Nick Kristof, the NY Times columnist, is making an amateur mistake.
I offer him advice he sorely needs: make some enemies.
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| For Oregon. For what else? |
Peter, I’m running for governor for the same reason I became a journalist:And this, in an email earlier this week:
To turn the world’s attention to the most critical issues of our time, while doing everything I could to help the people I encountered during my work.
Parents with children struggling with homelessness because of an unfair system.
Families kicked out of their homes because our government has left them behind.
Disillusioned voters who desperately want leadership to do better.
Peter, I’m always going to be a listener. It’s who I am.
Mush, mush, mush. Worthless. Don't say we need a leader. Be the leader. I will leave to Kristof's intelligence and conscience to present his own policy ideas, but I will give examples of what would put Kristof on the map as a person willing to try solutions, not as a sensitive observer.
Example: Say that misery in timber country has taken place because forest environmentalists have erred in focusing on over-harvesting and not on fires. Say we need to cut way more trees. This would surely disappoint some people but would thrill others. The objections by some environmentalist are an essential feature, not a bug. Let them slam you, Nick. You can talk about timber-town despair, about the unhealthy smoke, and the CO2 from forest fires. Your opponents will say you are a timber beast. You can respond you care about both jobs and climate. You will win some and lose some. You will get your 40% of the Democratic vote, more than enough to win the primary. In the general election downstate timber towns will like what you say, and maybe you won't lose four to one the way Democrats do now.
Example: Say you want to buy Lloyds Center and turn it into a massive homeless shelter. Say you will clear the streets in 60 days. No more sleeping on public property. It is dangerous and unsanitary. Some people will object. What about the neighborhood impacts? Say you will concentrate police and social services attention right there. Some people will think, at last, a solution. Others will say it is cruel. You will say inaction is cruel. The criticism you would get is a feature. Dare to make some people angry and the public would realize you represent change, not dithering.
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| Asking questions is safe. Try giving answers |
You don't like those two ideas? Fine. I did not expect unanimity. Your disagreement is a feature. See? Now you are engaged. At least now people would see a candidate for governor willing to break eggs for the omelet of a better Oregon.
Nick, you can raise $100 million dollars and it won't get you elected if the money is spent telling people you have empathy. We know that about you. We want to know if you are a change agent. If you rouse up some angry opponents, Oregonians might think this Kristof guy is a Democrat willing to challenge some frozen-in-place interest groups on both left and right and get things done. That guy can win.
Be that guy, if you have it in you.
10 comments:
Governing a state with no experience is one step down from governing a country with no experience. I'm sure he's well-intentioned and has a heart, in contrast to Trump's malevolence, but the results could be no less disastrous.
Good advice, Peter. Here’s hoping he takes it.
It might be more effective attached to some $$$. :-)
To Michael Trigoboff.
I sent this to his campaign, at the entry point for contact. I asked them to forward this to the "communications team." I told them that I made about $15,000 a year in campaign contributions, in one place or another, and that might get their attention. Nick is in a position to be getting $50,000 checks from Melinda Gates, and it is possible he thinks the route to victory is by having a superb national presence.
I honestly think money will be relatively UN-important. The winner will be whoever differentiates themselves from the frustrations of Portland for its own problems, and the frustrations of downstate Oregon for its different ones. It is possible that Tobias Reed will be that person, but I have not yet seen signs of it. The presence of some hundred black-clad people setting fire to the Multnomah County Justice Building, but with no arrests, makes me think that there is huge opportunity for someone who says that we cannot have justice and prosperity without order. The "protesters" damaged a small business doing web design. What is the social justice in that???
Until a Democrat speaks out against that clearly I expect a Republican or Independent Betsy Johnson win.
I just googled "Kristof for Governor", and never did find his website or FB page. Eventually, I found an interview he did with Willamette Week.
Platitudes, and more platitudes. Frankly, Icsee little different between Mr. Kristof and our current Governor, whom I personally th think is the least effective Governor we have endured in at least the last 40 odd years.
Sometimes an existing and well-known substantive agenda is the best introit to such a candidacy. Maybe most of the time. Here it seems Kristof announces himself as a smart, capable and earnest person who will study what is best and is best suited to bring it off. To date Kristof is noted for his work in journalism on overseas subjects.
Maybe I'm reading too much into a call for my wife the other evening. She is a staunch Democrat and regular donor, albeit for national candidates and causes only, so far. It was a human being with an East Coast accent--I answered the phone--who asked my wife questions for a full 15-20 minutes, primarily (I learned) on Oregon issues.
The presence of some hundred black-clad people setting fire to the Multnomah County Justice Building, but with no arrests, makes me think that there is huge opportunity for someone who says that we cannot have justice and prosperity without order.
Given the behavior of Portland politicians (and assuming they are competent at politics), I suspect that the market for order in Portland is still very limited. That market may increase as disorder increases, but Portland still seems a way off from electing their own Mayor Giuliani the way NYC did in the 90s. It may come to that eventually, but at the moment Portlanders seem to value left-wing virtue signaling far more than order.
Those of us in the Portland suburbs watch with amazement and disgust as downtown dies and Portland’s “leaders” hide behind nonfunctional woke rhetoric.
I don’t know if a statewide candidate can campaign for order and win despite what Portland is like. I hope so…
You and I don't agree on a lot Peter but you have a point. He has a handsome, weathered look of someone who works. Someone who can relate to those who call their PPE a thick pair of gloves and solid boots. He could pull this off.
Good advice, Peter. Law and order ought to be a huge issue in this campaign. protracted disorder and violent chaos begets vigilantism begets self defense verdicts begets frustration and more disorder in a downward spiral.
No saying ‘broken windows’ excessive enforcement works. But do attack the structural basis of crime: homelessness, drug addiction, and poverty. Think big solutions on this and other big social problems.
Great column.
Oregon needs a “change agent,” though I wouldn’t predict Betsy Johnson or any Republican to have a good chance over yet another party machine functionary. The powers and money that run that will not want to let go. Look at the last gubernatorial race and the last SOS race. Though the election of Dennis Richardson proved that Oregonians do have limits and can do the smart thing.
Kristof *seems like* a possible breath of fresh air. You’re telling him to put some substance in it.
We’ll see.
(Mr Trigoboff, didn’t know you were in the metro area.)
Oregon elect a republican Governor?
Talk about wasting money!
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