Tue 9 Sep 2008
Politics and the Cult of Personality
Posted by Andrew Blanco under Current Events, Politics, Psychology
With both Democratic and Republican conventions long over, the latest news polls are showing McCain with a clear lead over Obama.
Say hello to the Sarah Palin Effect.
You may not have known about her two weeks ago, but Sarah Palin is currently the hottest thing since the Global Warming Debate. If you doubt the potential steamroller effect that Palin is already having on this election, then meditate on the fact that there has been a 20% increase in Republican’s who claim to be “more enthusiastic than usual to vote” since August.
What is it about this virtual unknown that is causing such an upsurge of passion in Republican voters?
In my opinion, what we are seeing is political strategy at its best. Having sulked in the shadow of Obama’s yearlong celebrity, the McCain camp finally decided to fight fire with fire at the last minute. They realized what they should have never forgotten: experience doesn’t win an election, personality does. But what does it mean to have a winning personality when almost none of your voters will have ever met you in person before they go to the polling stations? It means knowing your audience, and above all else, knowing what archetypes they fundamentally identify with.
For Obama it has always been about conveying Uniqueness. His ability to bring Change is supposed to be a natural consequence of his being Unique. You will vote for him if you believe that Washington is Stagnant and needs Change only someone Unique can bring.
For McCain it has always been about conveying Uniqueness. However, he spent much of this last year being painted as a Follower by his more popular opponent. Having had very little time in the limelight to counter this accusation, McCain entered the last leg of the presidential race with only one option to redeem his image: find a VP who proves he’s not a Follower.
The unconventional choice of Sarah Palin was by far the best way to convince Republicans that McCain truly is Unique in regards to his decision making. Also, by choosing someone who has been labeled a Maverick, McCain managed to resurrect his image as a man who is somehow fundamentally different than the party he represents. He now appears more as an Independent in Republican clothing. Whether this is the truth or not is irrelevant. After all, perception trumps truth, and personality is nothing but perception.
Can this strategy hold in the coming weeks? Can the McCain/Palin ticket truly ride on the waves of their perceived Maverickhood while avoiding the gravity of a failing economy, an energy crisis, and a global war that is almost a decade old?
Let Team Maverick speak for themselves…
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September 9th, 2008 at 4:15 pm
Well written Andrew. Well written indeed!
The Palin decision along with a successful RNC has no doubt given the Republican ticket a “bounce” as the political science people call it. What is really hurting the Democrats is the independent voters falling in love with Palin.
I wouldn’t count Obama and Biden out by any means though. This is going to be a tight down-to-the-wire race and probably the biggest election turn-out in US history.
September 9th, 2008 at 8:33 pm
Watching the Obama camp reaction to Sarah Palin has been amusing. After their initial press release, they were polite as punch for the better part of a week.
I’ve formed a mental anthropomorphic model of an agreeable older gentleman baiting her into slipping up: “Why hello! Come in, sit down. Enjoy yourself. Have a glass of water. Want some brandy? No, it’s OK. So tell me about yourself. What’s that? You were opposed to the Bridge to Nowhere all along? I guess that makes you a liar, as we have this evidence you were for it.”
I agree that this is going to be a barnburner.. after the Republican bounce plays through, it looks like this one could come down to the last day. I’ll be heavily enjoying these next 56 days.
Random aside: any and all use of the phrase “Cult of Personality” causes me to associate the target with one of my favorite rock songs, so I’ve been rocking out frequently while listening to Hannity on the way home from work for my daily dose of cognitive dissonance.
September 9th, 2008 at 8:43 pm
anthropomorphic, barnburner, a Living Colour refernce, and cognitive dissonance…
I’d say you have all of the ingredients of a great comment.
All it needed was a Man Alive! and it would have been pure bombastic blogosphere bloviation.
September 9th, 2008 at 8:54 pm
Politically, Palin’s nomination was genius. That is exactly why I am terrified.
September 9th, 2008 at 9:02 pm
Jake, that song is awesome, and catchy as hell.
Jay, you should be terrified. If McCain wins because of image rather than an objective plan to turn negative issues around, then truly America has a severe education problem.
September 9th, 2008 at 9:23 pm
Well Andrew, Barack Obama will get many votes because of his image as well. Appearances apply to both sides. This is just another reason why the choice of Palin was a political coup.
September 9th, 2008 at 9:39 pm
No doubt about Obama. On either side, the after-election polls of why people voted for either candidate should be interesting.
