“Can we win back the center?” – Asking the Wrong Question

“Can we win back the center?”  Next to “how goes the fundraising,” this question may be asked in political war rooms, legislative caucuses, campaign strategy sessions and political party headquarters more than any other.  Regardless of philosophy, if a campaign or party strategist asks this question, the answer might often be “no,” because the question itself is flawed.  Leadership is not a gimmick.

Winning vs. Leading

Admittedly, many elections are won or lost because a cleverly crafted message or organizing ploy takes advantage of the hot topic of the moment.  To use a simple sports analogy, a football team might be able to score a single touchdown by faking a punt, but they are going need to perform during the other 59 minutes of that game and throughout most of their other games of the season in order to maintain a winning record.  If an election is akin to a single game, then leadership is akin to a team’s record over time.

I have been considering the most recent Iowa Poll this week. The Iowa Poll shows that when asked about same sex marriage, some 30% of respondents have no opinion or simply do not care. This is important, because this 30% will decide the outcome should voters be asked to weigh in on the matter.  Those who have formed opinions aren’t likely to switch sides in the near term.

In the debate over same sex marriage and similar issues we tend to focus on the two sides battling to sway public opinion and forget policies like this aren’t determined by convincing people to change their minds, but getting those who have no opinion or are ambivalent to form an opinion and become concerned enough to advocate by voting or working to advance their new found belief.

Every year increasing numbers of Americans register with no political affiliation rather than Democrat or Republican.  These voters don’t leave their parties; their parties left them.  “Can we win back the center” assumes voters can cleverly be brought around to embrace a party’s philosophy and fails to acknowledge that the party’s philosophy itself may be the problem.  The political fringe on the right and the left control party machinery and this leaves an increasing number of voters without a political home.  Democrat and Republican failure may be due less to poorly articulated messages and more to the fact voters understand the messages and reject them.

Too many are focused on winning the next ballot box contest when they should concentrate on leading people to build support for a long-term vision for governing.  A good football coach is focused on winning every time and will try to field a team that excels in every aspect of the game.   Similarly, candidates and parties need to understand there is a difference between winning and leading.  Leaders aren’t the winners of the last contest.  Leaders are those people want to follow.

Trying to win back the center may make for a good play.  Leading is something more.