On my Leg wrap up post below, Martin Hash, who has become a commentor around here, left this comment, partially copied below:
Since I do this for a living, I'm going to provide you with a little free advice:I'll be back. Just getting the lay of the land this time around. It would have been a REAL PROBLEM if I had won because my wife & I are going to South America, backpacking for 4 months, starting in just a couple weeks.
Statements like this aren't made in a vaccum. People are not going to vote for you because of your impressive (and it IS impressive) resume'. They're not going to vote for you because you've got more money then Zimbabwe'.
They will vote for you if, first and foremost, you take this stuff seriously.
When you leave a comment like that, it tends to show that you view all of this as a joke.
Secondly, they have to believe that you "get" it. Our economy is suffering. Taking "4 months off" to backpack in South America shows an elitism that will get you no where.
Just sayin'.
.
Here's my take:
ReplyDeleteEven in desparate straights - like now - America is the place to be. At least for liberty-minding-ambitious-optimists - Like you... And anybody else who has their own mind.
Did you know the rest of the White world hates America? I mean, they really hate us. I'm not talking about the native people of Africa, or South America, or China - I'm talking about Europeans. This realization, which can only come from extended, groundlevel travel (backpacking) - forms the basis of my foreign policy political beliefs. No one can ever say that I "just don't know."
I do know.
(Your a conservative: Don't let vague Marxist envy color rational opinions. I deal with that enough already.)
If he already had a 4-month hiking tour planned for the height of the campaign, just how serious was he?
ReplyDeleteI have to answer, not at all.
What some people won't do for attention.
I spent a little over 6 years in the "rest of the world," Europe, Saudi Arabia, a brief stint in the sticks in The Philippines.
ReplyDeleteThey will continue to hate us as long as there's a generation that was around when we saved them. They hate that we had to come in and straighten them out.
That said, your "foreign policy political beliefs" are as germane to a state legislative position as the ability of a cardio surgeon to rebuild a Holley carburetor: nice skill to have, but does it do all that much for his ability to replace that ventricle in my heart?
Politics is my business. If your formula for political success was one that worked, everyone would be doing it.
Acting, empathizing and being more like the people you want to represent isn't an optional skill set.
It's a fine distinction. GOING to South America isn't a problem.
Waving that fact around as if it's more important then getting elected or that getting elected would have been an imposition on your vacation plans had you been elected?
That's a problem.
Empathy is a requirement. Clinton got the most mileage out of "feeling our pain." Your declarations about backpacking for 4 months, something the vast majority of people who are significantly less well off then you are can't even begin to understand, shows an inability to even understand what "pain" is, let alone that you "share" it.
Have a good time down there.
Who gets to apply the term "serious"? What is the definition of "serious"? How is "serious" measured?
ReplyDeleteFrom my POV - I am deadly serious! I'm on this forum. I'm on the "Progressive" (read "Marxist") forums. I'm active politically. I write original political material. Lot's of serious proof.
However, on the "empathy" side - I'm working on that. Once I establish the requirements of "empathy," I'll be on-fire politically. Empathy is tough. Clinton had it in spades - I didn't trust Clinton. There must be some kind of "honest empathy" - so far I haven't come across it.
But I listen & learn...
Martin, I spent 5 years out there in the rest of the world, Viet Nam first them Europe. Yes, SOME hate us, but most envy us.
ReplyDeleteHow does it escape you all that if we are as hated as you want people to think, why do they continue to come?
If they hate us as much as you say, why are you running the risk of enduring such hatred for 4 months on a hiking tour outside the US?
You people always trip yourselves up in your own contradictions.
"Serious" is actually something of a euphemism for "devoted."
ReplyDeleteSerious campaigns have a typical quality about them. Most people who want to win get up at 6 in the morning, and start campaigning. They typically call it a day at midnight or later. And they do that 6 days a week, minimum.
They knock on doors. They attend meetings such as city council or county commissioner. They show up at forums to help the voters compare and contrast them to the other candidates. They exert themselves in ways they didn't believe possible. They assume 3 positions as planks, and attempt to know everything possible about the most important issues to the people they would represent.
They develop plans and ideas. They market those plans and ideas; defend them from attack, adjust them as new information comes in and most of all, develop and become known for a vision that includes the result of your presumed election being better than things were before that event took place.
Serious includes doing more... much more... than putting up a few signs and going backpacking.
To get elected is to receive respect. To receive respect is to earn it. To earn it, you have to work for it.
These are just some of the elements of the "serious" campaign.
I appreciate exchanging views with you, Martin. Your resume' says you have a lot to offer. Now it's just a matter of additional education and presentation.
But you would do well to stop waving your checkbook around. And right or wrong, the ability and the observation that you're taking 4 months to go backpacking (again, something that most people cannot conceive of doing as we scramble to make house payments (I typically do a 70 hour week, for example and I could no more take 4 months off to do anything that didn't include work then I can levitate)) amounts to restating how "well off" you are compared to the rest of us.
That can be a tremendous strength, or a horrific weakness.
And that is entirely up to you.
Just a guy:
ReplyDeleteThose are very powerful, informed & honest words. Thank you.
Lew:
Turn down the knob a bit. Nothing says "I LOVE America" like going someplace else and seeing the alternative... Whew! We got it good!
Uh, Martin, did you miss that I spent 5 years straight outside he country, 3 in Europe?
ReplyDeleteIf you run for office it's all about the perception you create for voters.
Saying you plan to go back packing in a foreign country for 4 months during the height of the campaign only shows voters your pleasure comes before the job you want to be voted in to do.
Would you hire someone who right after they fill out the application told you they would be back in 4 months, hold the job?