September 9th, 2008 at 9:46 pm
I find the thing most terrifying about her after listening to her at the RNC was the fact that she thinks the it is Gods work to fight the War on Terror. The fact that she thinks that is disturbing enough (crusades anyone?), but the fact that she thinks that it is acceptable to say that on the national stage, well I think thats just terrifying. She reminds me of that crazy woman that argues everything is either Good or Evil in the movie Donnie Darko. Meanwhile, everyone thinks she is so wholesome. I’ll admit at first I thought she was a good choice, but now I am definitely anti Palin. WMD’s were the reason why we got involved in Iraq, not God.
The problem with this election that I have observed from talking to family and friends is that both candidates are complete opposites where on one side you will get 4 more years of the same and on the other it will be radical change. Not to mention that people are being ostracized by peoples with differing opinions for thinking one way over the other.
September 9th, 2008 at 9:48 pm
Most people will vote based on the half-muddy image of each candidate in their minds. I can’t blame them. We live in a society where many people commute/work for 12 hours, allow 2 hours in aggregate for personal hygiene and self-sustaining activities such as eating, 7 hours for sleep and there is a total of 3 hours left in a day. That doesn’t leave much free time for a person.
It is understandable that a person would want to relax, be entertained, or spend time with their family/friends rather than research candidates’ political views and stances thoroughly. This is because finding non-biased, factual information regarding the candidates and the relevant information for selecting a President is not made available to citizens in a palatable medium. The people will vote based on the image they have of each candidate in their mind when they are in that booth.
September 9th, 2008 at 9:53 pm
There is a pretty decent following of Hillary supporters who are now saying, “I told you so.”
Maybe it is Obama with the education problem for choosing Biden over Hillary.
September 9th, 2008 at 10:25 pm
They can say that, but then McCain would’ve nominated a black Republican that fit the mold to cause media frenzy just as Palin did; you know…one of the 36 black delegates at the RNC. You guys are right, the Democrats self-destruct because they have no real plan and no real unity. Implosion, every time.
September 9th, 2008 at 10:50 pm
I’m wholly convinced that most American’s are on the fence (whether they admit it or not) about both candidates precisely because of what Jay said about not having enough factual information available on the one hand and on the other because they are bombarded with packaged propaganda.
To say the Democrats are imploding because of the Palin Effect wholly leaves out unknown factors that may effect this race in the coming weeks. Allah only knows what truths or untruths will come out and get plastered across the media. And whatever gets plastered across the media always effects the polls.
September 10th, 2008 at 7:11 am
hahaha awesome. So that is why there is government-controlled media in fundamentalist-Islamic countries!! It all makes sense now.
September 10th, 2008 at 10:29 am
Allah knows best.
September 10th, 2008 at 1:12 pm
I just want to say, Obama was not talking about Sarah Palin when he said, “You can put lipstick on a pig, but its still a pig.” He was clearly talking about McCain’s economical plan and plan for change.
However, of all ways to describe it, come on Obama! Did you have to mention lipstick at all after her famous pitbull comment?
Perception is reality in politics and sir, that was a poor choice of words!
September 10th, 2008 at 1:57 pm
Yeah that was a perfect example of how phrases taken out of context and smeared across the media can really mess with what people think of you. I saw on the news that that “pig statement” was shocking to a lot of women…
“The McCain campaign decried Obama’s language as the latest example of what it said was Democratic sexism thrown at the little-known politician vying to be America’s first female vice president.” (Canberra Times, 9/10/08)
September 10th, 2008 at 2:14 pm
Andrew, you do agree that even though he meant something non-sexist, sincere, and genuine, he should not have used those words, right?
You would think the combined intelligence of his campaign would recommend against saying something that has a great chance of being misinterpreted and could be damaging to his image.
September 10th, 2008 at 2:55 pm
That’s a really common phrase, and I’m pretty sure he’s used it on the campaign trail before.
But I agree, and am surprised, that his campaign didn’t have the forsight to see how that phrase could be associated with Palin, for the worse.
September 10th, 2008 at 3:00 pm
After all, the game changed two weeks ago when Palin was introduced. And the Democrats should have expected the Republican’s to use Palin’s womanhood in every way they possibly could to win this election. That the Republican’s are spinning that statement as sexist is to be expected. That women are actually buying into it is beyond my belief.
But I guess this boils down to what Jay said about people not having enough time to do their own research into the info they get spoonfed by the media. It’s just insane to think an election can be won by half-truths and non-issues.
September 10th, 2008 at 3:19 pm
What didn’t help was the way the crowd reacted to Obama when he made the statement. They clearly reacted with uproar in the sense of “Take that Palin” instead of “Hahah McCain’s plan is a pig” which would have been a mild chuckle across the arena.
