Sarah Palin: Fantasy Politics
Politics, Republicans — By Dustin R. Steeve on July 20, 2009 at 6:31 pmThe idea of fantasy sports captures my imagination. Play the coach: build your team, manage your players, track their progress, and lay down the challenge to your friends and coworkers to do better. Were there a “fantasy politics” for politicos like me, I’d join. However, since such a thing does not exist, permit me to share with you my fantasy politics for team Palin.
At the end of this week, Sarah Palin will step down as governor of Alaska. When she leaves the office, she has the following working in her favor: 1) Sarah Palin draws a crowd. For a politician, fewer things are as important as a big microphone and Palin’s got it. 2) She has media attention. As the adage goes, all press is good press, and as such smears by magazines like US Weekly and news outlets like CBS can work to her advantage. 3) She communicates well. Agree with the message or not, Palin gets her point across and people get her vibe. Her ability to communicate will be critical to her project of winning heads, hearts, and hands to her cause.
My fantasy strategy for team Palin? Put the attention and ability to communicate to work behind the political façade. Here’s my strategy: Palin won’t win the image management game. In the world of “politics as usual” image is everything and too many in the chattering class of image makers and shapers are against her. So, Palin will go behind the façade of television sets, tabloids, and mags and do something real. She’ll take her message directly to the place where the spirit of America lives, America’s source of sovereignty: you, me, and our neighbors.
Here’s how my fantasy team Palin plays the field. First, they reflect and think. In this time of reflection they hone a message that clearly communicates conservative first principles while integrating supporting evidence. The message needs to communicate an idea big enough to run a country, but the message itself must be small enough for you and me to swallow and digest. Step two, team Palin points its microphone at like-minded allies (from both parties) in order to build a coalition of friends. Thinking ahead, these friends will provide valuable cover from the smears that will be launched by media cynics and political foes. Step three, Palin does hard work, speaking at townhalls across the country in order to cultivate her ideas in American’s across the fruited plains in order to build a groundswell of support. Step three leads directly to step four: win the favor of the new media.
New media’s not like old media. For the old media, you had to conjure up a story that sells, know the right people, and convince them you had a circus act that would fill up the ratings tent. Audiences paid admission to watch the story unfold. New media, on the other hand, is about the people themselves. In new media, the people unfold the story on blogs, twitter, Facebook, etc. Get the people, you’ve got the story. Get the story and you’ve captured the narrative. By the time the old media tries to convince us Sarah Palin is other than who she is, it’ll be too late. This would prove fatal for image management politics as usual and invigorating for team Palin
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17 Comments
The words “fantasy” and “Sarah Palin” go very well together.
Pheew, wow Ex… isn’t this too public a forum for you to be coming clean about stuff like that? Sounds like you’re in need of some group therapy there my friend.
Dustin,
Good thoughts on this. As much as I wanted good things for McCain/Palin, I’ve got this weird feeling now that she’s too flippant to be a true star. In fact, I think that bowing out of the governorship kind of shows us that. Still, your post is definitely intriguing. In particular, I loved how you showed how she just needs to get a crowd, which, thanks to her unpredictable style, she can almost always assume she’ll have, and then the rest is up to the people.
Very interesting thoughts.
Dan
IN one week Sarah Palin garnered about 50,000 new followers on Twitter
Evangelical Outpost » Blog Archive » Sarah Palin: Fantasy Politics http://bit.ly/ySmhS
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
In about 2 weeks Sarah Palin gained over 120,000 on Facebook, in the same period she actually gained over 60,000 on Twitter. Team Sarah added 3,000 new members. The best pro-Palin website, http://www.conservatives4palin.com has grown from an average of 6,000 per day to 15,000 per day, with as many as 30,000 on big Palin news days. I’ve seen more pro-Palin blogs coming online, and blogs that had never even mentioned Palin before are now in her corner. Once Palin gets serious about raising money, she’ll out fundraise Romney and all the rest. The latest polls show that she is trailing 0bama by just 6 points. Considering the fact that she’s been subjected to the worst media blitz in history for the last 11 months, that number is amazing, especially since she has spent very little time in the lower 48. Her book, due out in the spring, will be wildly successful. I’m sure she’ll be doing a lot of townhalls over the next few years, plus rallies, and fundraising events for various charities as well.
Dustin,
Is the new media truly accessible and organized well enough to allow a politician to gather a following as effective as the old media? It seems that the old media is still more effective.
In terms of the new media, most people seem to access websites that are associated with the old media (MSNBC) — and they check their email (Hotmail). I’m uncertain if Hotmail or Google are places where conservative views are advertised.
If I’m wrong, correct me. What are possible solutions?
Oh, I almost forgot — that one can find a mate online — if the Sarah thing doesn’t work for ex-preacher. I’m joking ex-preacher:)
Respectfully
One more indication of online activity. On Free Republic there is seldom less than 10 pro-Palin threads per day. Free Republic is one of the biggest political websites on the net, ranking close to the Huffington Post.
Although the old media continues to exert a lot of influence, it is losing ground. Katie Couric’s ratings, for example, have dropped to the lowest of any anchor since they started keeping track of things like that over 30 years ago. We’ve also seen a dramatic drop in viewership in NBC, and ABC as well. On cable, FOX is king, with CNN and MSNBC battling it out for last place, while FOX’s ratings are increasing. I believe it has a lot to do with the gushing, fawning, and slobbering the networks, CNN and MSNBC over 0bama. People are far more skeptical. That can account for Palin’s numbers holding up well despite the attacks on her, and it’s very promising.
