LESLIE DOYLE
"If you as a politician connect with voters on a gut level, they will
follow you anywhere and not fret about the details. If you don't
connect with them on a gut level, you can't show them enough details.
Obama early on, and particularly with young people, connected on a gut
level like no other politician since Ronald Reagan.
...Who is bailing out Fannie Mae? Who is going to build a new energy
system? Health care?
"Sarah Palin bounce" will go, but I would take her very seriously as a
politician. She may not know nuclear deterrence theory, but she can
deliver a line. "I think there are a lot of women out there that look
at her, holding her baby, talking about being a hockey mom, and say,
'She knows what I feel; she's going through what I am going through,'
"
The New York Times
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September 10, 2008
Op-Ed Columnist
From the Gut
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
If John McCain can win this election race with a 50-pound ball called
"George W. Bush" wrapped around one ankle and a 50-pound ball called
"The U.S. Economy" wrapped around the other, then he deserves to
represent America in the next Olympics in any race he wants —
swimming, cycling or track — I don't care how old he is. He would be
the Michael Phelps of politics.
I confess, I watch politics from afar, but here's what I've been
feeling for a while: Whoever slipped that Valium into Barack Obama's
coffee needs to be found and arrested by the Democrats because Obama
has gone from cool to cold.
Somebody needs to tell Obama that if he wants the chance to calmly
answer the phone at 3 a.m. in the White House, he is going to need to
start slamming down some phones at 3 p.m. along the campaign trail. I
like much of what he has to say, especially about energy, but I don't
think people are feeling it in their guts, and I am a big believer
that voters don't listen through their ears. They listen through their
stomachs.
If you as a politician connect with voters on a gut level, they will
follow you anywhere and not fret about the details. If you don't
connect with them on a gut level, you can't show them enough details.
Obama early on, and particularly with young people, connected on a gut
level like no other politician since Ronald Reagan.
But in recent weeks, I feel as though he has lost that gut connection.
I thought his convention speech contained no memorable lines or
uplifting visions. It never got me out of my seat. Forget trashing
McCain's ideas. If Obama wants to rally his base, he has to be more
passionate about his own ideas. I have long felt that what propelled
Obama early was the fact that many Americans understand in their guts
that we need a change, but the change we need is to focus on
nation-building at home. We're in decline. We need to get back to work
on our country. And that is going to require strong, smart government.
Who is bailing out Fannie Mae? Who is going to build a new energy
system? Health care? More tax cuts are not going to do it. But I am
just not sure that Obama is making the sale that he has the plan and
passion to unite and mobilize the country for this task.
In a way, I would love to hear Obama say, just for shock value: "I am
so eager to do whatever it takes to fix these problems that I am ready
to be a one-term president. Mine will not be a presidency that is
confined to the first 100 days. But that is what we have fallen into,
folks. The first 100 days have become the only 100 days. Once they are
over, presidents are told that they have to trim their sails to get
ready for the midterm elections, and once the midterms are over they
are told that they have to trim their sails and get ready for the next
presidential election. We can't solve our problems with a government
of 100 days. I am going to work the hard problems the hard way for
1,461 days."
I don't know how long or high the "Sarah Palin bounce" will go, but I
would take her very seriously as a politician. She may not know
nuclear deterrence theory, but she can deliver a line. "I think there
are a lot of women out there that look at her, holding her baby,
talking about being a hockey mom, and say, 'She knows what I feel;
she's going through what I am going through,' " remarked leadership
expert John Maxwell.
As Neil Oxman, political consultant at The Campaign Group, put it to
me: For half the country, "Sarah Palin is Roseanne from the 'Roseanne'
show. 'Roseanne' was the No. 1 comedy five years in a row and seven
out of nine in the top 10." She is connecting at a gut level. So does
McCain — and, therefore, they don't need to give their constituents
many details.
This race has a long way to go. It is still Obama's election to lose.
But Obama got where he is today by defining himself as the agent of
change and by defining change as the issue in this election. McCain,
with Palin's help, has once again not only made Obama's experience an
issue, but has now moved in on Obama's strength and tried to define
the G.O.P. ticket as the party of "change."
How, you ask, can two people running with the exact same policies as
the party that has been in power for eight years, claim to be the
agents of "change?" That's politics. There's no shame. But what this
has done is to make the word "change" as a campaign slogan
meaningless. Obama will need to find another way to connect his ideas
— clearly, crisply and passionately.
Because, while the pollsters tell us it is still really close, my own
totally unscientific, seat of the pants poll tells me this: When you
say Obama's name today and ask people for their first impression — a
quick, flash, gut, first impression — no single word or phrase or
policy comes to mind. His opponents will fill that vacuum if he
doesn't. They already are.
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