Last week, at the end of the Dem Convention, I made the comment that it would be interesting to see how the Republicans positioned their party in the week that followed. Turns out to have been an interesting week as predicted.The Obama campaign has been very successful at sinking home the message of Change. Time for something new, something different in Washington. I have a friend who said his father, an old man nearly eighty, was for the first time in his life thinking of pulling a lever for a Democrat. He said to his son, "Who does not want change?" The son had no answer.
Well, this week the McCain people addressed this very hunger for change by spinning the campaign theme this way: We are the candidates of change. We, McCain and Palin, are not about going to put up with the status quo politics that has become standard fare in Washington.
I watched from the PR spin angle sidelines and see it as a brilliant position to stake out. Even though John McCain has been a Washington insider for more than a little while, he has a reputation as a maverick. (It was amusing to see a delegate on the floor of the convention in St. Paul holding a sign that read, "Mavrick"... )
The night before, the convention speakers set the table with Palin's achievements. For sure, you could not get further from the beltway with this governor from Alaska. Her reputation was staked out as being one who fights corruption, who is not afraid to take on special interests. She was not afraid of a fight. Of herself she said the only difference between a pit bull and a hockey mom is the lipstick.
And, of course, John McCain, it was repeatedly noted, is himself a fighter... This is where the orchestration comes in. The theme all week of McCain the fighter and maverick all connects to our grass roots "people against the machine" desires. But it was also a setup up for his bearing of the soul to reveal his motivations. Like Obama the week before, McCain told the story of how he came to care so much for his country. He shared how he had been a proud young man, but met his match under torture. What kept him going was having to live for something bigger than himself.
McCain and Palin are now claiming to be carrying the real banner for change, painting Obama and Biden as "more of the same."
GOP originally stood for Gallant Old Party. Somehow over the years Grand Old Party must have sounded better to someone.
Fortunately, there are less than two months now to the election. Hopefully there will be no hanging chads or other disputes when the votes are tallied. But comments on the future of voting (i.e. eVoting) will be saved for another day.
Y'all come back now, ya hear?
