Think political conventions don’t matter? Think again!
By Robert Weiner and Jaime Ravenet
Special to the Observer
Posted: Sunday, Jul. 15, 2012
With an incumbent guaranteed renomination, will the Charlotte convention this summer
matter?
Despite what many think, national
political conventions craft a message and can have significant impact on
elections and policy. Who can forget John McCain’s introduction of Sarah Palin
in St. Paul on Sept. 3, 2008? It was, at first, in that bright moment, the game
changer that Republicans were hoping for. Just a few weeks later, with
non-answers to Katie Couric about books and court cases, that initial decision
became a serious negative and Palin never recovered. The un-vetted way McCain
made his VP decision, required to be timed for the convention, cost him and his
party dearly.
Perhaps the most negative impact
from a convention was on July 14, 1972, when nominee George McGovern gave his
acceptance speech at 2 in the morning. Nobody at home was up to hear the speech
on TV, and the Democratic Party was left with no unifying message. They never
recovered. Loss of the usual “bounce” was one reason McGovern lost every state
but Massachusetts.
Another convention event that had
major impact was Bill Clinton’s July 1988 speech nominating Michael Dukakis. He
spoke for 34 minutes that seemed like an hour. Bored, everybody broke into a
din of talk over him. Delegates applauded the end of the speech – not its
content. Tom Brokaw saw Clinton the next day and both shared verbal frowns;
they both knew it was that bad. Many eventually grew to love President Clinton
and his brilliance, but it took years for the future president to reestablish
his reputation as a public speaker. Now he has no peer, proof one can learn.
The party convention platform offers
opportunities for controversy and news stories. Republicans have a history of
inserting opposition to women’s choice and cost themselves five points in the
polls. When 99 percent of women use some form of contraception, opposition to
it is hardly a winning issue regardless of party. Conversely, Democrats have
routinely inserted gay rights issues into their platform. Until now, it has not
mattered much, evidenced by the fact that 31 out of 31 states that have put the
question of equal protection of sexual orientation to a popular vote have
outright rejected the notion. Now, with President Barack Obama’s leadership
position on the issue, polls are shifting. For the first time, a majority
support gay marriage.
Everett Dirksen’s speech nominating
Barry Goldwater (July 16, 1964) at the Republican convention in San Francisco
reinvigorated the American conservative movement. Dirksen’s unique rhetorical
masterpiece recast his party’s direction and launched their candidate’s
nomination by calling for “Courage, conscience, competence, contribution.”
Obama’s acceptance speech in 2008
was played around the world, and his keynote address in 2004 was where he first
established himself as a post-racial candidate who bridged demographic gaps and
displayed masterful rhetorical style. In 2004, Obama lifted the delegates and
Americans everywhere to their highest aspirations. The statement, “There’s not
a black America and a white America and Latino America and Asian America; there
is the United States of America,” electrified the delegates and became the
making of a president. He needs to do it again in Charlotte.
Convention location counts. The
Democrats’ convention in the swing state of Colorado in 2008 made a difference
in that state’s going for Obama. It’s certainly possible that holding the
convention in Charlotte in 2012 will make a similar difference. The speeches
and publicity for the Democrats’ point of view will get greater airing in the
state during the convention.
Sometimes parties don’t learn how
important a convention can be, and they suffer. The Republicans could be
setting themselves up for another 1964 Goldwater-like “Extremism … is no vice
... Moderation is no virtue!” moment in the current election year. This tactic
helped lose the general election for Republicans in 1964, but is eerily similar
to today’s tone, epitomized by Sen. Richard Mourdock’s,
R-Ind., radical redefinition of bipartisanship: “Bipartisanship ought to
consist of Democrats coming to the Republican point of view.”
While conventions are by definition
partisan, they also are patriotic events. Both parties want to improve the
country. Before Charlotte and Tampa begin their rituals, one hopes the message
of both is that governing is a public service, not a party loyalty test, and
that compromise is not a dirty word. Whoever provides those messages at their
convention and inspires, while all the world is watching, just might win the
election.
Robert
Weiner is a Democratic strategist and was a spokesman in the Clinton White
House. Jaime Ravenet is a senior policy analyst at
Robert Weiner Associates
Read more here:
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/07/15/3381503/think-political-conventions-dont.html#storylink=cpy
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