The best advice a speechwriter might want to give Barack Obama before his historic address tonight is to tone it down, keep it down to earth, avoid the high-flying rhetoric and the aim-for-seats grandiloquence.
But then one considers the moment. In any event, the stakes would be high: this is, after all, a presidential nominating acceptance speech. On top of that, Barack Obama is the first African-American (literally!) to be a major party's nominee. Add to that, this is the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King's, "I Have A Dream" speech at the Lincoln Memorial. Add to that, he is competing against his own phenomenal keynote address delivered four years ago -- the address that catapulted an obscure state senator onto the national (international?) stage. Add to that, he is following by a day, one of the best speeches of the premiere politician of the last generation. Add to that, he is following by two days the best speech his bitter rival in his own party has ever given. Add to that, over the last month, his opponent in the other party has managed to portray him as a vacuous "celebrity" who can't really lead the country because he is out of touch with "real people."
And what does Barack Obama do? Not only does he schedule the last day of his convention outside of the convention hall, he puts it in a football stadium that holds 75,000 people. This is the type of venue that a pope or a rock band usually rents. And just when one thinks that is impossible to, as the saying goes, take it to another level, reports begin to spill out that Obama is creating a "temple-like" stage with iconic Ionic (ironic?) pillars.
I'm not a poker player. Indeed, I'm suspicious of all legal (and illegal) gambling. But, there is one card game of which I am somewhat familiar. No pun intended, but it seems like Barack Obama may well be a fan of blackjack: rather than try to shy away from the "celebrity" tag -- as demonstrated by his selection of verbose, yet ultimately blue-collar background, Joe Biden as his vice president -- Obama is doubling-down on his bet. He wants to think big – and wants a stage big enough for the dreams he dares to share.
He is embracing the fact that, when given the chance to make his case to an audience, Barack Obama succeeds by selling himself and his vision. That was enough to sell several thousand copies of his "Dreams From My Father" well before he was nationally known. That was enough, four years ago, to capture a national convention in the way an unknown politician never previously had (remember, Ronald Reagan had been a fairly well-known actor and TV presence well before his 1964 speech in support of Barry Goldwater).
That has been enough to inspire millions on the campaign trail over 18 months.
That was, finally, enough to vanquish the most powerful political machine the Democratic Party has created in the last two decades.
But, will it be enough to extricate Obama out of the "celebrity" quicksand in which John McCain and the Republicans have managed to immerse him in the last several weeks?
No one will know until the moment it happens.
But, as a person who doesn't agree with Barack Obama ideologically, I must say that he is either the most arrogant politician to come along in quite some time -- or is the canniest and bravest. After all, given all that has been listed above, it is quite clear that, absent everything else, Barack Obama had a colossal task ahead of him. Yet, at each step, he has chosen to add more weight to the task. If he fails, he will fail spectacularly: There is no middle-ground here. Bill Clinton, John Kerry and Joe Biden have set this up as well as any set of Democrats could. But the rest is in his hands, brain and mouth.
The difference between a good speech and a great speech is often found in how well the message matches the messenger. Obama’s 2004 convention speech was as perfect a marriage as one will find. Obama 2008 is a different man in a different place. America is a different country in different circumstances. Can he manage to: 1) reintroduce himself; 2) speak to the nation's economic anxiety; 3) convince an audience near and far that he will keep the nation secure; and 4) assure America that he is ready to be president (to borrow a phrase from the man who took the stage Wednesday night) -- even as he looks somewhat different from all previous American presidents.
That last part is the most difficult. It can't be said flippantly, as in the, "I don't look like the guys on the currency." Rather, it is said as simple fact. It is not to put race out there as either shield or sword. It is to just recognize fact; it is to show that Barack Obama is comfortable in his own skin.
Because, ultimately, that is what Americans want to see in their president -- a man who knows who he is and what he wants to do. That, in essence, is why American selected George W. Bush over Al Gore: It's not the "beer" test; it is the "self-assurance" test.
Is Barack Obama a self-assured visionary who knows where he wants to lead America -- and is he ready to explain it?
Let's find out.
