You Had Us At Hello-Unsolicited Advice For Senator Obama

Barack Obama is a different kind of cat. That’s what has attracted him to countless potential voters and what ultimately will get him elected as our nation’s 44th president. Much has been said and written about the historic nature of this campaign, especially during the Democratic primaries, as Obama was vying to become the nation’s first black president, while Hilary Clinton was attempting to become our country’s first female president. On the other side of the coin, a bunch of Republicans were competing to become our nation’s 44th white male president. John McCain won that battle, and will be taking on Barack Obama in the general election, which of course you would have to be living in an Al-Qaeda cave in Tora Bora not to be aware of, and I’m guessing even those cave dwelling terrorists know what’s going on. I hear that Larry King Live is a big hit among the cave clan, they like him much better than Sean Hannity, who gets on everyone’s nerves around the globe, even in the caves of Tora Bora.

But let’s not get sidetracked here, this election isn’t about electing a black man, although that is historic and has positive implications for our national reputation. While it certainly doesn’t solve our racial issues in one fell swoop, it doesn’t hurt either. The real issue is that we have the chance to elect someone who is not a typical politician, which is to say someone who still has a soul and can go home at the end of the day and kiss his wife without leaving residue from the arse that is left on his lips from the days business. Now let’s get one thing straight, Obama is a politician, and while many naysayers are all too quick to point out that he isn’t as special as those of us who believe his rhetoric think he is, he is not a typical politician. Which gets to point number one on my advice to Obama list: Stop trying to impress the critics because they can’t be won over, their job depends on them being critics and naysayers.

The likes of David Brooks of the New York Times, who has been one of your major critics, or much of the mainstream cable news crowd love to point fingers and shout “I told you so!” every time you do something even remotely political, like expressing a nuanced opinion or doing something like raising money for your campaign so you can actually win an election. They are shocked, shocked to hear that politics is going on at this political establishment! News flash here, politics is still politics, you still have to play the game, but it’s how you play it that counts. So quit trying to please the critics who will always bash you, and get back to what allowed you to stand out in the first place.

Be a different type of politician, one who shoots from the hip and tells it like it is. If you want to talk about bitter white people clinging to guns and religion, then talk about it. If you want to talk about black people who need to step up to the plate and take responsibility for their own lives, talk about it. You're probably not going to get the bitter white guy vote anymore than you are going to lose the black vote, but the honesty and sincerity will endear you to many that have yet to be won over. Personally, I like the idea of faith-based initiatives even though I am not an overtly religious person. I also believe in the rights of gun owners, even though I don't own one myself. And while I remain on the fence on the death penalty, if anyone should get it, those who harm children would be first on my list. But the point here is not that we need to agree with you on all issues, I've always felt that anyone who agrees with someone else on every issue is either brainwashed or hen pecked, or both. Most voters are sophisticated enough to accept that they won't see eye to eye with their candidate on every single issue, they want someone whose judgement they can trust and whose core values are basically in alignment with their own. They also respect someone who will tell people what they need to hear, not just what they want to hear.

While you’re at it, we don't care whether or not you wear a flag pin, what church you attend, or that your mom is white. Those of us who bought into your whole concept don’t care what race you are, and we don’t care much for symbolic patriotism either. Anyone who would go to the lengths and sacrifice necessary to run for public office has enough patriotism in their bloodstream for our tastes, and that includes members of both parties by the way. It is silly and immature to think that one party or the other has the market cornered on patriotism or that one loves their country more than the other. We also don’t care if the pastor who runs your church is a wing nut, which he is, but we are intelligent enough to realize that you are a Christian and that your spiritual beliefs are your own and separate from the political beliefs of every Tom, Dick, and Jeremiah that you might associate with.

As for trying to win over women, I will get to that later, but for now, don’t pander to Clinton supporters. If they want to be a bunch of bitter white women clinging to male bashing and whining about how sexism kept their woman down and that somehow that is your fault, let ‘em go. Sexism is all too prevalent in our society without a doubt, but it doesn't help the cause to play the gender card at this point, especially when the alternative is to put another Republican in office, one who will without question be less of a feminist than you will be. They can either grow up and get over it or not, my gut tells me that when they compare their legitimate options they’ll end up punching your dance card in November after all. Stay focused on the big prize, and do it the way you set out to, which is what attracted us to you in the first place.

Who is us? The younger and middle-aged generation, first-time voters and many veteran voters who are this close to saying to heck with the whole thing because we see such hypocrisy and are tired of the rich getting richer and pointless wars and the new boss being the same as the old boss, but who got excited when you came along and promised us something different. We believe, and if you let us down we will be disappointed and disillusioned, but we are willing to take the chance that you are the real deal, and so we need you to continue to be just that.

My second piece of unsolicited advice for you, the man who would lead the free world, is to keep focusing on your personal story because it is a good one. The way I see it, you are an anti-elitist, a regular guy who grew up in the middle class, who got into an Ivy League school on your own merits, and who worked your back side off on the streets of Chicago and the state legislature to rise to where you are today. Do the town hall meetings, do the interviews with your wife and kids, and show yourself in your political ads, because this is the kind of stuff that people eat up, myself included.

