Semantics and the revolution
We split off into smaller groups, where a couple of ADs sat with four or five interviewees. Josh and Sarah were the ADs in my group, and they started the discussion off with some questions about the campaign so far.
“So we go out every day,” Josh said, “and we reach out to people to get them involved in the campaign. And there’s been a big back-and-forth, you know, behind the scenes, as to how we should approach people. Should we go to them asking, ‘Do you want to beat George Bush?’ or ‘Do you want to help elect John Kerry?’”
Someone in the group said, “I think that most people out there just want to se George Bush beaten – it’s like a matter of life and death. John Kerry is just who we’ve been given to do it.”
“Well, before I definitely would have said ‘beat George Bush,’” I said, “and I still think it’s probably got to be pretty effective most of the time. But especially with the recent convention, and as we get closer to the election, we’ll want to start to show more confidence, support of Kerry.” I’d said ‘we’ – that was fun.
“It really depends on who you’re talking to,” said a guy who had been talking familiarly with some of the staff before the interview. “If you’re out there in a youngish area, ‘beat Bush’ will do you fine—“ he laughed, looking to Josh and Sarah for recognition. “But if you’re canvassing older people, the Upper West Side—hah—you know sometimes they like to hear ‘help elect Kerry.’” He was already on staff, he already knew how to do this job; I felt an instant competitive edge. There was so much I didn’t know about actually working ‘in politics.’ All I knew was what I’d read, in the news and about the news.
“Well we’re testing it out right now,” said Josh. “Campaigns changing fast, so we’ve got to stay on top of things…. So let me ask, who is your least favorite member of the administration. Everyone laughed a little; it was like asking for your least favorite form of cancer.
“That one’s easy,” said Sarah. She seemed to be the only black staffer in the office. “Condi!” We laughed louder. “That girl – uh uh! Oh man does she make me mad.”
“Rumsfeld,” said the staffer. “Dr. Death, as I call him.”
“I’d say Rumsfeld, too,” I butted in. “But I don’t know – something about the guy you gotta respect. You know, he’s got his business and he’s attending to it and, you know, nobody’s gonna fuck with him.” They laughed. OK, ‘fuck’ was ok.
“I’d say…Powell is my least favorite.” This was true – Powell, of all of them, provokes the strongest reaction in me. “Just cause you know he knows better. And I keep hoping that he’ll come around and do the right thing, but...” As the group nodded and other interviewees named their least favorites, I caught my own the unintended cinematic reference – do the right thing! (Did anybody notice? No, it didn’t seem like it. Not that it really mattered…the reference was kind of accurate anyway.)
* * *
“I worked for Howard Dean,” one of the interviewees said, “and that was really something. There was a lot of energy and excitement, although things were kind of being made up as they went along. But I think Kerry will be…ok –“
“He did fine by me in the Democratic Convention,” I offered. Blake and I had watched it together; it made pretty decent television, for a Democratic convention. He seemed strong, clear in his speech, at least compared to how I remembered him from the Democratic event in Miami last summer.
“The thing about Dean,” Josh said, “is that no matter what you think about him or his chances or Kerry and his chances, Dean changed the whole game. Dean made people, you know, look up, realize that there was an election coming and a lot of us couldn’t possibly feel more strongly about it, and that all that energy is powerful. This thing is not a done deal; in fact, we’ve got the numbers on our side even if they have big business. And if John Kerry has what it takes to be an acceptable candidate – well, fine, but the people who want Bush out are the ones who are going to make it happen. And we’re seeing that already – people are giving money and getting active in a way that nobody’s ever seen before.”
“The $100 revolution,” said the staffer. He was referring to a phrase coined by Joe Trippi, Dean’s campaign manager, about the power of the grassroots movement he foresaw. Millions of people, contacted and engaged by other citizens like themselves, giving just $100 each, could change the way elections are financed. It would change the way elections are won. So Dean wouldn’t be there when it came time for the movement to crest; that didn’t mean it wasn’t still moving. I wasn’t sure whether that made Dean a close call or a fallen savior. An unexpected rise and an even more unexpected fall…it meant something…
“Exactly,” said Josh about the $100 revolution. “Mike had four hundred dollar revolutions out there just yesterday, didn’t you Mike?”
Mike – the staffer – laughed. “Yeah, I was using ‘beat Bush’ all day though,” he said.
* * *
The discussion was lively, if a little hurried by the each interviewee’s urge to stay on top of the conversation.
Mike talked about plans for the upcoming Republican National Convention – he was involved with some groups who were organizing some of the protests. “It’s just incredible the kinds of things that are planned.”
“I think it’s a trap,” I interjected. “They picked New York because they knew people would swarm. Rove would just love to see chaos in Central Park, cops busting heads in front of Madison Square Garden.”
“They’re not going to even allow protests in Central Park, and they know people are going to go anyway.” said Sarah. “It’s totally ridiculous.”
“Well yeah, that’s the thing,” Mike said. “We’ve got to be really careful to make sure there are things around to do, find ways to make it a supported group experience. Activities and events and positive energy and all that.”
I was looking around the office – in the far corner was a table with a row of four or five phones. Two people were at the table, switching between one phone and the other, writing into big notebooks in front of them. There were big maps of Manhattan and Brooklyn on the walls –
When I tuned back in to the interview, I noticed that this discussion was different from other political conversation I’d had. We weren’t talking about the Bush administration as if it was a devastating plague, some unstoppable monolith — we were talking about politics as a game, and not just one where we were watching from home and each person had an opinion about what every call should be. Such stuff seemed like idle chit chat in this room; here you could feel it, these people were playing the game. And they talked about it aggressively, like a well-trained, wholly confident team. This was their home turf, and they were going to win it.