Robert A. George, a former writer for House Speaker Newt Gingrich, is an editorial writer for the New York Post
The best advice a speechwriter might want to give Barack Obama before his historic address tonight is to tone it down, keep it down to earth, avoid the high-flying rhetoric and the aim-for-seats grandiloquence.
But then one considers the moment. In any event, the stakes would be high: this is, after all, a presidential nominating acceptance speech. On top of that, Barack Obama is the first African-American (literally!) to be a major party's nominee. Add to that, this is the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King's, "I Have A Dream" speech at the Lincoln Memorial. Add to that, he is competing against his own phenomenal keynote address delivered four years ago -- the address that catapulted an obscure state senator onto the national (international?) stage. Add to that, he is following by a day, one of the best speeches of the premiere politician of the last generation. Add to that, he is following by two days the best speech his bitter rival in his own party has ever given. Add to that, over the last month, his opponent in the other party has managed to portray him as a vacuous "celebrity" who can't really lead the country because he is out of touch with "real people."
And what does Barack Obama do? Not only does he schedule the last day of his convention outside of the convention hall, he puts it in a football stadium that holds 75,000 people. This is the type of venue that a pope or a rock band usually rents. And just when one thinks that is impossible to, as the saying goes, take it to another level, reports begin to spill out that Obama is creating a "temple-like" stage with iconic Ionic (ironic?) pillars.
I'm not a poker player. Indeed, I'm suspicious of all legal (and illegal) gambling. But, there is one card game of which I am somewhat familiar. No pun intended, but it seems like Barack Obama may well be a fan of blackjack: rather than try to shy away from the "celebrity" tag -- as demonstrated by his selection of verbose, yet ultimately blue-collar background, Joe Biden as his vice president -- Obama is doubling-down on his bet. He wants to think big – and wants a stage big enough for the dreams he dares to share.
He is embracing the fact that, when given the chance to make his case to an audience, Barack Obama succeeds by selling himself and his vision. That was enough to sell several thousand copies of his "Dreams From My Father" well before he was nationally known. That was enough, four years ago, to capture a national convention in the way an unknown politician never previously had (remember, Ronald Reagan had been a fairly well-known actor and TV presence well before his 1964 speech in support of Barry Goldwater).
That has been enough to inspire millions on the campaign trail over 18 months.
That was, finally, enough to vanquish the most powerful political machine the Democratic Party has created in the last two decades.
But, will it be enough to extricate Obama out of the "celebrity" quicksand in which John McCain and the Republicans have managed to immerse him in the last several weeks?
No one will know until the moment it happens.
But, as a person who doesn't agree with Barack Obama ideologically, I must say that he is either the most arrogant politician to come along in quite some time -- or is the canniest and bravest. After all, given all that has been listed above, it is quite clear that, absent everything else, Barack Obama had a colossal task ahead of him. Yet, at each step, he has chosen to add more weight to the task. If he fails, he will fail spectacularly: There is no middle-ground here. Bill Clinton, John Kerry and Joe Biden have set this up as well as any set of Democrats could. But the rest is in his hands, brain and mouth.
The difference between a good speech and a great speech is often found in how well the message matches the messenger. Obama’s 2004 convention speech was as perfect a marriage as one will find. Obama 2008 is a different man in a different place. America is a different country in different circumstances. Can he manage to: 1) reintroduce himself; 2) speak to the nation's economic anxiety; 3) convince an audience near and far that he will keep the nation secure; and 4) assure America that he is ready to be president (to borrow a phrase from the man who took the stage Wednesday night) -- even as he looks somewhat different from all previous American presidents.
That last part is the most difficult. It can't be said flippantly, as in the, "I don't look like the guys on the currency." Rather, it is said as simple fact. It is not to put race out there as either shield or sword. It is to just recognize fact; it is to show that Barack Obama is comfortable in his own skin.
Because, ultimately, that is what Americans want to see in their president -- a man who knows who he is and what he wants to do. That, in essence, is why American selected George W. Bush over Al Gore: It's not the "beer" test; it is the "self-assurance" test.
Is Barack Obama a self-assured visionary who knows where he wants to lead America -- and is he ready to explain it?
