| Foster may admire Proxmire and Simon, but he reminded me of Bill Bradley (whom I supported in the 2000 presidential primary).
Bradley and Foster seem indecisive and aloof. Both of them seem to want to study issues more so they can find another layer of complexity, so they can justify spending more time studying an issue before making a decision.
Foster especially seemed this way on the net neutrality questions posed by Ahila. But he also used the complexity defense for the Congressional Democrats not accomplishing anything toward ending the occupation of Iraq.
Bradley took years longer than most of his generation to come to the conclusion the Vietnam War was a bad thing. He had to consider every pro-war argument carefully before he'd take a position against the war. As a collegiate basketball player, Rhodes Scholar and NBA star, Bradley had the luxury of taking his time.
Bradley had the star power and charisma that caused voters to forgive his eccentricities. Foster doesn't have this luxury.
While the voters may have forgiven Bradley's eccentricities, I'm not sure his peers in Congress did. The Democrats were annoyed to have to defend Bradley's Senate seat when he retired in 1997 but I didn't get the impression other members of Congress were that disappointed to see him go.
Foster's biggest problem are his poor communication skills.
It's possible for poor communicators to get elected. When I first became active in politics I worked for the U.S. Campaign to Ban Landmines. Our "go to" guy in the U.S. House was Lane Evans (D-IL17). Evans appeared at a press conference in Chicago. I was horrified that he seemed to be mumbling his words at a press conference. (He later announced he had Parkinson's Disease.)
But even if Evans didn't speak clearly he could muster wit for a partisan audience. I remember him at a fund raiser recounting a journalist asking him if he'd take grief in his district for being the freshman member of Congress who voted against President Ronald Reagan the most at 88%. Evans claimed to have replied that there was one person he'd have to explain to, his mother. She'd want to know want he was doing voting with Reagan 12% of the time.
Foster's campaign manager asked bored now for a copy of the tape so he could use it to coach Foster to project his voice better. While Foster should improve in this respect, it's just the easiest to fix of Foster's communication issues.
The Foster campaign should invest in a communications consultant-one specializing in political communications-immediately.
Some problems with Foster's speaking style.
1.He talks too much.
2.He shows his work too much. Foster spends too much time explaining how he reached his conclusions. I don't know why he does this. Is he trying to show how smart he is? Is it a communication style that's served him well in business and become a habit?
3."People will forget what you say; they will remember how you made them feel." (I read this quote in a George Stephanopolous book.) Foster failed to take advantage of a couple opportunities to make the audience feel good. The forum was small. Foster should have engaged in more back-and-forth to make sure he was answering the questions. The way he conducted that Q and A it made him seem distant. Also, with so few people attending Foster should have been briefed on each person who was going to be there and known a little about each of us. I remember David Fink speaking to a group of progressive organizations in DC when he ran against Rep. Joe Knollenberg (R-MI) in 2002. Fink was able to explain how Knollenberg had been a disappointment to every organization in the room. And he did it from memory. Foster failed to show that he cared much about who we were and why we are activists.
4.When I used to lobby with Ken Bacon (of Refugees International, formerly DOD Press Secretary), he'd come to meetings with members of Congress exceedingly well prepared. He had more financial and demographic info about districts than the member of Congress he was meeting with. I didn't get the impression Foster prepared for the bloggers meeting beyond the preparation he's done for the campaign generally.
5.Finally, while Foster has an intellectual grasp of issues, he fails to translate that into an emotional story about why people should take action.
Foster may be the Dems strongest candidate in IL14. But his communication skills need work. I know I'm not the first to notice it. I don't know if everyone else has been too polite to say it. Or if the various people and organizations who have endorsed him have expected someone else to tell the candidate.
But Foster needs help beyond simply annunciating better. |
