Dead Earnest

Really, really sincere. 

   “I am running to end corruption of our democracy by corporations and give more power to the American people."

Tom Steyer, candidate for President

Tom Steyer

Tom Steyer has been in our homes, looking right at us, talking to us in a quiet, impassioned voice. We have seen him on TV, repeatedly.  We have a duty. Impeach.

Here is what we know about Tom Steyer:

1. He is a billionaire. 

2. He self funds. 

3. He cares about impeaching Donald Trump. 

4. He cares about climate. 

5. He is a healthy looking white guy of about 60. That is five things.

We know one more thing, and it is the most important: He stands alone and talks to us with a really sincere, earnest, look-you-in-the-eye manner.

It is a serious brand, but not a happy one. 

Campaign website: leading with a grim look

 It is exactly the manner I would expect and fear from a physician who called me into his office to tell me that the biopsy came back and the cancer was Stage Four and inoperable. I have heard similar tones from people of religious faith, imploring me to save myself from an agony in hell, by accepting Jesus, right then. Dead earnest. Dead serious.

It contrasts with the Donald Trump style. We know the score with Donald Trump. We trust that Donald Trump is an authentic self-interested con man salesman, a P T Barnum so insincere he barely realizes he is lying to us. He joyfully sells, saying whatever serves his purpose.

Donald Trump's branding makes him teflon, impervious to criticism. Of course, he lies to us. Of course, he is is tacky and undignified and unsportsmanlike, because, after all, he is trying to get what he wants. Democrats think getting Trump's taxes will change our opinion of Trump. They won't. They will confirm our opinion, if they look embarrassing and ugly. He will proudly admit nothing, claim in the face of anything that he is a true patriotic, tax paying American hero. We expect this. It is Donald Trump, for goodness sake. What else?

Steyer is a different story. There is great risk in being "Mr. Good Guy." 

Being good and sincere and trustworthy is a fragile brand, at risk of breaking under charges of hypocrisy. When Steyer reveals his taxes he will get criticized. Did he really give away enough to charity? How come he made so much money? If he cares about climate how come he flies in an airplane, why isn't he walking? Does he really compost everything? 

Steyer will be criticized. He won't like it.

Trump got ratings by appealing to a TV audience, then campaign crowds, and now political rally crowds, while Steyer has been a lone wolf. It has been him, just him, on camera, in our living rooms. He continues that image in his campaign announcement video. Click: Four minutes. Worth watching.

At second 3:44

He says that corporate power is destroying our democracy, but not that being unable to afford health care is the problem. 

He says that corporations don't care about climate change, but does not say that climate change means choking wildfires in the west or crop-killing rainfall in the midwest that hurts real people.

 He talks about ideology and process, not people. 

Well, not quite. The campaign video does end with a scene of Steyer being greeted by people, slapping hands, exactly two seconds of it, showing Steyer perhaps participating in a parade, with no indication that onlookers are there actually to see Steyer, but photographed with Steyer. It is a start, but the 2 seconds out of 240 seconds demonstrate that Tom Steyer, for all his intelligence and money, has not noticed the obvious: Elective office is a popularity contest.

Steyer can buy TV time but he cannot buy support. In this political/media environment we need to like the candidate. We need to choose the candidate from among others. He made himself visible by telling us our duty to impeach Trump. He didn't try to be likable. 

I don't think $100 million dollars on advertising will fix that.