Let's find out.
Robert A. George, a former writer for House Speaker Newt Gingrich, is an editorial writer for the New York Post
Unconventional Wisdom IX: How Obama Can Woo the Oldouts
By Dan Gerstein
From my perspective, Obama’s main challenge for his acceptance speech and for rest of the campaign is to win the trust of those swing voters who doubt that he is ready to be president and in particular that he is capable of delivering the change he is promising. This fairly sizable bloc of undecideds and leaners — what I call the Oldouts -- are eager for new leadership that will move the country in a new direction, but they are not yet sold that Obama has the strength to break through the partisan stalemate that has been gripping Washington for the Bush-Clinton years and to actually produce progress on jobs, energy, health care, education, climate change, etc. And there is a real danger that these independents and moderates from both parties will default to McCain just because he is a known quantity and a safe fall-back if Obama fails to show he is up to the job.
So with that challenge in mind, here are four things that Obama should do — and not do -- with his address Thursday night:
First, Obama has to focus on persuading the Oldouts that he has the strength as well as the judgment that's needed to change Washington and get the country moving again. To do this, Obama should go beyond telling his quintessentially American story and proving he is not the elitist alien creature he has been caricaturized to be — which is an essential first step -- and offer meaningful, specific evidence to back up his claims that he is and will be an effective change agent. The fact is, most swing voters don’t know the many different ways that Obama has challenged Democratic orthodoxy, taken tough stands and serious risks out of principle, or built bipartisan coalitions to get things done. Obama can go a long way towards winning the confidence of these voters by filling this knowledge deficit, which will in turn help him crack the strength gap that is holding him back in the polls.
Second, on a related note, Obama should look to throw a few political bones to those independent and Republican Oldouts who fear that Obama deep down is just another Kennedy liberal. One of the reasons Obama broke through the cliche clutter with his 2004 convention speech was his healing appeal for national unity and an end to the partisan food-fighting in Washington. Now that Obama must speak to a broader general election audience, he should remind swing voters why so many of them were drawn to him in the first place — and ideally give them a few new reasons to believe that he will be the President for all America that George Bush never could or would. For example, don’t just promise to appoint a Republican or two to your cabinet, announce that Chuck Hagel or another prominent GOPer will be part of your national security team. Or, conversely, embrace an idea that the public naturally associates with Republicans, much like Bill Clinton did with welfare reform, and pledge to work on a bipartisan basis to enact it.
Third, given that Obama’s primary audience has to be the unsold swing voters who will decide the election, he should bring his soaring rhetoric down to earth and be far more concrete in describing his vision, his ideas for solving the big problems Washington has punted on for years, and not least of all, how he is going to achieve the change he is promising. Just as they don’t know much about Obama’s character, most of the swing voters he needs to persuade know little about his plans for the country — a complaint we have been hearing with increasing frequency over the last couple months. This speech is a prime opportunity to introduce voters who have not really been engaged with the campaign to his innovative and realistic solutions — and to contrast them them with stale, Bushian agenda McCain is running on. This is not an argument for another yawn-inducing laundry list of policy proposals, but for highlighting a few big priority issues and a few standout ideas that will help you connect with voters who are eager for fresh, independent-minded thinking in Washington.
Fourth, Obama should not beat around the Bush in attacking McCain — especially on his supposed strength, national security. The Obama campaign knows that their best hope of cementing their structural advantage in this election cycle is to hang the Bush albatross around McCain, and frame the race as a clear choice, with the alternative being more of the same polarization, division, destructive economic and foreign policies that Bush brought us. Again, most voters don’t know how much John McCain has changed since he won their respect eight years ago, and this speech is prime opportunity to flesh out Hillary’s twins attack and make it stick. But there is another important strategic reason to whack the Mac — it’s a powerful way for Obama to communicate his toughness and show that he is willing to fight for what he believes in. The ideal place to start this offensive is on the war on terror — slam Bush and McCain for failing to capture Osama bin Laden, diverting our attention from al Qaeda by prosecuting a wasteful, unnecessary war in Iraq, and making us less safe in the process.
