The Fear of Losing Your Job Trumps all Fears

[aaroh]

Its time the Obama campaign played the fear card. I know Obama is all about hope and avoiding the old style of politics. But whether you like it or not scaring people to vote for you is still an effective tool.



Case in point: After the 9/11 attacks the GOP painted the Democrats as weak on national security playing into people's security fears.

The result: The GOP took a sweeping majority in the Senate during the time when Tom Daschle was house leader for the Democrats.



Case in point: In the 1960's Lyndon Johnson produced the infamous Daisy commercial which can be viewed here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkWAhuXtalw&eurl=http://www.videosift.com/video/Daisy-Girl-Lyndon-Johnsons-nuclear-fear-campaign-ad They played into people's fears of an all-out nuclear warfare and painted Lyndon Johnson as safe for America. T

The result: Voters flocked to their perceived shepherd and Johnson won by a sweeping landslide.

People's behavior are predictable. When people are scared they run to safety. If you can provide a safe- haven shelter for them people will naturally run to you.

There is no doubt the GOP will play the fear card against Obama, painting him as a Muslim, Anti-American, unpatriotic, inexperienced, weak on security etc. But there is one fear that trumps all fears: the fear of losing of your job. If you don't have money to support yourself or provide for your family, nothing else matters.

My suggestion to the Obama campaign is to forget about going into the nitty gritty details of foreign policy and national security issues. Even if Obama is more intelligent than McCain on these issues the public perception of Obama as the weaker of the two candidates on foreign policy and national security issues will always be present in people's minds. Obama will gain 50% of these voters at best. Why enter an argument you can not win.

Obama should just keep talking about the economy day in and day out. Paint himself as the economic safe-guy, the messiah that will take Americans out of the economic hell-hole that we're in. Create an image of Obama as being the shelter. Once Obama's name is synonymous with economic security the Obama campaign can tap into that one instinct laying dormant in every person. Survival. The Obama campaign should prepare a slick Ad campaign asking Americans if they are next? The next person to lose their job. Run the ad no sooner than a week before Bovember 4th. Why only a week? Its enough time to generate buzz but not enough time for the GOP to effectively remedy the generated fear.

[gateley]

1. Yes - and with the thousands of jobs cut MONTHLY,

he should be hammering home JOBS.

We can't devote much passion to the War and The World if we're fearful of losing the roof over our head and not being able to feed our families.

[izquierdista]

2. You forgot health care

Because in the American system, no job, goodbye health insurance.

[gateley]

3. Right you are. nt