Small vs. Big

The biggest turn any challenger to a President must make is the one from their nomination fight to a general election contest.

In the past this was done in a war room or a back room. Advisors and experienced pols would debate the question, wondering what was the proper time to shift course. And then, subtly at first, that course would be shifted, usually in April or May.

It was at that point, of course, that their ship would become becalmed. This was most notable in the 1996 Dole campaign. Clinton took advantage, striking hard with negative ads while Dole waited for matching funds to arrive.
It's that memory that is behind Dean's decision, affirmed by us, to forego matching funds.

But the becalming remains a threat. And I fear it may have already started.

Sign-ups have slowed. The thread of comments here at DeanNation has slowed. Folks are sitting back a little, afraid of assuming the nomination, but no longer motivated to fight hard for something that seems to be in our grasp.

It is now that the campaign will be won or lost.

We can win it, starting now, by building a meme, a general election theme, that will appeal to Republicans, Democrats and independents, one that is positive and appeals strongly to the better angels of our nature.

Douglass Carmichael may have started that process with a workshop he led last week. The workshop asked, where is the emotional attachment we feel to the political left or the right.

And it came to the interesting conclusion that, in both cases, it's usually a bias against bigness. The left fears big business, the right big government. Both project their fears on the other, and bigness wins.

This makes Dean's unifying theme, based as it is on 18th Century concepts like the Boston Tea Party and Declaration of Independence, so important. The are not about business or government, they are about bigness.

It's this message, of anti-bigness, that explains Dean's appeal to Republicans. Republicans are crossing over, admittedly in a trickle, and they're crossing over to Dean because they see in him an ally against bigness in our lives.

This is what we need to pick up on, here at DeanNation. This is how we turn the boat around, from the nomination fight to the general election. We turn it around with a big theme, something that transcends the short-term problems of the economy or Iraq, something that creates, frankly, a new Democratic philosophy, and a new majority.

And, as usual, the Doctor is way ahead of us. I find it very easy to follow a candidate like that.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Gay Saudi Arabia

Five Things Dean Supporters Can Do Right Now to Fight Terrorism