Gerstein, a former speechwriter and communications director for Senator Joe Lieberman, is the founder and president of Gotham Ghostwriters
From my perspective, Obama’s main challenge for his acceptance speech and for rest of the campaign is to win the trust of those swing voters who doubt that he is ready to be president and in particular that he is capable of delivering the change he is promising. This fairly sizable bloc of undecideds and leaners — what I call the Oldouts -- are eager for new leadership that will move the country in a new direction, but they are not yet sold that Obama has the strength to break through the partisan stalemate that has been gripping Washington for the Bush-Clinton years and to actually produce progress on jobs, energy, health care, education, climate change, etc. And there is a real danger that these independents and moderates from both parties will default to McCain just because he is a known quantity and a safe fall-back if Obama fails to show he is up to the job.
So with that challenge in mind, here are four things that Obama should do — and not do -- with his address Thursday night:
First, Obama has to focus on persuading the Oldouts that he has the strength as well as the judgment that's needed to change Washington and get the country moving again. To do this, Obama should go beyond telling his quintessentially American story and proving he is not the elitist alien creature he has been caricaturized to be — which is an essential first step -- and offer meaningful, specific evidence to back up his claims that he is and will be an effective change agent. The fact is, most swing voters don’t know the many different ways that Obama has challenged Democratic orthodoxy, taken tough stands and serious risks out of principle, or built bipartisan coalitions to get things done. Obama can go a long way towards winning the confidence of these voters by filling this knowledge deficit, which will in turn help him crack the strength gap that is holding him back in the polls.
Second, on a related note, Obama should look to throw a few political bones to those independent and Republican Oldouts who fear that Obama deep down is just another Kennedy liberal. One of the reasons Obama broke through the cliche clutter with his 2004 convention speech was his healing appeal for national unity and an end to the partisan food-fighting in Washington. Now that Obama must speak to a broader general election audience, he should remind swing voters why so many of them were drawn to him in the first place — and ideally give them a few new reasons to believe that he will be the President for all America that George Bush never could or would. For example, don’t just promise to appoint a Republican or two to your cabinet, announce that Chuck Hagel or another prominent GOPer will be part of your national security team. Or, conversely, embrace an idea that the public naturally associates with Republicans, much like Bill Clinton did with welfare reform, and pledge to work on a bipartisan basis to enact it.
Third, given that Obama’s primary audience has to be the unsold swing voters who will decide the election, he should bring his soaring rhetoric down to earth and be far more concrete in describing his vision, his ideas for solving the big problems Washington has punted on for years, and not least of all, how he is going to achieve the change he is promising. Just as they don’t know much about Obama’s character, most of the swing voters he needs to persuade know little about his plans for the country — a complaint we have been hearing with increasing frequency over the last couple months. This speech is a prime opportunity to introduce voters who have not really been engaged with the campaign to his innovative and realistic solutions — and to contrast them them with stale, Bushian agenda McCain is running on. This is not an argument for another yawn-inducing laundry list of policy proposals, but for highlighting a few big priority issues and a few standout ideas that will help you connect with voters who are eager for fresh, independent-minded thinking in Washington.
Fourth, Obama should not beat around the Bush in attacking McCain — especially on his supposed strength, national security. The Obama campaign knows that their best hope of cementing their structural advantage in this election cycle is to hang the Bush albatross around McCain, and frame the race as a clear choice, with the alternative being more of the same polarization, division, destructive economic and foreign policies that Bush brought us. Again, most voters don’t know how much John McCain has changed since he won their respect eight years ago, and this speech is prime opportunity to flesh out Hillary’s twins attack and make it stick. But there is another important strategic reason to whack the Mac — it’s a powerful way for Obama to communicate his toughness and show that he is willing to fight for what he believes in. The ideal place to start this offensive is on the war on terror — slam Bush and McCain for failing to capture Osama bin Laden, diverting our attention from al Qaeda by prosecuting a wasteful, unnecessary war in Iraq, and making us less safe in the process.
