When I sit down with a candidate to begin a campaign, I ask them to start talking about themselves as an introduction. Ninety-nine out of a hundred times, they talk only about their professional life and accomplishments: what political offices they held, what program they just got passed in the House, or what honors they received in college.
They talk for a while. Then, I almost always have to ask, “Do you have kids?" "Where did you grow up?" "What did you dad and mom do?" "What did they teach you to value most?" "Did you have to work your way through college?" Do you coach your son's little league team or your daughter's soccer team?" "Do you still teach Sunday school?"
These are the most important questions to ask because the answers shape the person. These answers never come from them unless they are asked and I believe that this is how a lot of Democratic candidates approach the public - from a distance - and that’s how you lose your way in the desert. This has to change. It is the most important thing we can do as a party if we are going to walk out of that desert and back to victory.
There are plenty of ways to bring this authenticity front and center. Many Democrats have showed different ways to achieve it. But if we want to be the party of the future, we have to embrace the fundamentals of politics. This is a people business first and policy and problem solving business second.
Democrats have to change the way they look at the electorate. It can no longer be through a prism of ideas. Issues and proposals aren’t enough and they aren’t what people are looking for. Voters are looking for candidates with defined principles that will guide them as they govern.
In this case, we really should heed the old cliché our mothers used to tell us on our first day at school, at a new job or the day we met our husbands and wives, “Be yourself. Let them see the real you and you’ll do fine.” As always, mom was right.
This piece is the first in an ongoing series of publications to be released in the coming weeks by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner principals and analysts on the issues facing progressives in the US and around the world.
When you hold Bill Clinton up as a shining example of what the Democratic Party needs to be you completely lose me. Clinton brought us Republican lite, the DLC control of the democratic message and the pursestrings, the refusal to voice traditional democratic messages and share the stage with the progressive and minority wings of that party. The Clinton legacy is three lost elections and counting.
The Democrats lost and continue to lose because they have become cowards and corporate stooges, little differing from the GOP. Given a choice between the Republican message and the Democrats me-tooism most folks opt for the original.
There are today only a handful of real democrats in that party and they are generally under gag orders. Only Russ Feingold , Boxer, Conyer, Byrd and a very few others are worth listening to, the rest are abysmal cowards and worrying far more about polling numbers and re-election than the good of the nation. There has been no unanimity of voice, no strength of message, no backbone and no hope for far too long now.
Will the last one out of the big tent please turn off the light.
by
ardee D. (6 articles, 4 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 2388 comments)
on Tuesday, March 21, 2006 at 5:33:09 PM
This article makes a good case why saying 'pro-choice' to explain a Democrat's position appears NOT authentic. This seems to mean 'It's not important what I think about abortion, only what other people think about it.' This is the opposite of 'being the real person' who tells you what she herself thinks, but instead mouths off a policy issue.
by
Nan (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 1 comments)
on Tuesday, March 21, 2006 at 9:08:52 PM
