Hi Walt!
Happy New Year!
This is a pretty spectacular weekend for all of us. In part because the times demand a major change. In part because we worked so hard last year and it’s great to see the culmination of all of those efforts. There’s hope for solving some of the major problems facing the nation and the world. And, of course, there’s the historical significance.
The thing that gets to me emotionally is thinking about all the people I knew growing up — my mother and father, grandmothers, aunts, uncles, teachers, etc. — who are no longer with us. I never expected to see a black president but at least considered it a possibility. Those folks had struggles I’ve never faced and I wish I could share tomorrow’s inauguration with them. It’s all pretty deep!
Hope you and your family are doing well!
Bill
Archive for the 'Election08' Category
The election is over (well except in Minnesota). Obama’s campaign made history in any number of ways, including the campaign’s strong design sense and the amount of freedom given to volunteers. Design for Obama ties those two elements together.
Campaigns, politics and, governing are normally all about control:
- Control of the message
- Control of the image
- Control of time and money
- Control of everything!
The Obama campaign clearly mastered the “give up control to get control” concept. If you want to win, you have to give up a lot of control while still maintaining control. Interesting concept.
This approach wouldn’t have been successful without a compelling candidate, a compelling message, superb communications strategy, a disciplined team, and a whole lot of trust. That so many people could independently create designs that support, and rarely seem to conflict with, the campaign’s themes is an extraordinary achievement!
Received a nice Christmas card this morning:
Hope you have a joyous holiday season and a prosperous 2009!
Great article about John Favreau: Obama’s Chief Speechwriter, 27, Works on Inaugural Address While Making His Own Transition, especially this part:
“So,” he [Obama] said. “What’s your theory on speechwriting?”
Awkward silence. Favreau, just graduated from Holy Cross, had talked his way onto Sen. John F. Kerry’s presidential campaign in 2003 and had become a press assistant, arriving at the office at 3 a.m. to clip newspapers. The speech he had given as class valedictorian circulated around the staff, and Favreau eventually got a shot at speechwriting. He wrote well and rose to the top of the department, but there was never any time to formulate theories. Now, Favreau looked at Obama and went with his gut.
“A speech can broaden the circle of people who care about this stuff,” Favreau said. “How do you say to the average person that’s been hurting: ‘I hear you. I’m there. Even though you’ve been so disappointed and cynical about politics in the past, and with good reason, we can move in the right direction. Just give me a chance.’ “
“I think this is going to work,” Obama said.
Worked very well indeed!
Update: Esquire’s brief profile of John Favreau (h/t kottke)
Barack Obama has been selected as Time Magazine’s Person of the Year 2008. OK, so the suspense wasn’t killing us. I really liked their series of Obama on Flickr photos. Here’s my favorite:
At 4:50 in the following video, Tucker Carlson asks Zbig about Clinton’s claims of foreign policy experience gained as first lady. His response had the Morning Joe crew ROTFL...
