Lately, you’ve demonstrated an unsettling penchant for overly nuanced statements that meander into the cerebral. Earth to Barack: to Main Street America, nuance equals confusion. You don’t have to dumb it down, but you do have to sum it up.
And then this...
Put the intellectualism on hold and get smart. Concise, catchy and positive: that’s the meat you feed the masses.
McCain recently slipped up, joking that it takes $5 million to make someone rich. A few days later, he couldn’t remember how many houses he owns. Jackpot for you, right? Wrong. This is how you played it: “I guess if you think that being rich means that you got to make $5 million, and if you don’t know how many houses you have, then it’s not surprising that you might think the economy was fundamentally strong.”
Really? Is that the best you can do? Maybe it is.
And that would be the problem.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/23/opinion/23blow.html?ref=opinionI know, I know people are going to get upset that I am bringing this up tonight. But I can't help the The NYT decided to run with Charles M. Blow's column today. So, it is a valid point for all politicians, not just presidential candidates.
When I ran for Congress back in 1992, I had position papers and laid out detailed plans. I was shocked that no one wanted to listen to what I had to say. People were nice, but I could see the vacant look in their eyes. So, I took a five gallon bucket, painted it green and carried it to the campaign events. I would give my spiel and then hold up the bucket and tell everyone to put their unwanted campaign lit in the bucket and I would recycle it. That got on CSpan.
Years later I would still get people coming up to me and asking me if I was that green bucket guy.
So, the guy has a point.
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