Look, the biggest problem, of many, with our political system is that both parties are made up of rich guys who are only going to look out for their own interests. There are no teachers and small business owners and rank and file office workers serving in the U.S. Congress, mostly it’s a bunch of wealthy and powerful elites. So human nature dictates that those people will look out for their own kind. You seem to be one of us, or at least you were not all that long ago, obviously serving in the U.S. Senate changes that, but that’s where your inexperience is a plus with many potential voters. We don’t want someone who has been jaded by years in Washington, who has forgotten where they came from, and who has forgotten what it’s like to be in the middle class. Remember in ’92 when George Bush didn’t even know what a grocery scanner was? Well I and many voters did, and it’s that type of elitism that people resent and mistrust. The pictures I saw last week of you at your daughter’s soccer match were exactly what we need to see more of. If you want the support of the middle and working class, this type of stuff will go a long ways, and from what I can tell it seems to be pretty genuine. The real elitist in this race is McCain, U.S. Naval Academy graduate, officer, and career politician. But forget McCain, this election isn’t about him, he’s just the Washington Generals to your Harlem Globetrotters, the foil to be defeated. Keep your eyes on the prize, and hold on against all the negativity and traditional right-wing attacks, don’t get distracted or lured into a game you probably can’t and certainly don’t want to win. Tell your story, and then like the shampoo bottle says, repeat if necessary.


My third and final piece of advice is borrowed from the winning Clinton strategy in ’92, it really is all about the economy. People care about Iraq, they care about foreign policy, they care about the environment, and government accountability, the budget deficit, all that stuff is good and well to deal with. Yet what keeps people interested and what motivates them are the basic pocketbook or kitchen sink issues that affect our lives more directly and more profoundly than all the other issues combined. Taxes, gas prices, food prices, utility rates, medical bills, job security, these are the things that affect us greatly and the issues that the middle and working class can unite behind. They affect us whether we are urban or rural, whether we live in red or blue or purple states, and whether we are Protestant, Catholic, or non church goers. I suppose there are voters who care more about issues like abortion, gun control, gay marriage and the like, but for most people who work for a living and pay their bills on time and try to make due as best they can with the scraps that are left over, we care about the economy, and how we perceive the government is working to help make our lives better. On the whole, we are not bitter, we certainly are not whiners, but we are anxious, and we seriously question whether our government gets it, and whether if they do get it they care enough to act. The candidate who does the best job of convincing us not only that he can feel our pain but that he has solutions to ease that pain is the one who will get our votes almost every time.

The federal budget is important, but it’s the family budget that hits home, and who is it that handles the family budget decisions in most cases? Now we’re back to really appealing to women, specifically moms who are responsible for making the leftovers from the paychecks stretch as far as possible to pay for food, gas, clothes, all of the kids activities, and maybe have enough left over to go see a good romantic comedy or go out for a decent meal at the end of the week. If you want to appeal to women, as you should, forget the pandering to the bitter Clinton supporters who can't let go of their hurt and anger, forget abortion and most other so-called women’s issues. Women are not some monolithic group that all think the same, anymore than blacks are or old people or any other demographic group that the so-called experts and pollsters love to break down for us on cable news and the Sunday morning round tables. But women do care about the family finances, more so than men who are generally more juvenile and unrealistic when it comes to money. Most guys have unrealistic expectations of their own earning potential and their idea of budgeting is to spend it as fast as you can make it and if you run out hope that one of your buddies can float you until the next payday. Women deal in the real world, and if you want their vote, my advice is to stay focused on the economic issues that matter.

A certain amount of political pandering, moving to the center, and sucking up to big corporate donors is allowed, because after all you do have an election to win before you can bring about any kind of change. But don’t lose sight of what it is that got you the nomination in the first place. Lately it seems as if you have become like a football coach trying to protect a two touchdown lead in the fourth quarter, shying away from the attack and going into the prevent defense. Like the saying goes, the only thing a prevent defense does is prevent you from winning. Stay on the attack so to speak, not against your opponent per se, but against politics as usual. Give us more of the personal story to show us and those who might not be on board yet that you are one of us at heart. Give us hope that someone is manning the economic ship, often times that is enough for consumer confidence and market forces to do the rest. It wasn't so much FDR’s New Deal policies that lifted the nation out of The Depression as it was the notion of someone in charge caring and understanding what ordinary people were going through, and pledging to try to tackle the problems they were facing.

Forget the critics and naysayers, you simply don’t need to please everyone. As President Bush is living proof of, you don’t need to win in a landslide in order to become president, you just need to win more electoral votes than the other guy. Dance with those of us that brought you, and stay true to form and you’ll pick up enough independents and cross-over Republican votes to get the job. You had us at hello, and while most guys don’t have enough sense to know when to shut the heck up and get out of their own way, we think you can seal the deal by using some good old-fashioned common sense and sound judgement. You are a different kind of cat, smarter than the average bear, and if you do it the right way, your way, you’ll be the one taking the oath of office come this January. Of course, then the real fun starts, but you've got to get there first, and I for one think that our nation deserves a president that we can admire, respect and be proud of. We haven't had one in my lifetime, which goes back to 1970, and it would sure be something to see and feel the way my parents and grandparents felt about Kennedy and Roosevelt. That's the hope and the dream, and the purpose of writing this open letter to the man who gives us hope for a better nation, one that moves into the future in a progressive manner, while utilizing the best of our great history.