McCain and Obama: Who's Flipping? Who's Flopping?
There's a lot of sniping between the two campaigns right now with Obama on an overseas trip. There are some specific things I want to comment on, but that may have to wait. Today is the day I'll be working on my Ezine featuring an analysis of a fund raising letter by Karl Rove.
Here's a couple of points about flip flopping charges you may want to keep in mind as we go through this campaign.
In the movie version of Baja Oklahoma, Peter Coyote's character walks through the back door of the house after a night of carousing. The female lead (Lesley Ann Downs?) asks him where he's been. Coyote replies he got in after midnight, but he didn't want to awaken the house by coming in so late, so he had been sleeping in the hammock in the back yard. Downs says she took the Hammock down three months ago. Coyote replies, "That's my story and I'm stickin' to it."
In the mid 1980's, I attended the Armor Conference at Fort Knox, KY. One of the events was an after dinner talk by the then Army Vice Chief of Staff, General Maxwell "Max" Thurman. Thurman was known as extremely hard working and highly detailed oriented. During his remarks, Thurman commented on leaders changing thier minds. He said something like this. "People ask me, 'You already a decision on this and we were down the road on doing what you wanted done. Why have you changed your mind?' What I say to those people is this. If I had had all the data that I have now that I had when I made the first decision, then I would have stuck with that first decision. But now I have new data and I'm making a new decision."
All of which goes back to what I said before. As a candidate and an elected official, tell us the principles you're going to use to make your decisions. What are the goals you have? Then when you change your position on a policy or issue, you can be consistent by telling us how new data is causing your change in order to stay in keeping with your principles and continue to march on your goals.
Remember what Mark Twain said, "Always tell the truth. You only have to remember one story." Your principles and your goals are your truth.
Please don't just tell us, "That's my story and I'm sticking to it."
(You might want to forward this to all your friends for whom flip flopping is a big deal, as well as to candidates at all levels you consider flip floppers.)
Here's a couple of points about flip flopping charges you may want to keep in mind as we go through this campaign.
In the movie version of Baja Oklahoma, Peter Coyote's character walks through the back door of the house after a night of carousing. The female lead (Lesley Ann Downs?) asks him where he's been. Coyote replies he got in after midnight, but he didn't want to awaken the house by coming in so late, so he had been sleeping in the hammock in the back yard. Downs says she took the Hammock down three months ago. Coyote replies, "That's my story and I'm stickin' to it."
In the mid 1980's, I attended the Armor Conference at Fort Knox, KY. One of the events was an after dinner talk by the then Army Vice Chief of Staff, General Maxwell "Max" Thurman. Thurman was known as extremely hard working and highly detailed oriented. During his remarks, Thurman commented on leaders changing thier minds. He said something like this. "People ask me, 'You already a decision on this and we were down the road on doing what you wanted done. Why have you changed your mind?' What I say to those people is this. If I had had all the data that I have now that I had when I made the first decision, then I would have stuck with that first decision. But now I have new data and I'm making a new decision."
All of which goes back to what I said before. As a candidate and an elected official, tell us the principles you're going to use to make your decisions. What are the goals you have? Then when you change your position on a policy or issue, you can be consistent by telling us how new data is causing your change in order to stay in keeping with your principles and continue to march on your goals.
Remember what Mark Twain said, "Always tell the truth. You only have to remember one story." Your principles and your goals are your truth.
Please don't just tell us, "That's my story and I'm sticking to it."
(You might want to forward this to all your friends for whom flip flopping is a big deal, as well as to candidates at all levels you consider flip floppers.)
On Principles and Goals
Larry, I would enjoy seeing your opinion of the principles and goals of the current presidential candidates.
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Jim,
Thanks for the suggestion.
Stay tuned to my analysis of the fund raising documents.
What I already know is that they are not really campaigning based on Principles and Outcomes. They are campaigning based on issues and personalities.
I remember (although I can't exactly remember who did the teaching) learning from a pro football analyst why people who only watch the game on television don't really appreciate the game. The analyst said the TV camera follows the ball, and so people learn to watch the game by watching the ball, rather than watching the overall patterns developing on the field. That's why some say the best place to watch kicking plays is from the end zone seats. That way you can see the patterns and the holes develop (or not).
Similarly, I think voters have learned to vote by focusing on issues and personalities because that is what the media and the politicians are offering them. That means we as voters are playing the game the way the pols and the media want us to play it.
But, as anyone who studies team sports will tell you, if you want to win, then you have to make the other team play your game your way. That's why we need to learn to make the pols and the media play the game our way by focusing on principles and outcomes.
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I will be looking forward to your analysis.
In the meantime, I am trying to get an idea of how principles and outcomes look in real life. For instance, in your latest ezine, you quote “Republicans must recommit to our Party’s core principles of lower taxes, limited government, a strong national defense and individual freedom.”
Do you consider this quote to be principles and outcomes, or is a statment of issues? Or something else?
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Larry,
I agree with your assertion here, but I wish you'd addressed the prevailing premise at the heart of modern campaigns, which is the sense that getting elected is all that matters, and that trying to run on stated principles simply doesn't "sell."
Furthermore, the charge of "flip-flopping" is more than just a score-keeping tactic, it does have a basis in the old style "promise them anything" that used to work before instant communications caused the world of political speech making to shrink out of the control of the politicos.
Finally, if we are to keep hearing this kind of score-keeping, is it not, as you only lightly touched on, something deeply antithetical to the public's need for a real debate on the understanding of issues by candidates? Does it not shut down this kind of evolving discourse?
While I will never vote for a candidate who changes his votes depending on which way the prevailing winds are blowing (Claude Rains's character in 'Casablanca'), I will support a candidate who carefully teaches us / explains to us how new information informs a new understanding of the situation.
Finally, a key question is how to we get partisan voters to become more skeptical of their own party's political talking points?
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Jerry,
Wow! Some really great comments here.
I've got a lot on my plate this morning, so I may have to do some multi-part replies here.
I think 40-50% of the voters yearn for candidates who "run on stated principles." The difficulty is with the political system as it is. It is not necessary to run on stated principles. As Senator Jack Danforth said at the Bipartisan Forum in Oklahoma this past January, political parties used to offer policies and candidates who appealed to the 40-50%. Now they appeal primarily to their true beleivers and the rest of the voters can take it or leave it.
This is why I so strongly advocate Instant Run-off voting. That is the means the 40-50% can use to break the back of the duopoly we have with Democrats and Republicans and the methodologies each is forced to/prefers to use.
Your thoughts?
More later.
Larry
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Jerry,
One other thought on your comment. You ask how we get partisan voters to be more skeptical of their own Party's talking points. First is to confront them with the reality of what their parties do. I'm trying to do my part by showing the difference between the rhetoric and the reality. You can help me by getting more people to read my book, this Blog and subscribe to my weekly Ezine. That Ezine will begin this week to begin pointing out the contrasts between rhetoric and reality as shown in their fund raising documents.
Second (once you know the difference and can judge accordingly) is to communicate with those parties and let them know you're on to their con. Get other people to do the same. Know the outcomes you want and demand those outcomes.
Third is to vote against the parties that are the most guilty of deceiving you. Nothing causes introspection in a political party like losing.
Fourth (as I said earlier), support Instant Runoff Voting so we can break up the duopoly.
Those are some of my thoughts.
Yours?
Larry
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