Advice from Bill ...
Those of you who read this blog regularly, know I admire the political skills of Bill Clinton and Barak Obama. Like Ronald Reagan, who was able to get people who disagreed with him to like him, these two Democrats also have an uncanny ability to advance their agenda without offending the other side.
Here's an example taken from this past week's Meet the Press. This transcript comes from Tim Russert's interview of Carville, Begala, and Matalin:
MR. RUSSERT: You have in the book comments, reflections, observations by former President Bill Clinton on election night of 2004 that I had never seen anywhere else. Tell us what he said.
MR. BEGALA: Yeah, this is something I've never done before and James has never done before, but I thought it was so powerful. I called him up at 11:30 on election night, as returns were coming in, and I was sure John Kerry was going to win.
And I was just dead wrong. So I called him and I said, "Sir, what did I miss here? What did I get wrong?" And right away before the exit polling had been digested or anything he said, "you can't ignore those social, cultural values voters. You don't have to switch on their issues, but you have to talk to them."
He said, "You can't go around and just ignore them. People are concerned about the moral direction of the country. We should be able to address that with equal credibility with the Republicans, but when you simply ignore it," he said, "you're going to lose." And he used as a contrast on that night your first guest this morning.
He said, "Look at Barack Obama. He traveled around the state with his preacher and talked about a very progressive agenda but did it in terms of his faith and his family in a way that resonated with middle class voters in downstate Illinois who probably don't have a lot of friends named Barack."
Who knows if this is a real conversation, or just something Begala invented? Either way, it's clear that Bill Clinton and Barak Obama "get it." Our challenge is using their techniques -- but applying them toward the causes you and I believe in.
Here's an example taken from this past week's Meet the Press. This transcript comes from Tim Russert's interview of Carville, Begala, and Matalin:
MR. RUSSERT: You have in the book comments, reflections, observations by former President Bill Clinton on election night of 2004 that I had never seen anywhere else. Tell us what he said.
MR. BEGALA: Yeah, this is something I've never done before and James has never done before, but I thought it was so powerful. I called him up at 11:30 on election night, as returns were coming in, and I was sure John Kerry was going to win.
And I was just dead wrong. So I called him and I said, "Sir, what did I miss here? What did I get wrong?" And right away before the exit polling had been digested or anything he said, "you can't ignore those social, cultural values voters. You don't have to switch on their issues, but you have to talk to them."
He said, "You can't go around and just ignore them. People are concerned about the moral direction of the country. We should be able to address that with equal credibility with the Republicans, but when you simply ignore it," he said, "you're going to lose." And he used as a contrast on that night your first guest this morning.
He said, "Look at Barack Obama. He traveled around the state with his preacher and talked about a very progressive agenda but did it in terms of his faith and his family in a way that resonated with middle class voters in downstate Illinois who probably don't have a lot of friends named Barack."
Who knows if this is a real conversation, or just something Begala invented? Either way, it's clear that Bill Clinton and Barak Obama "get it." Our challenge is using their techniques -- but applying them toward the causes you and I believe in.
posted by Matt Lewis at 9:18 AM
Subscribe
<< Home