Gerstein, a former speechwriter and communications director for Senator Joe Lieberman, is the founder and president of Gotham Ghostwriters
Unconventional Wisdom VIII: Time for Barack to Go on the O-ffense
By Lamar Robertson
There seems to be little doubt that Barack Obama will deliver an excellent nomination speech, reinforcing his traditional themes of hope and change. What isn’t clear is whether or not he will use his remarks to go after John McCain directly. The conventional wisdom has long said the nominee should stay above the fray and leave the attacks to the running mate. In Boston, John Kerry followed that line of thinking and only said George Bush’s name two times. We all know how that turned out. In the era of Rove-style politics, the high-road is no longer a realistic path for Democratic nominees. For his speech to have the maximum political impact, Barack Obama will have to use this opportunity to define John McCain. In the process, he could define himself – as a fighter.
There are many benefits to taking on McCain in the speech.
The obvious is that it’s the easiest way to get Hillary’s wavering supporters into the fold. Recent polls suggest that if Obama can just earn the same percentage of Democratic voters as John Kerry did in 2004, he should be able to win handily, due to shifts in party identification. But at the onset of the convention, more than a quarter of Hillary supporters say they will vote for McCain. These voters may not like Obama, but the more they hear about John McCain and his near-universal support of George Bush’s agenda, the better Obama will sound. Hillary and President Clinton laid the groundwork for a mass homecoming in their remarks, but Obama will need to make the closing argument.
Another reason for Obama to go on offense is that he needs to make the Republicans play some defense. Obama’s beloved Chicago Bears made it to the Super Bowl by relying on their defense to score, but that strategy could only take them so far. The Obama camp should identify what it considers to be its best arguments against John McCain, tee them up in this speech and then drive them home every day until the election.
Perhaps the best reason for Obama to mix it up is to let voters see that he is not just a hope-monger, as he likes to joke, but a spirited fighter. This image would undermine the “celebrity” caricature of Obama the Republicans have spent millions promoting. And, getting back to those Hillary supporters, one of the big arguments against Obama was that he wasn’t tough enough to stand up to the Republican attack machine. Here’s a golden opportunity to prove them wrong and allay those fears.
So how does Barack Obama go on offense and score solid points with his remarks? Here are some specific ideas.
Embrace the crowd. One of the memes kicking around is that holding the speech at Invesco plays into McCain’s hands by providing more fodder for their “celebrity” line of attack. The Dems are locked into giving the speech at a 76,000 seat stadium, so rather than fret about whether the massive crowd has a downside, Obama should take a shot at the Republicans for their inability to draw large audiences near the opening of his remarks. Something along the lines of:
Educate on drilling. At this point, the only issue where the Republicans have a polling advantage over Democrats is on offshore drilling, but this edge is fueled by misperceptions, not the merits of the idea. Obama should tell Americans the truth about offshore drilling – that President Bush’s own energy department says it won’t lead to any meaningful increase in oil supplies for another decade, and even then it would only save pennies at the pump. In doing so, Obama can demonstrate that he is willing to talk straight with the American people, and trust them to make sound judgments based on the facts.
He could then pivot by saying that even though drilling is a bad idea, he’s willing to give a little bit on this front if it means passing a bipartisan energy bill this year that includes dramatic increases in investments in renewable energy. In the process, he should point out that McCain has refused to endorse the leading bipartisan energy bill because of his reluctance to raise taxes on his friends at Exxon Mobil and Hess who have contributed millions to his campaign. This would symbolize another way an Obama presidency would be a break from the status quo: he’s open to compromise and interested in getting stuff done to help the American people, and won’t be a slave to ideology.
Anticipate and inoculate. One big disadvantage facing Obama is that he has to speak before McCain. It’s pretty safe to say that the Republicans will try to rip the bark off of him in Minneapolis. To minimize the damage, mocking these attacks in advance could be an effective tool. Obama could deliver a riff like this:
All housing jokes, all the time. Every single Democratic speaker should have at least one line taking a dig at John McCain for forgetting how many houses he owns, including Obama. Biden’s seven kitchen tables joke on Saturday was good, but the jokes will work even better if they emphasize the fact that he didn’t know how many houses, as opposed not just the fact that he owns so many. For example, when talking about Katrina, Obama could say, “The Department of Homeland Security didn’t even know thousands were stranded at the convention center, when the images were on TV. That’s like not even knowing how many houses you own. How could anybody be that out of touch?” The furious pushback from the McCain camp tells how damaging this gaffe can be.
