Your Humble Blogger has, like most of us bloggers on the left, ideas to help Sen. Kerry win the election this fall. While it’s true that any idea I have had has almost certainly already occurred to the highly-paid professionals whom John Kerry has employed, why all know what happens when we assume. So I’ve drafted a quick note with my idea for the frame to try to impose over the rest of the information people will get, the pattern to persuade people to look for, the Big Picture. Can any Gentle Reader spare some time to help me polish this up (and shorten it, for cry-yi) before I send it? And, of course, any views on the content would be welcomed, as usual.
Senator Kerry,
I know the whole world and his wife are sending you advice at this time. I hope you have somebody reading it, and picking out the good ideas from the bad; I also hope this is one of the good ideas. It’s just an idea for a speech, or rather an idea for some themes you can take advantage of, in a speech this Spring, and throughout your campaign.
I know it’s presumptuous to try to maneuver a campaign that is, at this point, in the groove. And it would be stupid and ungracious not to, at the start, congratulate you on a well-run and successful campaign. So, first, congratulations and well done. You show no sign of needing advice, so, of course, I join the rush to provide it. I won’t be the first person to point out that you need to create a frame, through which citizens can interpret your actions and those of President Bush. I don’t know whether I’ll be the first to put it like this: President Bush and his Inner Circle betrayed ordinary Republicans by their incompetence, cronyism and secrecy. I happen to believe this is true, and I know there are Republicans who are already saying it in public. I also doubt this will convince most Republicans to vote for you, but nothing will. I do think that it could well be a frame that most independents will believe, and which will keep them from voting for him.
My advice is inspired by FDR’s nomination speech in 1932. If you haven’t read it recently, I think you would enjoy it, and it would be a nice break from the relentless rush of the current which naturally must occupy your time. The Franklin & Eleanor Roosevelt Foundation has it posted on-line, should a copy not fall naturally into your hand. Much in it relates to its time, of course, but a couple of points near the beginning can be adapted and adopted for your own. I urge you to do this, and soon.
First, I’ll quote at length:
The appearance before a National Convention of its nominee for President, to be formally notified of his selection, is unprecedented and unusual, but these are unprecedented and unusual times. I have started out on the tasks that lie ahead by breaking the absurd traditions that the candidate should remain in professed ignorance of what has happened for weeks until he is formally notified of that event many weeks later.
My friends, may this be the symbol of my intention to be honest and to avoid all hypocrisy or sham, to avoid all silly shutting of the eyes to the truth in this campaign. You have nominated me and I know it, and I am here to thank you for the honor.
Sen. Kerry, much of the next six months will be sent in sham. Much of the next four must necessarily be spent preparing for an event at which very little will be a surprise. My advice is to acknowledge that, publicly, and soon. Whether you announce your choice of vice-president, or (which would be lovely) announce a sort of shadow cabinet of presumptive nominees, or if you decide that it would be presumptuous to do so, make it clear what you are doing. Introduce your speechwriters, and discuss in an interview how useful they are in helping you articulate your thoughts. Decide what purpose you want this summer’s Convention to actually serve, and announce that purpose. Another high-risk possibility is to underline the insularity of the current administration by having some of your advisors and staff admit to some minor policy differences with you, and your amicable discussions about them.
Our current administration appears to be obsessively secretive. Secrecy breeds distrust. I think that you can convince many people that you would be a different sort of President, and a better one, by showing your disdain for pretense, for unnecessary secrecy, and for sham. Remind people of the process by which Dick Cheney chose the Vice-Presidential nominee in 2000, and contrast it with a process that is clearly as open as good taste, courtesy, and respect will allow. Make it clear that you are starting as you mean to go on, as FDR did, by saying what he was doing, and by doing what he said.
My second point will be briefer, and I’ll start with a briefer quote:
And if this appeal fails, remember well, my friends, that a resentment against the failure of Republican leadership—and note well that in this campaign I shall not use the word "Republican Party," but I shall use, day in and day out, the words, "Republican leadership" — the failure of Republican leaders to solve our troubles may degenerate into unreasoning radicalism.
...
Here and now I invite those nominal Republicans who find that their conscience cannot be squared with the groping and the failure of their party leaders to join hands with us; here and now, in equal measure, I warn those nominal Democrats who squint at the future with their faces turned toward the past, and who feel no responsibility to the demands of the new time, that they are out of step with their Party.
Please, Senator, recognize that the leadership of the Republican Party has once again failed the membership of that Party. Please make it clear that the current administration does not serve the interests of Republican voters. And please, please make it clear that you do not criticize Republican voters, and you have no ill-will towards them. Their President has betrayed them far more than he has betrayed us. The cronyism of the current administration is far worse than petty patronage that diverts incidental rewards to the faithful while spending most of the effort on actually governing. This administration is the administration not just of the Republican Party, rather than the country, for which they could perhaps be forgiven, but of the elite within the Party, rather than the Party. Many Republicans will find that they cannot square their consciences, not with the groping and failure of their leaders, which is bad enough, but by the greed, secrecy, and insularity of those leaders.
Ultimately, you will frame the choice voters will make. The choice will be between a President who works in secrecy, to the benefit only of a few, and who ignores the people who supported him; and a Senator who will govern openly, honestly, and transparently, to the benefit of all.
Redintegro Iraq,
-Vardibidian.
Some suggestions about presentation:
1. Make it shorter.
2. Reduce the amount of apologizing/disclaiming at the beginning.
3. Reorganize a little into a form more like the “five-paragraph essay” form — in particular, make clear upfront, in general terms, what your point is, in case whoever reads the letter doesn’t read past the first few paragraphs. At first I thought the entirety of your advice was to use that “President Bush and his Inner Circle betrayed ordinary Republicans” line (and that the rest of the letter would be backing that up). So instead, give a general overarching version of your advice at the beginning (openness good, secrecy and cronyism bad), then itemize the specifics, putting the most important one first.
4. Cut the Roosevelt quotes; they’re hard to follow and their relevance isn’t immediately obvious (until you explain them). Paraphase briefly, but don’t quote.
5. Put the “President Bush and his Inner Circle betrayed ordinary Republicans” line in a paragraph by itself (still italicized), to draw attention to it. If the reader just glances at the page, that’ll be what they see.
6. The “This administration is the administration not just” sentence is a good idea, but hard to follow. I’d cut the whole “not just” clause; I think that part can be understood from the rest of the sentence. Or if you want to emphasize that part, rework the sentence.
Jed’s advice is excellent. I would differ only in that I think there are elements of the second FDR passage that ought to be retained. Kerry’s people ought to get a taste of the power of this turn of phrase:
“Here and now I invite those nominal Republicans who find that their conscience cannot be squared with the groping and the failure of their party leaders to join hands with us.”
Advice gratefully noted. I’ll redraft and post.
Thanks,
-V.