How to Break a Campaign Promise with Hope and Change
Two weeks before Barack Obama’s won the election, his senior advisers initiated plans to lower expectations on what an Obama administration could accomplish.¹ The fact his campaign, early on, understood Obama’s promises were impossible to keep begs the question: Did Obama proclaim false hope?
Obama Team:Trying To Trim His Nose.
While the Obama team denies they gave false hope, they do admit they are extremely concerned that many of his euphoric supporters are harboring unrealistic hopes of what he can achieve. There are so many supporters with false assumptions, in fact, the team has placed ‘resetting expectations,’ as top priority before inauguration day.
But the fact he never really explained how his promises would materialize may let Obama get away with making countless broken promises. This is because ‘hope’ deadens frustrations and the promise of ‘change’ buys time.
First Step: Plant Assumptions
Top advisers designed a plan to kill expectations weeks ago. And they wasted no time implementing this plan as soon as he clinched the title, president-elect. And his victory speech clearly illustrates step one: Plant the necessary assumptions.
“If you plant the necessary assumptions, you can bring people down logical arguments, and because it is logical, people believe. Faith in logic is strong.”
The crucial assumptions Obama must lay down are 1) solutions to difficult tasks take time and 2) mistakes will be made. But that is straight talk. We will actually hear phrases that focus groups like, such as: ‘we face challenges,’ ‘we have a long and awesome road ahead,’ ‘we are all new at this,’ ‘expect a learning process,’ and ‘an opportunity to grow.’
And once these assumptions are set, the Obama team will have an easier time maintaining support, despite no manifestations of results. They will simply offer one of many variations of hope.
Control the Dialog by Establishing Assumptions
Obams’s plan to reset expectations seems ad hoc because, to an extent, it is. While his message was always about hope and change, as the campaign evolved, they noted a troubling trend: People had unreasonable expectations Obama could solve their problems. But Obama continued to make promises. He was a lose cannon, firing off promise after promise.
Realizing they had a problem, they designed a solution, to be implemented shortly after he clinched the election that would complement the larger vision Obama of his presidentcy.
One senior adviser told The Times that the first few weeks of the transition, immediately after the election, were critical, “so there’s not a vast mood swing from exhilaration and euphoria to despair.”
The aide said that Mr Obama himself was the first to realise that expectations risked being inflated.
In an interview with a Colorado radio station, Mr Obama appeared to be engaged already in expectation lowering. Asked about his goals for the first hundred days, he said he would need more time to tackle such big and costly issues as health care reform, global warming and Iraq. “The first hundred days is going to be important, but it’s probably going to be the first thousand days that makes the difference,” he said. He has also been reminding crowds in recent days how “hard” it will be to achieve his goals, and that it will take time. (Tim Reid in Washington, “Barack Obama lays plans to deaden expectation after election victory,” The Times, 10/31/08)
You see, Obama does have a plan to change the world, but it is not what most expect. And his real plan does not compliment well with the campaign expectations of those that voted for him. Therefore, the goal is to kill one set of expectations while increasing the expectations of his real plan–Service. We do know a bit about his service work plans. And those plans will require a much bigger government to motivate, instruct and teach people to serve. But important questions remained unanswered: Most importantly, is this service army volunteer or mandatory?
While I like the the fact the plan eventually gets people to help others and themselves, we lose some individual worth when we assume we need the government to solve difficult predicaments in our life or that we need the government to help offer random acts of kindness. I am also vehemently against the fact he has been campaigning with deception–stringing the public along a lie despite having complete knowledge of the false expectations.
President-elect Obama began this process on victory night, during his speech, when he noted that restoring the country’s health might take more than just a term.
[youtube="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHCRqX6-zXw"]
As he stated, “There will be setbacks and false starts,” it was somewhat comical to watch the crowds’ confused looks, the cognitive dissonance created from Obama’s slick marketing clashing with the first dose of a reality check. And you will not have to wait long to witness his first false start: the selection of his economic team. The selection and presentation of his Treasury secretary will be based on this plan and not what this economy really needs.
He’s all show–and we will see it.
Update: Obama Plans first major news conference to announce economic team. And at the news conference you should expect to hear or see:
It is of great importance to select someone with exuberant accomplishments and/or strong academic credentials. This will lend credibility to the economic plan, and with a strong endorsement we’re on the right track, his followers will feel better because they have ‘hope,’ and faith in Obama and team. They will be able to wait a little longer, confident ‘change’ will happen, despite not knowing how long until this road ends.
Sad.
Well we are here to make sure Obama does not get away with lying to the American people, and we will hold him accountable for each and every promise made.
ButAsForMe.com
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