By Art Hackney
Let's cut right to the chase. NO!
Betty/Bob Bukowski may tire of seeing an endless string of political “pundits” on any given news or quasi-news show, but she/he probably quickly switched over to something different and more to their taste - even if it were mindless tripe.
I personally find political commentary by consultants to be a good thing, even when I rage at one of the stupid statements that James Carville or Paul Begala continually make.
What? What do you mean I can't say that. Of course I can! Politics is the process of freedom. So let it all be heard – fat heads and geniuses alike.
Twenty years ago, as president of the Advertising Federation in my birth state of Alaska, I hosted a forum of political consultants and invited the press to attend. During the forum, I asked how far the consultants would be willing to go on behalf of their candidates. One of the consultants replied that he would do whatever it took to win.
His simple, blunt statement was headline news the next day, and every day thereafter, until his Mayoral candidate at the time finally realized that it was hurting him and pulled the plug on the guy. But it was a week too late. The candidate, who had maintained a commanding lead in the polls, plunged downward and lost the election.
Ironically, the candidate who unexpectedly won, went on to become Governor of Alaska and is now running for the U.S. Senate.
Why is this a good thing? I don't even like the now former Governor and I loved the candidate who had the loose-lipped consultant.
Well, disclosure of all kinds is good for the American system of government. And consultants are an integral part of the process. Their ethics and advice are as much a part of any campaign as the candidate. So having them on the public record is righteous.
Do some of them fill the airwaves with silly or even inflammatory comments, which they then contradict the next day, or next week, or next campaign? Absolutely. But better to have those things said under the bright (and hot) lights of a television crew than in the (cool) back booth at Bubba's BBQ.
Right on, you say. He's exposing this tiny, nefarious wedge of the workforce pie.
Far from it. I sit on the Board of Directors of the bipartisan American Association of Political Consultants in Washington, DC. I know most of the top political consultants in the country. I have a very high opinion of the majority of them, regardless of political party. They often bring more true illumination to the political process than either the candidates, or the press themselves, who really don't get what campaigning is all about.
The problem isn't consultants talking too much in the press, it's that their real wisdom often ends up on the editing room floor, or worse, the right questions are never asked of them. The press by-and-large doesn't get the process by which most American judge a political candidate. The good consultant knows what real people in real homes want to know about a candidate. It isn't the long version of health care reform, it's the small glimpse of a candidate that lets the average Joe know that they can trust this one. Plutarch said, “Nor is it always in the most distinguished achievements that men's greatest virtues or vices may be best discovered; but very often an action of small note, a short saying, or a jest, shall distinguish a person's real character more than the greatest sieges, or the most important battles.”
The press doesn't get that, so they throw away, or miss a lot of the really good stuff we share with them.
Continuing that thought, having consultants in the press could actually be called a public service. From a practical standpoint, more candidates see us and call us. And Lord knows they need to. Most of them would go for the long version of health care reform, which never elected anybody.
Sure, a candidate can get a book and try to set up their own political plumbing, or they can hire a professional who actually knows where the pipes lead and save themselves the headache of ripping out a bunch of sheetrock with the whole world is watching. Yeah, OK – most good consultants have ripped out their share of sheetrock, but that's what honed us into the political Svengali's the press chases after today.
To me, the brave political consultants who limp in front of the cameras are among the superstars of our society. Even if I disagree with what is being said, the process of politics is so important that it's better than listening to a lame-brain like Barbara Steisand spout off, even though when she sings The Way We Were, I'll get as weepy as the next guy. You do get weepy, don't you?
Anyway, one doesn't climb to the upper rungs of the political consulting ladder without a far reaching intellect, a good vocabulary and a voracious appetite for, and understanding of, the issues of the day. The best of the best can even tell you the price of bread and butter in Birmingham.
But maybe consultants are just frustrated candidates who want to get in front of the cameras because they can't get elected themselves. You know the story. The guy who can't put the basketball through the hoop takes a job telling the world how they'd do it – if they could actually get invited on the court.
Well, with the exception of the talented and principled political consultant (now Representative) Tom Cole of Oklahoma, most political consultants have too many electrons bouncing off of their protons to sit on the floor of the House of Representatives day after day for years trying to get line five of provision 576 of the Social Security Reform Act amended to say “must” instead of “have to”.
The fact is, we political consultants do what we do because that is our place in the food chain. And we have lots to say because we live and breathe the political process around-the-clock, year in and year out - whenever we're not off in therapy.
But the final word on political consultants in the press is this: the folks at home watch us, either to agree, or argue, or hopefully learn something interesting – or they would turn to another channel and nobody would call us to make any more on-the-record comments.
That's the beauty of free enterprise, isn't it?
Arthur Hackney is President of Hackney & Hackney in Washington, DC
and sits on the Board of Directors of the American Association
of Political Consultants. Art can be reached at Click here to contact this Author
