The Lessons of David Axelrod
Axelrod met Obama when the senator was 30 years old...In the 15 years since, Axelrod has worked through Obama’s life story again and again, scouring it for usable political material
- David Axelrod is Obama's campaign manager
- he wants to portray the candidate as having a leader's personality
- so his campaigns don't focus on issues but on the candidate’s life
- a job hunter can do the same in an interview
- she should have clear ideas about how her job is done
- but she can also tell a story about her life and focus on moments
in her history that define her as the person she wants to be
- while the image you project may be edited, to be convincing
it has to be based in reality
- Axelrod's campaigns are upbeat
- they contain a message of idealism and optimism moderated by pragmatism,
- he believes that the promise of the future, where you're going,
trumps a focus on the past
- he also believes that a candidate should focus on strategic issues,
not just the needs of the moment
- he fends off critics by stressing the flip side of Obama's alleged flaws.
- lack of a rigid ideological position is seen as independence
- a lack of combativenes becomes bipartisanship
Reference: New York Times.
