'Tis the political season and it's exciting to see such a focus on language this time around. A recent Clinton line caught my attention: "It’s time we moved from good words to good works, from sound bites to sound solutions..."
It may be the time, but perhaps not the best strategy. It goes both ways, after all, perhaps it's time some candidates moved from good works to good words, from sound solutions to sound bites. The great things come from a combination of those principles. Push only the practical, you neglect to inspire. Neglect the practical and you deflate your promise.
Obama has hit a chord with a lot of people. They are responding to what they crave in their society, in their communities. They crave some hope. While the language speaks of "change," hope is at the heart of the matter. There is a power to the positive. Many Americans, right now, really want it (even if they can't define it). So, rather than pushing for a movement from promise to policy, perhaps it's time for all of the candidates to strike their balance.
♦Wednesday, February 20, 2008
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3 comments:
Well put. But how? Is the message coming from the candidate or the advisory team? And which is being elected?
addendum:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-clintoncamp3mar03,0,3307106.story
The message is coming from both -- and, in my opinion, both are being elected. While the candidate may be the one to stay the course for the term, the advisory team is shaping the deliverables, the policy, the image, the context, etc. So as advisors come and go, it is even more imperative that the candidate stays connected to the audience, to the culture and to how they are capable of delivering the message and the substance to move the nation (or a state or a county or a city) forward. Perhaps if a candidate (or any leader/executive) stays true to the core (to his/her core), they are in a better position to guide the advisors (and the people who make things happen) in what can be done, won and achieved.
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