The Greatest. One last bit of advice for Obama is that he should use the old State of the Union trick of singling out an audience member. With all the celebrities who will be in attendance, I know the Dems are probably worried about a replay of the Los Angeles debate where every cut away was to an actor or movie executive. But word on the street is that Muhammad Ali will be in Denver. Obama should single him out and say, “Ali is not only one of the greatest boxers of all time, but one of the chief political strategists of this campaign. People have been wondering why we weren’t throwing more punches in the summer. We were just doing the old Ali rope-a-dope. And you know what America, we’ve been conserving our energy long enough. It’s time to starting taking the fight to our opponent and show them what we’ve got, and take this country back. Are you with me?” People know Barack Obama can be a uniter. This Thursday, he will be well served by letting America see Barack Obama the fighter.
Robertson is a former speechwriter for Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT)
There seems to be little doubt that Barack Obama will deliver an excellent nomination speech, reinforcing his traditional themes of hope and change. What isn’t clear is whether or not he will use his remarks to go after John McCain directly. The conventional wisdom has long said the nominee should stay above the fray and leave the attacks to the running mate. In Boston, John Kerry followed that line of thinking and only said George Bush’s name two times. We all know how that turned out. In the era of Rove-style politics, the high-road is no longer a realistic path for Democratic nominees. For his speech to have the maximum political impact, Barack Obama will have to use this opportunity to define John McCain. In the process, he could define himself – as a fighter.
There are many benefits to taking on McCain in the speech.
The obvious is that it’s the easiest way to get Hillary’s wavering supporters into the fold. Recent polls suggest that if Obama can just earn the same percentage of Democratic voters as John Kerry did in 2004, he should be able to win handily, due to shifts in party identification. But at the onset of the convention, more than a quarter of Hillary supporters say they will vote for McCain. These voters may not like Obama, but the more they hear about John McCain and his near-universal support of George Bush’s agenda, the better Obama will sound. Hillary and President Clinton laid the groundwork for a mass homecoming in their remarks, but Obama will need to make the closing argument.
Another reason for Obama to go on offense is that he needs to make the Republicans play some defense. Obama’s beloved Chicago Bears made it to the Super Bowl by relying on their defense to score, but that strategy could only take them so far. The Obama camp should identify what it considers to be its best arguments against John McCain, tee them up in this speech and then drive them home every day until the election.
Perhaps the best reason for Obama to mix it up is to let voters see that he is not just a hope-monger, as he likes to joke, but a spirited fighter. This image would undermine the “celebrity” caricature of Obama the Republicans have spent millions promoting. And, getting back to those Hillary supporters, one of the big arguments against Obama was that he wasn’t tough enough to stand up to the Republican attack machine. Here’s a golden opportunity to prove them wrong and allay those fears.
So how does Barack Obama go on offense and score solid points with his remarks? Here are some specific ideas.
Embrace the crowd. One of the memes kicking around is that holding the speech at Invesco plays into McCain’s hands by providing more fodder for their “celebrity” line of attack. The Dems are locked into giving the speech at a 76,000 seat stadium, so rather than fret about whether the massive crowd has a downside, Obama should take a shot at the Republicans for their inability to draw large audiences near the opening of his remarks. Something along the lines of:
“Wow. What a crowd. You know, John McCain and his friends have taken to attacking us for drawing crowds that are too big. Can you believe that? Does that even make any sense? They just don’t get it. They don’t realize that these record crowds are not about me, they are about you and the millions like you who can’t believe what John McCain and George Bush have done to harm our economy, our environment and our standing in the world. You’ve had enough and aren’t going to put up with four more years of this.
“But that’s what they do. They tear others down, because they aren’t offering any ideas to lift this nation up and draw people to their side. Get this. I’m not making this up. The other side can’t even get a lot of their own Congressmen and Senators to show up at their convention, much less draw a crowd like this. Their campaign committee even sent out a memo advising elected officials to stay away for fear that they might be branded as Republicans. All I can say to my colleagues on the other side of the aisle is you’re welcome over here. We hope you and all Americans will join us in this effort to take our country back and get it moving in the right direction again.”
