Defining Discourse Down
posted by Michael WatermanThursday, October 9th, 2008
Much has been made about Sarah Palin and her media foibles of late. The fact that she (apparently a decision forced on her by the campaign) has granted few interviews and no large scale media availability has only amplified the mis-steps in appearances she’s made. It’s to the point where it’s very hard to tell where Sarah Palin leaves off and Tina Fey begins.
My sense is that this is less about Gov. Palin – although her verbal gymnastics make George Bush seem like Socrates – and more about John McCain.
Sen. McCain famously used to refer the mainstream media as his “base,” engaging them on his campaign bus on any issue under the sun until there was nothing left to discuss. And when his campaign was foundering in 2007 (I saw him on a 6 a.m. Aclea to New York that summer with no entourage chatting up passengers while heading to Wall St. to plead for money) he was still following this “open source” approach. It served his campaign well again during the primaries, but after securing the nomination the campaign gradually began to limit access and employed controlled media events. And, sooner or later, the crowd that giveth, taketh away. We have seen this magnified by a factor of ten with Gov. Palin.
The media lessons from this approach are straightforward: one, engage and engage and then engage some more, lest you let others shape your image; and two, manage the dialogue on your terms by relentlessly using all available outlets to tell your story. By not trusting the path that won them the nomination and shifting their approach they narrowed their window of success and became more averse to a discourse on their ideas.
The failure of the campaign to follow this is evident today, both in polling data and their 100% negative advertising. They have driven their message bus – the former Straight Talk Express – into a ditch and may not get it out.
October 9th, 2008 at 11:34 am
Excellent points. Until a recent trip to Michigan, where McCain took questions for 5 minutes which were all planted with and asked by the local media (and those questions were restricted to his appearance), McCain had not taken questions from the media since August 12th. What does that tell you? Looks like the “Straight Talk Express” has become the “No Talk Express”….
October 9th, 2008 at 1:22 pm
Couldn’t agree with your comments more. First rule in politics is never give your opponent the opportunity to define you.