My Letter to the Obama Campaign

[Bonn1997]

Feel free to argue or disagree with me or forward the letter to the campaign if you agree with me. (The more times they see the letter, the more likely at least one important person in the campaign is to read it.) I've removed my identifying information from the letter. I don't know if they actually read this stuff but I figured I'd at least try.
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To Whom It May Concern:

I am a strong admirer of Senator Obama and contributor to his campaign. As a psychologist, I have studied the role of emotion in politics for years and wanted to offer a few suggestions on how to respond to Senator McCain’s latest despicable claims about Senator Obama’s associations with a terrorist. I hope I do not sound presumptuous, as I clearly do not have the political expertise many in the Obama campaign do. However, I believe my specific knowledge of the scientific research on the role of emotion in political attitude formation and change can be helpful.

I think the ads I’ve seen and comments I’ve heard so far from Obama strategists have been powerful but could be augmented. For example, in addition to saying that McCain is trying to distract people from the real issues, the Obama team, I believe, needs to cast doubt on Senator McCain’s character and ability to defeat terrorists. Mentioning the Keating Five every time the McCain campaign mentions Bill Ayers would be a good start but is insufficient in my opinion. Approximately 150 scientific studies by psychologists and social scientists in other fields (on the topic of terror management) have demonstrated that one of the strongest (if not the strongest) motivator of human behavior is fear of death. If Senator McCain is trying to make Senator Obama sound weak on terrorism by linking Senator Obama to a terrorist, Senator Obama must make himself sound strong on terrorism and Senator McCain weak on terrorism too. Saying that “John is trying to distract us from the economy” is a good start but is insufficient in my opinion. I believe a powerful statement like the one that follows would work: “it would make no sense for Sen. Obama to associate with terrorists when he is the one who wanted to kill the terrorists who attacked us while Sen. McCain wanted to let those terrorists in Afghanistan get away free because he was distracted by weapons of mass destruction that did not exist in Iraq.” You could then link the war in Iraq to our economic difficulties, which would lead smoothly into a discussion of Senator McCain’s inability to lead us out of our economic recession.

Sincerely,

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Psychology
XXXXXXXXXXXXX College
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