The Occasional Observer

2 comments:

Fredo said...

Newt has plenty of visiblity and people know he's up to the intellectual side of the job.

He has some heavy lifting to do with image control. A lot people still think of him as scorched-Earther and a little narcisstic. Nothing that couldn't be overcome, much as Nixon changed his image. Before running in '68, most thought of him as a "hatchet man" and "commie-baiter," a do anything to win type of politician (which Watergate proved out, in some ways). However, he was able to contrast himself with the extreme left, which was ascendant in 1968 and fixated on "peace now," with his "experienced and nuanced" understanding of foreign policy.

The situations are not parallel, but the point is, a good campaign can rebrand the way the public sees the candidate as a person.

7/02/2009 9:59 PM

Fredo said...

This actually is making wonder whether 2012 will look more like 1968, 1980, 1984, or 2004. I'll have to draw up a post on that one.

7/02/2009 10:02 PM