Campaigns and Elections' Politics - January 2008 - (Page 26)

Eve Fairbanks Cleopatra— now there’s a politician who knew how to change sides. bed, literally, with Julius Caesar and his successor, Mark Antony. Her genius was to show she was as charmed by her unlikely new allies as they were by her, even rolling herself up into a carpet that was then laid at Caesar’s feet. The carpet thing might not work for Romney, especially since it would mess up his perfect hair. Instead, he could show the evangelicals his enduring love by mentioning them more on the stump—or by burning his Mormon undergarments in a public ceremony. Just a thought. Barack Obama: Resolve to be more like Nicolas Sarkozy. Yes, John Kerry crashed and burned in 2004 after people got suspicious that he was a closet beret-lover. But today’s French president, nicknamed “Le Cowboy,” is as all-American as the ﬂag pin Obama once refused to wear. Addressing Congress in November, Sarkozy articulated a better vision of what America can be than any of our own leaders, saying the U.S. was “a new frontier that was continuously pushed back—a constantly renewed challenge to the inventiveness of the human spirit.” Conservatives in the chamber hollered approval, while lefty Rep. Barbara Lee ran up afterwards to give Sarkozy a hug. Obama once pulled off something similar, rifﬁng on the Declaration of Independence in high Lincolnian style at the 2004 Dem Convention. So where did that guy go? Since then, he’s been talking “hope” and “unity” and other vague keywords that make him sound more like Tony Robbins than Honest Abe. “Le Cowboy” showed there is a hunger to unify around a common idea of the country out there. If Barack can’t manage to resurrect the Obama of 2004, he should try at least to be the Sarkozy of 2007. Fred Thompson: Resolve to be more like Richard Nixon. It may seem insane to advise a candidate to act more like Tricky Dick, but Thompson has so little ambition that a touch of Nixon’s shameless self-promotion would do him good. Thompson is not only lazy, he’s disdainful of the process. He thought that by letting the manly scent of his cigars bring the nation into a swoon he could win the nomination. He’s reluctant to stoop to cheesy campaign rituals like paying tribute to a giant cow sculpted out of butter at the Iowa State Fair. For Nixon, on the other hand, no humiliation was too great if it served his ambition. Consider how he wooed his wife, Pat: Undeterred by her initial rejections, he stayed on her radar by driving her to dates with other men. Thompson could offer to give voters a lift to his rivals’ rallies. He can always hope they’ll dance with the one who brung them. Eve Fairbanks is an associate editor at The New Republic. 26 Politics January 2008 http://www.labelsandlists.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Campaigns and Elections' Politics - January 2008

Campaigns and Elections' Politics - January 2008 Contents GOP Retirement Woes Getting Girls to Think Politics Movers & Shakers: Karen Hanretty If I Had It To Do Over: Mike McCurry Eve Fairbanks Column Cover Story: Mike Huckabee Hopping the Pond GOP: The Next Generation 5 “Truths” About Women Voters Reds & Blues: States in the Spotlight High Road/Campaign Doc Bookshelf Dick Morris Column John Zogby Column Techbytes Playbook Coming & Going: Who's Where Campaign Sign-ups Marketplace Quips & Slips

Campaigns and Elections' Politics - January 2008

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