Opinions Worth Roping -

LEADER OF THE PACK
[printable]

Since John Kerry lost and we lost the battle to recount Ohio and pigs continue to walk and not fly, I would like to work on a winning strategy that moves progressive, populist, and pragmatic views into the mainstream in tandem with the voter movement. I would like to find a way to appeal to the great middle that is not centrist but pragmatic. Not compromisers, but doers. Yes, some people are greedy bastards and some people can run for sainthood. But most of us are just hard working Joes and Jeans who like the idea of a country that gives to its citizens the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness and are just trying to do the best they can with complex issues.

Please understand, as I b begin my analysis of the last campaign, that I am not trashing John Kerry. John Kerry is a decent man. There is much to admire in his lifetime of service to his country and the courage he has displayed along the way. I campaigned for him like Hilary said as “a serious man for serious times”. I knew as president that he, unlike our present leader, would enjoy working hard every day and would surround himself with the best and brightest of both parties. He would search for ways to unite and not divide. But I have always had trouble with the campaign that he ran or let be run by the powers that be, whoever those folks are. And I have NOT flip-flopped on this. Check my record.

For those of us outside the so-called battleground states, we watched from the sidelines as the campaign became about a strange group of people called “the undecideds”. Whether it was Montana or California or New York, we scratched our heads as people called us for money but could care less what we thought about anything. We tried to stay connected by working hard for our local and state campaigns. Without the Internet, many of us would have probably curled up with our blankies to wait for November, go to the polls and then burrow for another four years.

I just have to keep wondering whom these people are who run national campaign after national campaign from inside some bunker on some alphabet street in Washington. And why if they aren’t clever enough to win elections, why should they be any good at running a country? Why if you lose a campaign do you get hired time and time again to run another one? Is it like Hollywood or academia? Why does an executive get fired from a studio and then go run another one? How many bombs does a director get before someone stops giving him money for a film? Why does someone of staggering genius get one shot and some nincompoop get a dozen? Is it some kind of tenure system that keeps you shuffling around within the system and the system always takes care of you? Is it like the major league team and the farm teams? If you can’t make it nationally, do you get sent to South Dakota to try your luck there in a local race?

There are really no easy answers to any of the above. Some people learn from losing a race and come back and win. Others just change venues and repeat the same mistakes. We might take some cues from the almighty marketplace keeping the good ideas and getting rid of the bad ideas. So what were the good and bad ideas?

Most reviews that I have read agree that “terrorism” seemed to drive people to keep the incumbent in office even though they disagreed with his economic agenda including the huge deficits and tax cuts for the wealthy. “The Fear Factor” as Michael Moore showed us in “Bowling for Columbine” is powerful and became the number one tactic of Rove and Company. This year it was hatred and fear of brown men. The same bunch used fear of black men in 1988 with the Willie Horton ad that appealed to the lizard brain’s bigoted reaction to the raping of a white woman by the pardoned (not by Dukakis) Willie Horton.

But since we are the party that tries not to use fear of people that aren’t like us i.e. bigotry whether it is a Muslim in Iraq or a black man in Los Angeles or a Native American in Billings and since we are the party of tolerance, we have a much harder job. How can we combat the use of bigotry? Not by using fear, but by presenting a strong and powerful image. This is where leadership is vital. Fritz Hollings told Mike Wallace on December 12 th that, "He [Sen. John Kerry was a good fellow; he's still one of the finest. But he got over-coached. He had too many consultants, too many pollsters, and really too many in that they call it 'Noah’s Ark.' He had two or three of everything. And he never could make up his mind."

Never could make up his mind. Anyone that worked early on in the campaigns in Iowa, New Hampshire etc. knows what Hollings is talking about. Leadership is not taking a series of positions or having a list of things you’d like to do. Any of us can do that. Leadership is finding the new idea amongst the opinions and ideas swirling around you. Howard Dean did this with his mix of universal healthcare, anti-war sentiment and fiscal sanity into a message about responsibility to our children. His was a doctor’s message of “First, do no harm.” The Edwards (and I choose to talk about Elizabeth and John as one) are also new thinkers. They believe in collective wisdom but can then aggregate that and come up with powerful and simple statements like “We can do better”, “We need to tax wealth, not work”, “We need to do the spade work,” “We need one America that works for all of us”. Those are simple, yet profound ideas. John Edwards was the only primary candidate that combined the message and the right messenger. He had the whole package. A President is like the leading man ( or woman someday) in the movie”America”, he or she must come in an authentic package that lights up the screen. He or she has to be able to speak to the common folk and has to make us proud in the eyes of the world. The president is we. It is crucial to have the right big dog.

There is room for the rest of us and for the elites in both parties but it has to be behind the scenes slogging in relative obscurity and being proud to serve. Just like putting a movie together, it takes many people of all types to just get it done. It’s a team effort like a good string of dogs that win the Iditarod. The so-called elites are important for the perspective that they give between the covers of “The Nation”, “The Atlantic”, and “The New Yorker” and on the airwaves of “Air America”. This is where the collective wisdom is gathered and sorted through. This is the script that is at the core of any good movie. Just like a movie, if the studios i.e. the money people start to dictate the final version, the message inevitably gets watered down. I heard Al From of the centrist DLC (Democratic Leadership Council) say on C-Span that the head of the DNC (Democratic National Committee) should not be on TV but only be the person who raises the cash. I very much disagree with this. Prior to this, the people who gave the DNC money seemed to feel they also had the right to pick the nominee and to decide where the money is spent. This top-down model hopefully will finally get tossed out with the bathwater and, just like in the business world, decentralized independent diverse groups all over the country will be feeding the party and will dictate who will lead the charge.

It’s like we will all participate in local casting calls for the next “Meet the Fockers” and we will also be the financers of the production rather than a central studio. In other words, a true independent production.

I wish I could click my red shoes together and go back to 1988 and elect Jesse Jackson. I wish Jesse could lead our party now, but the right has done its usual hatchet job on his character. But we can’t go back, so that’s why I’d like to see someone like Howard Dean or maybe Simon Rosenberg who really gets this new dynamic as the party’s leader who can seek the solutions in the collective minds of the county committees. I would love to find a Westerner. But whoever it is, that person needs to “get it”.

In the end, it’s good to remember that it is the stars and the big dog who get to walk down the red carpet or get the first pork chop, but hopefully everybody gets to go to the cast and crew screening, get paid a decent wage and have their healthcare and pension plan taken care of or get a nice warm spot by the fire. Oh, and an occasional “ thank you” or pat on the head is always nice.

Diane Kamp December 2004

Leader of the Pack