Reading between the lines
The ease with which smears and innuendo are spread through the Internet have intensified the power of what are now known as ‘Rovian tactics’. A column by Paul Krugman published in today’s New York Times makes a point that is well worth repeating and reflecting upon - how quickly the media and public jump to conclusions, and how easy it is for spin-meisters like Karl Rove to manipulate the opinions of those who either don’t bother to read or watch the news (and are content to have it relayed to them second-hand) or don’t pay close attention.
For example, Krugman writes: “Al Gore never claimed that he invented the Internet. Howard Dean didn’t scream. Hillary Clinton didn’t say she was staying in the race because Barack Obama might be assassinated. And Wesley Clark didn’t impugn John McCain’s military service.” In other words, the Obama campaign may have lost yet another valuable player and possible VP candidate - General Wesley Clark (Ret.), a man with impeccable military credentials - due to an impolitic remark that was blown out of all proportion.
However, as a comment in The New Yorker pointed out in 2007, there is another secret to Rove’s success that goes well beyond the Internet: “He was consistently better than the other side at reaching the groups that felt shut out of politics, usually through local organizing. There are plenty of these groups on the left as well as on the right, but Democrats have let the muscles needed to reach them grow slack. Organizing is hard, unglamorous work; the language it requires is combative, self-interested, and non-seigneurial.”
As a former community organiser in Chicago, Obama is well qualified to do this ‘hard, unglamorous work’ without resorting to Rovian tactics.