I appreciate the statistics; however, are those numbers truly representative of the population of voters who will get Palin elected?
For example, the idea that Palin is behind Obama by only 6 points. Why? Is it because people are scared about the economy and looking for a savior? It’s very possible that this number will quickly change if another politician identifies what makes these voters tick and appeals to their concerns.
Fame is also another factor. Our politicians are becoming celebrities. We know from the music industry how quickly these moments of glory can change.
Do more people watch FOX news because these individuals are older and retired and at home watching TV; while younger liberal folks are off attending other functions? Then when it comes time to vote do these individuals simply stay loyal to their party?
Perhaps, liberals are not watching CNN and MSNBC because they believe that Obama has the country under control. Why be concerned. Live life! Perhaps, the conservatives are looking for answers.
I would argue that many people are not purposeful in their decision to vote. Perhaps, the name most often seen on the internet, TV, and billboards may be an important decisive factor in an election?
All the liberal thinkers I know would vote for Obama over Palin. People may not like everything about Obama, but nobody would move to Palin.
A poor question backed up by statistics is not interpretable. Statistics alone is not really interpretable. Instead, we need to ask the right questions and truly understand the answers in order to make effective decisions.
A scientist needs to have a real sample of the population of interest — and data that can be interpreted. For example, the Barna Group (George Barna) does a good job of controlling variables in their surveys.
So, how can the new media really improve a candidate’s ability to win an election? What needs to be done?
Fantasy sports or fantasy politics? http://bit.ly/2XzCKw
#EO
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
Roger,
You asked two great questions that hit at the heart of the “new v. old” media battle. You asked, “Is the new media truly accessible and organized well enough to allow a politician to gather a following as effective as the old media?” and you also asked “So, how can the new media really improve a candidate’s ability to win an election? What needs to be done?”
The short answer is that “old media” titans like the major networks and news channels are more organized than new media currently is. They have reporters, editors, a format, and access to important people as well as multiple outlets for media distribution (including new media outlets). However, they are disadvantaged in that their resources are limited and need to be employed crafting stories that sell. This means that they cannot cover the day to day and will likely not build up advocacy campaigns or anti-smear sites.
Where new media has an advantage is that it prompts people to take action. For example, consider fundraising. Some estimates say that President Obama raised around half a billion dollars online while campaigning. John Mccain raised nowhere near that amount. As a result, the Obama campaign was able to outspend and out-campaign the McCain camp in most every battle ground state. I won’t say money was a decisive factor, but it certainly contributed a great deal to the success of the campaign.
Where new media will truly be decisive is among voters younger than 40. Google and YouTube are primary sources for “search” (think “research” but lacking depth). Twitter (with real-time search) is also rising to the top of the list. If a candidate’s viability depends on impressions and impressions can be quickly seen via search and new media creates tens of thousands of favorable impressions for Sarah Palin, then I doubt that the limited number of negative impressions created by old media titans will be able to wash over the thousands of positive impressions created by new media.
Why are conservatives so quick to rally around Palin, especially when her post-election behavior is proving increasingly erratic and nonsensical, especially given that she’s left the state of Alaska in something of a constitutional crisis with her sudden resignation?
She seems to be someone with an overabundance of natural charisma and a serious lack of the discipline necessary to turn it into competent leadership. For a party that needs to regain the upper hand, Palin’s dead weight. She’s the John Kerry of 2009.
As a liberal, that makes me nervous for the system. A vibrant democracy needs players at the tops of their games on both sides. Conservatives need to find someone much better than Palin to rally around — there must be plenty of wonderful talent waiting in the wings for her to step aside. Or is the GOP lacking up-and-comings, and that’s why they’re trying to stand behind an increasingly unstable Palin?
Evelyn, people are getting tired of the good-ole-boy political network that is represented by the Democrats and Republicans. I myself am skeptical of whether or not Palin actually represents paring down the bloat of government, although I am hopeful she does… but not as skeptical as I am of either of the major political parties business as usual crap representing paring down the bloat of government.
That make a lot of sense.
Palin vs Pelosi – both have 5 children. Both have been trashed in the media. Both families have been attacked. (Check out how Pelosi was treated when she first entered congressional politics in the late 1980’s) Pelosi never quit. Palin is chicken and a poor role model for our children.
I think you are superimposing your own fantasies of who Palin is over the reality. Kinda creepy actually. I keep seeing all you treating her as the Second Coming and I keep wondering just whats the attraction. It doesn’t seem very based in the actual woman.
Patrick,
It’s funny that you should bring up “second coming” language so close to the election of President Obama. Certainly I would not want to be guilty of the cult of personality, of believing someone to be a savior so much that I miss the obvious inadequacies of the candidate. Why, such a thing could lead to the election of yet another leader whose shallow ideals and inexperience lead to government run amok.
However, I do not believe that I am fantasizing, if you will, about Sarah Palin. It’s pretty indisputable that she has an ability to communicate well, the attention of almost half of America, and certainly the attention of the media. Now, perhaps you could call my speculation about steps she could take on the campaign trail “fantasizing,” but really I don’t see how you could argue that anything I say in my speculation was “creepy.” Also, I’m not sure to whom you are referring when you say “all you,” I can only hope that you are not referring to groupings based on my race or religion…