CUTTING OUT 'EMOTION' OF THE MOMENT
Candidate: Obama
Checkmarks, so far:
- (1) Able to generate significant interest and 'connect' with a wide array of voters
- (2) Debate and talk about the issues; Deflects criticisms sometimes very well, sometimes so-so; Showing a lot of progress with persuasion skills, using the Townhall format
- (3) Run a grueling, national campaign so far, very effectively, with an impressive array of top-level support
- He's running into trouble defending not positions, but himself, his character, his judgments, his faith, his ethics, his authenticity, his sincerity, his pride in being an African-American, whatever ... The "pressure", here, is concerted and expert, but not yet comprehensive.
- There is an inkling this week that he's still finding his footing and a communications strategy that deals with an Executive at the head of a team of people who may disagree with him (or not have the vaunted 'message discipline').
- He tired a couple of things to deal with Hillary's own telfon; but it's still an issue, to the extent that you believe the pledged delegate race matters, from here on out.
JACKALS
Like jackals, the Right have started to go after his advisers, unable to attack the main corpus directly.
On my imperfect history, O'Reilly and the right-wing radio started with his minister and the Farrakhan thing, like before Russet parroted it.
They have long been upset with Sam Powers, on support-for-Israel issues. There are other advisers for whom they will try to make him 'accountable'.
The flap with one of his economic advisers may just be an inkling of the pressure they will try to put on his economic solutions.
WHAT TO DO
The candidate needs to do three things.
- 1. Continue to re-enforce the core messages of his campaign
Without relating current events/assaults back to his core messages, the danger is that the opponents draws you all over the field and confuse the electorate. Campaign rhetoric goes bitter? Reinforce campaign message on clean government by dismissing the motive for any factless attacks is driven by lobbyists who are willing to pay for a knife fight, if that is what it takes. Faith questioned? Return the discussion to the policy debate, by insisting that questioner is raising improbable doubts because they are losing the solutions debate. - 2. Extend and deepen the publics understanding of his core messages, by understanding the candidate more fully himself
This is the costly part of campaigning. Through advertising, speeches, and actions the candidate needs to dramatize his commitment to the issues, in ways that connect the person to the rhetoric. - 3. Raise the bar on the competition and define his competitive advantages
Yes, you have to talk about the opposition in ways that make them look risky. - 3. Anticipate and pre-empt the upcoming challenges to his core message
Many issues are more easily handled, if they come through the front door, rather than unexpectedly through the side...
All this occurs within the basic context of scheduling events, rallies, media availability, phone calls, etc.
It's a tall order, yes?
