Mark Winston Griffith

How to energize a political base: Ignore Issues

First Senator McCain tapped Governor Palin to be his running mate and Republicans accused the "liberal media" of conducting a sexist hit job on the new Vice Presidential candidate.

And then George Pataki, Rudy Guiliani and Palin separately taunted and ridiculed Obama for his claiming community organizing among his job experience.

Both, to varying degrees of course, had the effect of pissing people off and galvanizing the party faithful. Once again, an election is coming to down to them, against us, depending which side you're on.

While it's hard to know how many of the coveted and mythical, undecided "independent" voters were inspired to swing one way or the other with this message, Repbublicans found a bogeyman (the so-called sexist, liberal media) at a time when Barack wasn't quite proving scary enough. McCain, Palin rallies, once snooze-fests, are now filled with a powerful cocktail of star-struckness, renewed hope, and outrage at the liberal elite who would dare cross their beloved hockey mom.

On the other hand, members of the Democratic leaning social activist crowd, who were deflated and unnerved by the swagger and popularity of Palin, the self-described pitbull with the Revlon smile, found a new rally cry in the revenge of the community organizers. Hundreds of Facebook groups, websites and organized responses (that is, after all what organizers do) have brought people across issues divides to defend and celebrate grassroots social change work, I (non-partisan as I am) among them.

Even John McCain, unable to defend what was a disparaging of the very public service he is campaigning on, has since tried to put out the fire that his party started by going on record to say that Barack Obama's community organizing experience is something to be proud of.

Now that the battle lines have been drawn, let the debate around issues begin.

Mark Winston Griffith: Author Bio | Other Posts
Posted at 8:39 AM, Sep 10, 2008 in Politics
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