September 10th, 2008 at 3:45 pm
The next thing you are going to hear about (still in breaking news at this point) is that a Democratic Chair in the South Carolina just said, “The only qualification Sarah Palin has is not having an abortion.”
Oh this is getting good!
September 10th, 2008 at 3:51 pm
Here is the first source.
September 10th, 2008 at 4:53 pm
I can’t believe that abortion statement was made. Forget what I said earlier, the Democrats are definitely imploding out of fear that they will lose the election for the third term in a row.
Hopefully Obama can distance himself from the Democrats in the same way that McCain has distanced himself from Republicans. The only way he’ll come out of this unscathed if he reclaim his Uniqueness. Otherwise rabid Democrats like that lady are going to ruin his chances.
September 10th, 2008 at 5:14 pm
I am speechless. Don’t know what to say about it…but definitely not this.
September 10th, 2008 at 7:21 pm
Who cares? The media is notoriously known for feeding Americans sensationalist controversial BS that has no actual bearings on a candidates stance or issues. What one woman says doesn’t not represent an entire group. And as for the lipstick on a pig comment, puhleeze McCain has been using that saying throughout his entire campaign. And nothing was ever said about it. As per Fox News, McCain and Palin aren’t as concerned and don’t care about what Obama said. It is each candidates sides that making what he said into an issue. This is truly becoming “barnyard politics”. And the fact that people are talking about it only tells me that people are either that dumb or they are that dramatic.
September 10th, 2008 at 7:29 pm
Its ok because the way this election is going I wouldn’t be surprised if women voted for McCain just because Palin is his running mate. Just as I wouldn’t be surprised if minorities voted for Obama on the lone fact that he is an Africa American.
Whatever happened to evaluating a candidate through the issues and not this other BS?
September 10th, 2008 at 10:28 pm
What do you mean who cares? Go back to the article I posted in comment 22 and read the reactions below the article. I’m sorry, but what Carol Fowler said offended more than just a few people.
Who cares about Obama’s pig comment? Well Obama cared enough to issue a statement of clarification. Reminds me of when Kerry had to do the same thing when he made the comment about the troops getting stuck in Iraq because they were not smart.
Who cares about Fowler’s abortion statement? Fowler sure as hell did. That’s why she issued an apology. She may be only one person, but she sure as hell represents the Democratic party (hence her position as a Democratic Chair). And btw, Rep. John Spratt (D-S.C.) slammed her for saying it, so he must care too.
September 10th, 2008 at 11:44 pm
I’m exhausted from talking about politics. Politics gets old real quick when it veers into gossip.
September 11th, 2008 at 2:28 pm
Notice the words “Biden” and “Mistake” appearing together throughout the news today?
September 11th, 2008 at 10:48 pm
I would like to take this moment to remember what happened on this day, 7 years ago. To all the people who suffered loss. To all the family members of people who died. To all the people this day has affected…
We shall never forget!
September 16th, 2008 at 3:07 pm
McCain’s choice of Palin was “Sheer, unadulterated brilliance!” As in Looney Tunes’ Wile E. Coyote. Why do I use this reference not to insult McCain nor to put him in reverence. This election is straight out of Hollywood, it has all the aspects of a cheap “B” movie and the characters were chosen not for their qualifications, but for their appeal, Obama, “the minority” Biden “the Senior to counteract, McCain the Senior and War Veteran, and Palin “the soccer mom and woman.” To counteract Obama’s minority influence. Like it or not we are divided country when it comes to politics’ and any “trick or chicanery” that can influence the small amount of independent voters will win the election, the problem is that is what both parties are doing, it the old sales man proverb, “snake oil” it has happened in the past it’s nothing new, John F Kennedy won his debates because he put on a better show, millions of American woman found him more attractive and that influenced their vote. ( look at all the references, to Palin “being a Hottie” ) It’s all a “Dog and Pony show”, anymore. For me this is like the last several elections, I don’t vote for conviction I vote for who will do the least amount of collateral damage. Right now it doesn’t matter who win’s for me, who ever I vote for will not get my vote because I trust or believe in them. They will get my vote to keep the other candidate out of office. It’s a sad state of affairs but it is the truth for many “independent voters.”
September 16th, 2008 at 3:56 pm
James, great comment. This kind of tomfoolery by politicians is insulting to all Americans. But whats even more insulting than their methods is the fact that their methods have been proven effective time and time again. Now what does that say about us as a People?
We bring it on ourselves.