A Memo to Senator Obama

This week's Newsweek has a three page article entitled, A Memo To Senator Obama, I doubt his campaign or his staff will pay a lot of attention to it, however, it makes some points that ring true to someone who is less than an Obama fan as to the realities and what it will take to win some of us over.

A few of the parts that I thought were especially noteworthy, that if I were to write my own memo, I'd focus on. Yeah, I know a memo from me would get even less attention than one from Newsweek (smile):

Your mission is to not wind up like Kerry, who ended up losing the rural vote by 20 points. The "reality," writes Davis, "is that when Democratic candidates run competitively in rural America, they win national elections. And when they get creamed in rural America, they lose."

You will never get the real racists to come around. But you have to convince some of your doubters that, whatever your skin color or background, you will be on their side. Most important, you have to convince them that they will be better off during an Obama presidency than a McCain presidency. So far, you have spoken of your hopes and dreams for America in soaring, but somewhat general, or vague, terms. Your message of hope and change has moved many voters. But to win the support of the skeptics, you are going to need to offer more substance—to show how you will make them safer and better off than John McCain will.

You need an issue that plays against prejudice or typecasting. Affirmative action is deeply unpopular with white, working-class voters who see African-Americans bestowed with privileges long denied poor whites. You've suggested—obliquely, but nonetheless provocatively—that you might prefer seeing affirmative action for disadvantaged whites rather than black elites, noting that you wouldn't expect your private-school-educated daughters to need an admissions break at college. Taking a stand for affirmative action based on socioeconomic class rather than race would send a powerful signal.

These are not messages that can just be handed down from on high, from network studios or mass urban rallies. Lyndon Johnson went to Appalachia before launching the War on Poverty; Robert Kennedy went into the hollows of mining towns in his crusade against child hunger. You need to go there, too. You can sound a little haughty at times, and it is crucial that you do not condescend to voters who are proud and self-reliant but have not had your breaks in life.