Wednesday, August 27, 2003

The Dean Secret Weapon What has given Dean his momentum.  It is that 1) he has a message, and that 2) he has a unbeatable feedback mechanism for listening to his followers .   I am from Massachusetts, and John Kerry is a fine Senator.  But he will never amount to much as a Presidential candidate because he is too cautious, too poll driven, too controlling.  He won’t let a movement control him—he will attempt to control the movement.   For example, he is pushing this big veterans thing—speaking to veterans groups, going to an aircraft carrier etc.  But of the millions and millions of Americans who are veterans, only a small percentage actually identify with the veterans groups.  So Kerry is in effect simply pandering to another interest group, and it will get him the obscurity he deserves.   But Dean, with his blog and interaction between the campaign staff and ordinary supporters, has built something extraordinary:  the campaign is growing because supporters feel empowered to make it grow themselves, they are not passive consumers or voters, hoping someone will come along and be mister right!   This is the difference between blogging and watching television.  It is the difference between participating in a movement, and watching CNN describe/distort the movement.   Political campaigns in the U.S. have veered more and more to the passive side considering average American voters as simply consumers who have to be pandered to every few years as the price of remaining in power.  This is Kerry’s style, it is Grey Davis style, it is George Bush’s style, and unfortunately, it was Al Gore’s style.  It elevates interest groups, it makes people passive, not active, and it focuses all the attention on the candidate, not the movement.   What Dean has done that is revolutionary is that he has provided the mechanism, through the internet, for his candidacy and campaign staff to interact with the people as a movement.  The interaction can provide real direction.   For example, Dean is going to be faced with the choice of keeping within federal campaign limits, or abandoning them in the face of Bush’s $200 million war chest.  Ordinarily, for a politician to change course, to switch gears, is jumped on by the media and opponents as a sure sign of weakness, vacillation, wrong headedness.   But for Dean, this decision will be played out in full view of supporters—who will come to a collective decision as to which road is better—based on a judgment of what will win.  By following the debate, the campaign staff can act so much more quickly, and decisively, than by using polling and focus groups to determine the outcome of a decision.   This is a new political phenomenon in the age of television advertising and alienation.     That’s what makes this movement so exciting. 12:53:18 PM   comment []

© Copyright 2003 Toby Sackton. Last update: 9/27/2003; 4:51:45 PM.