Educate on drilling. At this point, the only issue where the Republicans have a polling advantage over Democrats is on offshore drilling, but this edge is fueled by misperceptions, not the merits of the idea. Obama should tell Americans the truth about offshore drilling – that President Bush’s own energy department says it won’t lead to any meaningful increase in oil supplies for another decade, and even then it would only save pennies at the pump. In doing so, Obama can demonstrate that he is willing to talk straight with the American people, and trust them to make sound judgments based on the facts.
He could then pivot by saying that even though drilling is a bad idea, he’s willing to give a little bit on this front if it means passing a bipartisan energy bill this year that includes dramatic increases in investments in renewable energy. In the process, he should point out that McCain has refused to endorse the leading bipartisan energy bill because of his reluctance to raise taxes on his friends at Exxon Mobil and Hess who have contributed millions to his campaign. This would symbolize another way an Obama presidency would be a break from the status quo: he’s open to compromise and interested in getting stuff done to help the American people, and won’t be a slave to ideology.
Anticipate and inoculate. One big disadvantage facing Obama is that he has to speak before McCain. It’s pretty safe to say that the Republicans will try to rip the bark off of him in Minneapolis. To minimize the damage, mocking these attacks in advance could be an effective tool. Obama could deliver a riff like this:
“If there’s one thing you can say about the McCain/Bush brand of Republicanism is that they are predictable. We know that they are going to roll out a series of misrepresentations and some flat-out lies next week.
“They’re going to tell you that I’m going to raise your taxes. But they’re not going to tell you that I’m only going to raise your taxes if you make over $250,000, and that most Americans will pay lower taxes under my plan.
“They are going to tell you that John McCain’s ready to lead this country, and I’m not. But they aren’t going to tell you that on the on the biggest national security question of our day – whether or not to go to war in Iraq – I got it right, and he got it wrong.”Mention the anniversary. . . not that one. Everyone is making a big deal out of the fact that Obama’s speech falls on the 45th anniversary of Dr. King’s “I have a dream” speech. Obama would be better served by talking about the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. No event better encapsulates the failure of the Bush administration than the botched federal response to this historic tragedy. What makes Katrina particularly potent is how each candidate responded. Barack Obama immediately traveled to Houston to visit survivors with Bill and Hillary Clinton. A hit tip to the Clintons would surely be well received by her supporters and a nice reinforcement of the notion of party unity. Where was John McCain when Katrina struck? Eating birthday cake with George Bush. You can’t make this stuff up.
All housing jokes, all the time. Every single Democratic speaker should have at least one line taking a dig at John McCain for forgetting how many houses he owns, including Obama. Biden’s seven kitchen tables joke on Saturday was good, but the jokes will work even better if they emphasize the fact that he didn’t know how many houses, as opposed not just the fact that he owns so many. For example, when talking about Katrina, Obama could say, “The Department of Homeland Security didn’t even know thousands were stranded at the convention center, when the images were on TV. That’s like not even knowing how many houses you own. How could anybody be that out of touch?” The furious pushback from the McCain camp tells how damaging this gaffe can be.
The Greatest. One last bit of advice for Obama is that he should use the old State of the Union trick of singling out an audience member. With all the celebrities who will be in attendance, I know the Dems are probably worried about a replay of the Los Angeles debate where every cut away was to an actor or movie executive. But word on the street is that Muhammad Ali will be in Denver. Obama should single him out and say, “Ali is not only one of the greatest boxers of all time, but one of the chief political strategists of this campaign. People have been wondering why we weren’t throwing more punches in the summer. We were just doing the old Ali rope-a-dope. And you know what America, we’ve been conserving our energy long enough. It’s time to starting taking the fight to our opponent and show them what we’ve got, and take this country back. Are you with me?” People know Barack Obama can be a uniter. This Thursday, he will be well served by letting America see Barack Obama the fighter.
Robertson is a former speechwriter for Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT)
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