Can’t make it up–shortly after Iowa:
Last night Big Media was finally able to publish the story they wrote a year ago. The victor last night was Big Media. The victors last night were Chris Matthews and Tim Russert.
But let’s not excuse what happened last night by blaming others. Let’s not make excuses by cheering about the delegate count or the delegate distribution in Iowa (Obama gets 16 delegates, Hillary 15, Edwards 14). Let’s not cheer about Hank Aaron nor the continuing endorsements coming in for Hillary. Let’s not cheer about Hillary strength in nationwide polls.
We need to take responsibility for what happened in Iowa. Let’s survey the damage and the opportunity.
* * *
Dodd, Biden and the rest are now out of the race. Richardson gets to participate in Saturday’s debate but goes nowhere. Edwards gets to participate in Saturday’s debate but goes nowhere (conventional wisdom before Iowa was that for Edwards Iowa was a “must” win – Edwards lost. Conventional wisdom was right and Edwards will have a tough time raising money, organization, and support.)
Iowa was a problem for Hillary for several reasons. Obama was from a neighboring state and spent a lot of money there and Edwards practically lived there for years. A bigger problem was the unified field of opposition against Hillary (Big Media, Republicans, and the Democratic candidates). This unified field of opposition meant that “going negative” against an individual in Iowa could easily backfire and there were too many opponents (include Big Media, Big Blogs, and Republicans) to take everybody on in a fight. Another complication was the ability of independents to vote in Iowa; a complication which exists in New Hampshire as well.
The race is between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama and Big Media. Barack Obama is the Chris Matthews candidate and we need to treat him as such.
* * *
Our biggest failure in Iowa and beyond: we let down young people. Young people wanted change and excitement and truth and we gave them words and policy, and logic.
We effectively abandoned young people to a flim flam artist. We did not provide the truth to young voters. We were afraid they would get angry and disillusioned. We abandoned them. Young people thought the change and therefore the excitement was with the other side. We were excited by Hillary because we know she represents change worth having but we did not engage young voters by arming them with all the facts.
Flim flam artists target the young with excitement and hoopla, and hope. That is the way it always is. Hillary campaign strategists viewed Obama as a political adversary to be counteracted within normal political discourse involving policy. But Obama is a flim flam artist. You defeat flim flammery and flim flam artists by exposing them for what they are.
Again, you do not defeat a circus parade. You cannot persuade a bystander, using logic, not to be excited about the circus parade. You cannot cite statistics about how the parade is financed, how ugly the clowns are beneath the makeup, the amount of cheap glitter and paint employed to create the excitement.
Reading and viewing assignments for the Hillary media team this week: Elmer Gantry (book and movie), The Music Man (movie). Understand the opposition.
How do you defeat the Chicago circus of the ridiculous? Tell the truth fearlessly.
Young people and gay people did not know about Obama’s cynical gay bashing tour in South Carolina. Why not? Why did the gay newspaper The Washington Blade endorse Hillary but not mention the gay bashing tour of South Carolina? The campaign did not get the message out. Advertise in gay periodicals – tell the truth – fearlessly. We did, but as our commenting student in Iowa informed us, the campaign did not get the message out in Iowa. This is what we wrote:
What’s great about this is after all of the claims about the Obama cult, I have to say this and a few select bloggers out there have an uncanny ability to channel Wolfson and the whining that everyone is out to get them
The group displays excessively zealous and unquestioning commitment to its leader and (whether he is alive or dead) regards his belief system, ideology, and practices as the Truth, as law.
Questioning, doubt, and dissent are discouraged or even punished.
The group is elitist, claiming a special, exalted status for itself, its leader(s) and members (for example, the leader is considered the Messiah, a special being, an avatar-or the group and/or the leader is on a special mission to save humanity).
The group has a polarized us-versus-them mentality, which may cause conflict with the wider society.
? The group teaches or implies that its supposedly exalted ends justify whatever means it deems necessary. This may result in members’ participating in behaviors or activities they would have considered reprehensible or unethical before joining the group (for example, lying to family or friends, or collecting money for bogus charities).
Most Hillary supporters are good people and many are friends. The people running Hillaryis44 might get some deprogramming…
[…] Josh wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptThe race is between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama and Big Media. Barack Obama is the Chris Matthews candidate and we need to treat him as such. * * *. Our biggest failure in Iowa and beyond: we let down young people. … Read the rest of this great post here Posted by […]