Register to vote today, 6/23 in the Moveon
Primary
Monday Morning Quarterbacking
Governor Dean probably made progress yesterday on Meet
the Press.
But something has been bothering me all day and I finally realized what it
is.
Election coverage is about electability and polls but governing
is about what is good for the majority of the people. (OK, most conservatives
don't
buy that premise, but that's the sorry state that creeping suffrage has
got us to, guys. Deal with it.) So the challenge that someone like Howard
Dean faces is that the questions he's asked are about the things the media
cares about–ratings–rather than the things the people care about,
which is how the government might deliver reasonable services at a reasonable
cost
without curtailing our right to create our own prosperity and to enjoy our
lives (that pesky "pursuit
of happiness" concept
that people just won't let go of).
So, if I were to offer the good Governor any advice, I'd advise
him to use a little of Dubya's strategy: if you don't like a question, answer
another one. Naturally, We the People hope you have better answers.
Playing the Doctor Card
Governor Dean properly invokes the success that he has had
in steering Vermont on a healthy course, but I'd suggest that there are times
when he ought to play the Doctor card. A good reason to play the doctor card
is that each of us formed our sensibilities very early in life and, though
we'd like to think we're quite sage and objective, we each carry a lot of
infantile preconceptions around.
Doc Searls keeps reminding
us to read and listen to George
Lakoff for a good reason.
If the Democrats want to win in '04, George Lakoff points
the way...You really need to get the book-length version of the essay: Moral
Politics — What
Conservatives Know that Liberals Don't.
Lakoff is a conceptual linguist, a guy who looks at the
words that people use and the metaphors they invoke and sees why some
mental images are more compelling than others. Here's
the quote Doc wants us to remember, based on the strict
father model:
Life is seen as fundamentally difficult and the world as fundamentally
dangerous. Evil is conceptualized as a force in the world, and it is the
father's job to support his family and protect it from evils — both
external and internal. External evils include enemies, hardships, and temptations.
Internal evils come in the form of uncontrolled desires and are as threatening
as external ones. The father embodies the values needed to make one's way
in the world and to support a family: he is morally strong, self-disciplined,
frugal, temperate, and restrained. He sets an example by holding himself
to high standards. He insists on his moral authority, commands obedience,
and when he doesn't get it, metes out retribution as fairly and justly
as he knows how. It is his job to protect and support his family, and he
believes that safety comes out of strength.
Dad.
Our idealized Dad is our reference
when we elect a President. Sure,
we go off on a tangent sometimes when we choose a Kennedy or a Clinton, but
those
are
aberrations.
Mostly
we want
someone like Dad to guide us.
No authority in our lives trumps Dad as the
force to be reckoned with. But we each learned early on that there was
one
(and, often, only one) person whom Dad always deferred to, willingly,
in whose presence Dad seemed suddenly meek and submissive, as before
a true superior and a moral authority. That person was
the family
doctor. I'm sure that Howard Dean's handlers exhort him to only play
the Doctor card when talking about health care or abortion, but I wonder
if
George Lakoff might urge him to go for it–to employ linguistics
as skillfully as the conservatives. If he did, Maybe this is how
he might have
responded to Tim Russert on Meet the Press.
Even Tim Russert respects Doctors
(Russert's the
guy who caused all the trouble on election eve 2000 when he said it would
come down to "Florida,
Florida, Florida")
Russert: Why do some Democrats fear his nomination?
Where does he stand on the issues? We'll ask him... Doctor Howard
Dean. And tomorrow,
Doctor Howard Dean, the former governor of Vermont
plans to formally announce for President.
Yep. Cognitive Linguistics at work. There were a couple of
challenges that Dr. Dean answered well, but might have done better as a physician.
Tim Russert felt it was important for Dr. Dean to know how many people there
are in the military, Dean said he thought there are between 1 to 2 million
people at arms. I wonder how that vague answer would play in Peoria. Here's
a good place to play the Doctor Card. Imagine this exchange:
Russert: Don't you think, as a Presidential candidate,
that you should know how many people are in our armed forces?
Dean: One thing I know for sure is
that one soldier is being killed every day in Iraq, and that's more important
than knowing how many others we have left to sacrifice. But let's talk
about facts, Tim. I'm an Internist. If you came to me with
a cardiac arrhythmia,
do you think
I
should treat
you
myself or refer
you to a cardiac specialist? In medicine, the facts are so important
that we don't pretend that any one person can know them all.
I learned the names and function of the 206 bones in
the human body without much difficulty. Do you really think I'll have
trouble learning
the facts
that matter to the presidency?
Moreover, Tim, do you honestly believe that George Bush,
whether or not you like his radical Republicanism, has the mental equipment
to
master
the important facts and subtleties of government? Even if he knows how
many soldiers we have, he doesn't seem to know when to use them and why.
The Doctor is in, he doesn't like idiots, and he hates what they've done to
the country while we were concerned with other terrorists!
11:09:06 PM 
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