Handling the handlers
McCarthy, Abigail
OF SEVERAL MINDS Abigail McCarthy HANDLING THE HANDLERS A PROPOSAL FOR CAMPAIGN REFORM It is January-traditionally the time for resolutions and new beginnings. But we are sated by the indulgence...
...We can lay aside the lazy rationale to which too many of us subscribe-"I vote for the man, not the party"-and actively participate in a party in order to make our wishes known...
...Following these suggestions does not require much effort...
...The regulation would make it mandatory that every advertisement for a particular candidate would include the appearance or voice of the candidate himself (or herself) or of an identified spokesperson...
...Hence, they are in the realm of our control...
...persistence...
...The handler might not thus be eliminated, but he or she would be made more honest and careful...
...It does require resolution and the willingness to take one small step after the other...
...We need to rekindle a commitment of the individual to society at large and to government as an instrument of the popular will," says Curtis Gans, director of the Committee for the Study of the American Electorate...
...Even with the media, direct communication from interested individuals can bring results...
...One of the strongest tools in the handlers' trade is the use of spot TV and radio advertisements meant to sell the candidate or destroy his opponent...
...We need to resolve to do just that...
...All is spectacle, and we are lulled by the passing of time...
...But we are sated by the indulgence of the holidays...
...But how...
...We have almost forgotten that we were stirred by resolve last November...
...The very term "handler," used generally for the first time in this last campaign, implies one thing that is clearly wrong-their emphasis on winning means that presidential elections are little different from horse races, pet shows, or prize fights...
...A Reagan "programmed to say nothing," concludes Barnes, has had an aimless and scandal-scarred second term...
...We have been distracted from our own ills by disasters abroad...
...For example, one of the most unhealthy changes in the election process has been the emergence and increasing influence of the political "handler...
...The way to real change is tedious and calls for persistence...
...In the past two sessions of Congress, Senators Daniel In-ouye, (D-Hawaii) and Warren Rudman, (R-Vt...
...Increasing numbers of citizens feel that they have no connection to their government...
...Many newspersons agree with Edwin Diamond of New York magazine (November 21, 1988) that too much coverage was stretched over too long a period of time, that the concentration was on the process rather than substance, and that there was an obsession with polls, many of them media-generated...
...He) could have stumped for a spending reduction plan, military aid to the contras, social issues...
...Unless we bestir ourselves to do something now, the precious heritage of self-government may eventually slip from our grasp...
...We can urge the limitation of intensive national coverage to the campaign year itself- again by letter or petition-as one improvement...
...Only half of a disaffected electorate bothered to vote last year...
...They will undoubtedly do so again...
...have pushed bills requiring a uniform-format regulation for political advertisements...
...Our task is to return the control of the campaign to the candidates and force them to responsibility...
...He didn't...
...We had just come through a numbingly long presidential campaign during which vital national issues were trivialized or ignored, and negative personal attacks and distortions took the place of serious debate...
...We told each other then that something must be done...
...Handlers have, of course, aimed at the media and we cannot have such direct effect on the way in which the media has responded and turned attention away from the issues...
...The use of the sound bite and the photo opportunity has been an easy alternative to the reporting of substantive speeches...
...Fortunately, the media are in the process of self-examination...
...In a closely reasoned article in the New Republic (October 17, 1988) Fred Barnes tells us what the result of that attitude can be: "In 1984 Baker [James Baker, Secretary of State designate] was boss of his first winning campaign, Reagan's reelection...
...Baker was not a professional handler but he was in their mold...
...We all said that the election process must change...
...The debates are now in the hands of the two political parties...
...The commentators and analysts agreed...
...The temptation has been to cover campaigns in the same way the professional football season is covered...
...Reagan won forty-nine states, but no mandate...
...They feel helpless...
...If each of us would join the organizations supporting this change in political advertising by making our interest known to our senators on a regular basis until this or similar legislation is passed, we will have had a very positive effect on the process-and one that costs us little effort...
...Step by step we can change things...
...We can also do something on an individual or collective basis to promote a real discussion of the issues by insisting that the campaign's modified press conferences be replaced by real one-on-one debates, once the primary season is over...
...We are diverted by the changing of the guard between administrations and by the impending inauguration...
...H]e made a huge strategic mistake, putting on an issueless campaign that guaranteed a landslide...
...We can ask for a moratorium on polls until it is known whether they skew subsequent returns...
...These fellows are paid far too much to do the wrong thing," former president Gerald Ford told a talk show host...
...First, we must muster the will and - realize that we are not helpless...
...Appeals to the base and selfish in us overrode all efforts to talk sense...
...Sponsors are still responsive to viewers and readers...
...We can write, and perhaps talk, directly to our local and national party leaders, urging direct debates and asking that prospective candidates be committed to a specified number before the nomination...
Vol. 116 • January 1989 • No. 1
