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Are We Done Now With the Posturing?

(The Harwood Institute for Public Innovation)

Are We Done Now With the Posturing?

by Richard C. Harwood
Smiles and smirks arenít enough; Americans want a coherent vision of the future

- msnbc.com, October 10, 2000

Oct. 10 What if you set out to read a book and all you found behind the front cover was a list of characters, a bit on what they look like and pages of random snippets of dialogue? Youíd be terribly confused, turn away in disgust and wonder where the story is. Thatís the problem with the presidential debates and the entire campaign thus far: Texas Gov. George W. Bush and Vice President Al Gore have given the American people lots of material, but the candidates have failed to tell their version of the nationís ìstory.î

EVEN IN THE remaining weeks of the campaign, people are still waiting for a leader to step forward.

In our research at the Harwood Institute, a nonpartisan organization that studies American politics, people say this campaign is slightly more civilized than previous presidential elections. There seems to be less mudslinging, more of a focus on issues and greater attempts to be statesmanlike. Thatís a good step in the right direction. But itís merely an incremental improvement on the status quo.

WWF-like Sincerity

One cannot state too emphatically just how tired people say they are by the emptiness and superficiality of politics. I recently asked a group of people in one battleground state ó Michigan ó to tell me which television program best reflected this campaign. Their answer: the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). Like WWF, they said too much of this campaign is ìfakeî ó it mimics reality. That may be okay for wrestling but not politics.

Take, for example, the candidatesí haranguing over prescription drugs, an issue many people care about. People tell me what they hear from the candidates are lots of arguments over whose numbers are correct, rhetorical claims about whose program is better, mind-numbing rehearsed lines and wildly different scenarios about who the plans cover. This happens on issue after issue ó from education to tax policy to Social Security and others.

People now seek a leader who can help them imagine a course out of the waiting place ó a kind of steward they can trust intrinsically.
When I asked one group of people what single thing sticks in their minds about this campaign, they sat in dead silence for well over one minute. Then they simply reiterated just how confused they are by all the endless talk.

Americans are searching for a breakthrough. They want someone to stand up tall and say, ìHere I am. I want to tell you the nationís story.î That story should be rooted in time ó showing how the present, past and future relate to one another. That story should be rich in context ó for it is context that enables people to see themselves. And that story should pull together the fragments of a campaign into a coherent picture.

Remember the kidsí book, ìOh the Places Youíll Go!î by Dr. Seuss. Itís a book about lifeís journey. In the middle of the book Seuss talks about the ìwaiting placeî where people get stuck. They canít quite make sense of the things affecting their lives, and they hope for another chance. From our research I believe our nation is in the waiting place. People have an inkling that something is amiss, but they canít quite put their finger on it.

Americans tell us, in our work in communities across the nation, that theyíre making a mad dash from public life, retreating with their immediate family and friends into what they call ìpodsî and ìclans.î They say the acrimony and divisiveness gripping public life and politics have gone way over the line. Concern also abounds that our consumption and materialism, as one citizen said to me, have become the ìruling religion of America.î People fear what is happening to the children of this nation. Kids are being bombarded by too many coarse and vulgar messages by the media, Madison Avenue and movies.

People now seek a leader who can help them imagine a course out of the waiting place ó a kind of steward they can trust intrinsically. Americans yearn to begin restoring their faith in public life ó to come out from their homes and believe it is possible for the nation to take collective action. They want to be challenged to see the common good and to become more complete citizens.

But all this calls for someone who wants to lead, someone who is willing to be seen and someone who isnít hiding behind rehearsed lines. It will take someone who does not mimic reality, but illuminates it, helps people understand it and shines a bright light on a possible direction forward. Stand up, Americans declare to the candidates, and tell the story about the nation, its people and who we can become. But, for now, that story is nowhere to be found in this campaign.

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