It dawned on me this afternoon while driving what is it about the Clinton campaign versus the Obama campaign; the narratives, the talking points, the respective rhetoric, the messages and their management, the entire style and personality and BONK...it hit me with a rush.
(Too bad I wasn't back in the '70's when I did inhale and meant it but that is a past memory, I think?)
Anyway...let me make the case. It is often stated that sports teams take on the personality of their Head Coach or Manager. (when it comes to baseball, why---well everything is different in baseball, like no clocks...) This also is true in business or organizations. I know this from my professional expertise in executive search where companies and organizations must take great care to choose a personality that they believe their group needs to improve or carry on. Some famous anecdotal evidence is the Chicago Bears who chose Mike Ditka, a former player who was a special teams coach with the Dallas Cowboys to take over the listless football team in 1982. Mike was emotional, demanding, fiery, loyal, and old-tyme. In two years his team had made the playoffs and the following year they went 13-1 and won the Super Bowl. The team by all accounts took on the personality of Mike's persona. There are examples all over the place, both positive and negative in business and not-for-profit organizations where groups take on the personality of their leader. The reason----is that the leader doles out favor and approval that is based in part, by pleasing him or her, and being human that pleasing is style and personality.
Now back to the campaigns: Hillary Clinton's campaign has taken on the personality of a corporate attorney----coincidentally----what Hillary Clinton's actual profession is. The profession she was successful in her own right when they were in Arkansas. Remove all the noise and here is what is going on.
- Discrediting the witnesses and allies....well practices lawyer trick...see caucus/small states
- Delaying the outcome and decisions....see above
- Making all sorts of legal appeals to anecdotes, aberrations and only presenting one side of the case.
- Coming up with phantom infringement of rights....(see Florida & Michigan)
- Discrediting the others substance by discounting or ranking the importance...see caucus delegates....
- Court room antics...screaming the venue is not fair...crying in public
- Crying foul that the trial judge is biased.....(press was unfair)
- Offering a deal while still trying to discredit the opposition....offering Obama the VP while losing.
- Finally building a losing case simply to win on appeal....look to superdelegates to overturn the court's judgment.
Now tomorrow I will outline the Obama personality, why it is a movement and not a political campaign.
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