“So we go out every day,” Josh said, “and we reach out to people to get them involved in the campaign. And there’s been a big back-and-forth, you know, behind the scenes, as to how we should approach people. Should we go to them asking, ‘Do you want to beat George Bush?’ or ‘Do you want to help elect John Kerry?’”
Someone in the group said, “I think that most people out there just want to se George Bush beaten – it’s like a matter of life and death. John Kerry is just who we’ve been given to do it.”
“Well, before I definitely would have said ‘beat George Bush,’” I said, “and I still think it’s probably got to be pretty effective most of the time. But especially with the recent convention, and as we get closer to the election, we’ll want to start to show more confidence, support of Kerry.” I’d said ‘we’ – that was fun.
“It really depends on who you’re talking to,” said a guy who had been talking familiarly with some of the staff before the interview. “If you’re out there in a youngish area, ‘beat Bush’ will do you fine—“ he laughed, looking to Josh and Sarah for recognition. “But if you’re canvassing older people, the Upper West Side—hah—you know sometimes they like to hear ‘help elect Kerry.’” He was already on staff, he already knew how to do this job; I felt an instant competitive edge. There was so much I didn’t know about actually working ‘in politics.’ All I knew was what I’d read, in the news and about the news.
“Well we’re testing it out right now,” said Josh. “Campaigns changing fast, so we’ve got to stay on top of things…. So let me ask, who is your least favorite member of the administration. Everyone laughed a little; it was like asking for your least favorite form of cancer.
“That one’s easy,” said Sarah. She seemed to be the only black staffer in the office. “Condi!” We laughed louder. “That girl – uh uh! Oh man does she make me mad.”
“Rumsfeld,” said the staffer. “Dr. Death, as I call him.”
“I’d say Rumsfeld, too,” I butted in. “But I don’t know – something about the guy you gotta respect. You know, he’s got his business and he’s attending to it and, you know, nobody’s gonna fuck with him.” They laughed. OK, ‘fuck’ was ok.
“I’d say…Powell is my least favorite.” This was true – Powell, of all of them, provokes the strongest reaction in me. “Just cause you know he knows better. And I keep hoping that he’ll come around and do the right thing, but...” As the group nodded and other interviewees named their least favorites, I caught my own the unintended cinematic reference – do the right thing! (Did anybody notice? No, it didn’t seem like it. Not that it really mattered…the reference was kind of accurate anyway.)
* * *
“I worked for Howard Dean,” one of the interviewees said, “and that was really something. There was a lot of energy and excitement, although things were kind of being made up as they went along. But I think Kerry will be…ok –“
“He did fine by me in the Democratic Convention,” I offered. Blake and I had watched it together; it made pretty decent television, for a Democratic convention. He seemed strong, clear in his speech, at least compared to how I remembered him from the Democratic event in Miami last summer.
“The thing about Dean,” Josh said, “is that no matter what you think about him or his chances or Kerry and his chances, Dean changed the whole game. Dean made people, you know, look up, realize that there was an election coming and a lot of us couldn’t possibly feel more strongly about it, and that all that energy is powerful. This thing is not a done deal; in fact, we’ve got the numbers on our side even if they have big business. And if John Kerry has what it takes to be an acceptable candidate – well, fine, but the people who want Bush out are the ones who are going to make it happen. And we’re seeing that already – people are giving money and getting active in a way that nobody’s ever seen before.”
“The $100 revolution,” said the staffer. He was referring to a phrase coined by Joe Trippi, Dean’s campaign manager, about the power of the grassroots movement he foresaw. Millions of people, contacted and engaged by other citizens like themselves, giving just $100 each, could change the way elections are financed. It would change the way elections are won. So Dean wouldn’t be there when it came time for the movement to crest; that didn’t mean it wasn’t still moving. I wasn’t sure whether that made Dean a close call or a fallen savior. An unexpected rise and an even more unexpected fall…it meant something…
“Exactly,” said Josh about the $100 revolution. “Mike had four hundred dollar revolutions out there just yesterday, didn’t you Mike?”
Mike – the staffer – laughed. “Yeah, I was using ‘beat Bush’ all day though,” he said.
* * *
The discussion was lively, if a little hurried by the each interviewee’s urge to stay on top of the conversation.
Mike talked about plans for the upcoming Republican National Convention – he was involved with some groups who were organizing some of the protests. “It’s just incredible the kinds of things that are planned.”
“I think it’s a trap,” I interjected. “They picked New York because they knew people would swarm. Rove would just love to see chaos in Central Park, cops busting heads in front of Madison Square Garden.”
“They’re not going to even allow protests in Central Park, and they know people are going to go anyway.” said Sarah. “It’s totally ridiculous.”
“Well yeah, that’s the thing,” Mike said. “We’ve got to be really careful to make sure there are things around to do, find ways to make it a supported group experience. Activities and events and positive energy and all that.”
I was looking around the office – in the far corner was a table with a row of four or five phones. Two people were at the table, switching between one phone and the other, writing into big notebooks in front of them. There were big maps of Manhattan and Brooklyn on the walls –
When I tuned back in to the interview, I noticed that this discussion was different from other political conversation I’d had. We weren’t talking about the Bush administration as if it was a devastating plague, some unstoppable monolith — we were talking about politics as a game, and not just one where we were watching from home and each person had an opinion about what every call should be. Such stuff seemed like idle chit chat in this room; here you could feel it, these people were playing the game. And they talked about it aggressively, like a well-trained, wholly confident team. This was their home turf, and they were going to win it.
posted by Greg Bloom at 4/25/2005 03:29:00 AM
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