Memo to Obama
Seven things he should do to fix his image problem.
Howard Fineman
Newsweek Web Exclusive
Updated: Apr 24, 2008
Senator Obama, you stand accused of being an out-of-touch, arugula-eating Ivy League elitist who couldn't convert a one-pin spare if the presidency depended on it. I don't have a dog in this fight (despite what Hillary Clinton supporters sometimes think of me) but here are my suggestions for how to reach, and be seen reaching, the "the real America" as you continue to grind toward the Democratic nomination. Obviously, you've got to talk in more meat-and-potatoes terms about how your economic proposals will help working people. But that's only part of what you need to do:
TELL US IN CONCRETE TERMS WHERE YOU ARE FROM. Kids under 30 don't care about geography. Born and bred in the Mapquest and GPS era, they can't even read a map. They live in and on the Internet, which is everywhere and nowhere at the same time. They are from brands, not places; lifestyle choices, not home-town roots. But that is not true of older people. For them, "where you are from" still matters, and you have to do a better, simpler job of explaining it in terms they understand. And where is that? It's not Indonesia, and it's probably not Hawaii (hard to translate in any case). It's not the Ivy League. You are from where you chose to be from, which is the South Side of Chicago.
WELCOME US TO YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD. So far, voters don't know much about your local roots. You have told them about being a "community organizer," but, as worthy as that may have been, most people haven't the faintest idea what it means. Unfortunately for you, they also know about your former minister (and his nasty remarks, which will haunt you forever). And they sort of know about a retired Weatherman you drank chablis with. So fill out the rest of the portrait of Hyde Park and the South Side. I know it well enough to know that it is as "real" as anywhere else in this great country. So bring us home with you. I don't even know if you are a White Sox fan! You're always talking about the chatter in the "barber shops." Take us to the one you go to. We've all seen the movie, and it was a wonderfully endearing one.
(Continued here.)
Howard Fineman
Newsweek Web Exclusive
Updated: Apr 24, 2008
Senator Obama, you stand accused of being an out-of-touch, arugula-eating Ivy League elitist who couldn't convert a one-pin spare if the presidency depended on it. I don't have a dog in this fight (despite what Hillary Clinton supporters sometimes think of me) but here are my suggestions for how to reach, and be seen reaching, the "the real America" as you continue to grind toward the Democratic nomination. Obviously, you've got to talk in more meat-and-potatoes terms about how your economic proposals will help working people. But that's only part of what you need to do:
TELL US IN CONCRETE TERMS WHERE YOU ARE FROM. Kids under 30 don't care about geography. Born and bred in the Mapquest and GPS era, they can't even read a map. They live in and on the Internet, which is everywhere and nowhere at the same time. They are from brands, not places; lifestyle choices, not home-town roots. But that is not true of older people. For them, "where you are from" still matters, and you have to do a better, simpler job of explaining it in terms they understand. And where is that? It's not Indonesia, and it's probably not Hawaii (hard to translate in any case). It's not the Ivy League. You are from where you chose to be from, which is the South Side of Chicago.
WELCOME US TO YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD. So far, voters don't know much about your local roots. You have told them about being a "community organizer," but, as worthy as that may have been, most people haven't the faintest idea what it means. Unfortunately for you, they also know about your former minister (and his nasty remarks, which will haunt you forever). And they sort of know about a retired Weatherman you drank chablis with. So fill out the rest of the portrait of Hyde Park and the South Side. I know it well enough to know that it is as "real" as anywhere else in this great country. So bring us home with you. I don't even know if you are a White Sox fan! You're always talking about the chatter in the "barber shops." Take us to the one you go to. We've all seen the movie, and it was a wonderfully endearing one.
(Continued here.)
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