Making the Most of Mom
Obama needs to use her story to connect with voters.
On the trail, Barack Obama barely mentions his Kenyan father or his father's family. In town halls, commiserating about everyday struggles—health care, education, jobs—he'll say, "I have an experience about that," and then launch into a tale drawn from his upbringing. He was reared by a "single mom" who sometimes relied on food stamps, he says, and by her parents: a grandpa who fought in World War II and a grandma who worked at a defense plant. Diligent and unassuming, they built a comfortable-enough life for him in Honolulu. "My story is your story," he says.
Obama got his dreams from his father. But now he has to get his votes from his mother. That will be the aim of much of the pageantry at the Democratic convention. In the saga of Ann Dunham and her parents, the campaign sees a mother lode of votes: a biographical "narrative" to show he understands the economic fears and cultural cues of white middle-class voters in swing states.
This narrative has multiple strands. One is about humble origins, a potent claim to office that traces back to the early 19th-century frontier. "It's an only-in-America story," says Anita Dunn, an Obama staffer, "in which a skinny kid with big ears and a funny name makes it to the top." Another more important thread is empathy, a qualification that traces back to the late-20th-century campaigns of Bill Clinton. "The point of biography is that he understands economic struggle," says Mark Mellman, a Democratic strategist unaffiliated with the campaign. As participants in the Good War, Obama's grandparents give him a route into stories of national sacrifice and patriotism. And it goes without saying—by the Obama campaign, at least—that his mother's family is white, which will reassure some voters. Earlier this summer, the campaign launched its first national bio spot, which featured the Dunhams and, other than the candidate, had barely a glimpse of African-Americans.
Conventions are the Olympics of political messaging—a rare chance (along with the debates) to address a mass audience in an age of media fragmentation. So Obama won't use all of the time to talk about himself. Indeed, much of the talk is scripted to be an attack on John McCain. "The Republican brand is so weak," says Simon Rosenberg, a Democratic strategist. "You pound him." Conservative Republicans, who have little regard for McCain, agree. "[Democrats] don't need to focus on Obama at all," says author-consultant Craig Shirley. "It's an 'economy, stupid' election, and that's all they say."
But bionarrative has become integral to, and unavoidable at, conventions. In 1988, the GOP event featured a stirring video about the wartime life of Vice President George H.W. Bush. In 1992, Hollywood TV director Harry Thomason turned his sitcom skills to the times of Bill Clinton, producing "A Man From Hope." (This year, Thomason is working for Hillary Clinton, who negotiated to show her own video tribute in Denver.) This week, speaking before what is expected to be some 70,000 supporters, Obama will note the historical resonance of the date: the 45th anniversary of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech. But before Obama arrives on the podium, the audience will see an eight-minute video. Davis Guggenheim, who won an Academy Award for "An Inconvenient Truth," directed the film. "It's very much a look at Barack as a person," says Dunn. "We wanted people to have a sense that they know him better." If they do, they'll learn about a man shaped not only by distant dreams, but by what for many is an American, and familiar, childhood.
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Howard Fineman is Newsweek's Senior Washington Correspondent and Columnist, senior editor and deputy Washington bureau chief. He is the author of "Living Politics," a column that began on MSNBC.COM and Newsweek.com and that now also appears in the print magazine. An award-winning reporter and writer, Fineman also is an analyst for NBC News and MSNBC, appearing regularly on "Countdown with Keith Olbermann," "Hardball with Chris Matthews" and "TODAY." The author of scores of Newsweek cover stories, Fineman's work has appeared as well in The New York Times, The Washington Post and The New Republic. His 2008 national best-selling book, "The Thirteen American Arguments," was released in paperback by Random House in the spring of 2009.
One of the nation's leading political reporters, Fineman has interviewed every major presidential candidate from (then-vice president) George H.W. Bush in 1985 to (then senator) Barack Obama early and often in the 2008 campaign cycle. His current work focuses on the Obama Administration and its top officials, as well as on Congress and politics throughout the country. Although based in Washington, Fineman travels widely in the U.S. and has covered politics and other events in 49 of the 50 states.
Fineman's work has produced many milestones and awards. A cover story in November 2001 featured President George W. Bush's first extensive interview after 9/11. Another cover, "Bush and God," was part of a series of articles that won the 2003 National Magazine Award for General Excellence. His reporting has helped Newsweek win many honors from the Magazine Publishers Association and the American Journalism Review. Other awards include a "Page One" from the Headliners Club of New York, a "Silver Gavel" from the American Bar Association and a "Deadline Club" from the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ). In 2006 he received the Alumni Award from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism.
As a reporter and writer, Fineman ranges widely. Besides campaign-year covers, other projects have included: race and politics, the impact of digital technology on society, the influence of Hollywood on politics, the rise of the religious right and of conservative talk radio. He has interviewed business leaders such as George Soros, Bill Gates, Steve Case and Robert Rubin and entertainment figures such as Warren Beatty, Jane Fonda and Jay Leno.
Although now under exclusive television contract to NBC, Fineman over the years has appeared on major public affairs shows, such as Nightline, Face the Nation, Fox News Sunday, Larry King Live, Charlie Rose and the NewsHour. He was a regular panelist on Washington Week in Review on PBS (1983-95) and on CNN's Capital Gang Sunday (1995-98). He worked with Ted Koppel on Nightline specials, and has been a guest on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" and "The Colbert Report."
A native of Pittsburgh, Fineman began his career at The Courier-Journal in Louisville, covering the environment, the coal industry and state politics before joining the newspaper's Washington bureau in 1978. He moved to Newsweek in 1980, was named chief political correspondent in 1984, deputy Washington bureau chief in 1993, senior editor in 1995 and senior Washington correspondent and columnist in 2008.
Fineman holds an A.B., Phi Beta Kappa, from Colgate, an M.S. in journalism from Columbia and a J.D. from the Brandeis School of Law at the University of Louisville. His legal education included a year as a visiting student at the Georgetown University Law Center. He received Watson and Pultizer Traveling Fellowships for study in Europe, Russia and the Middle East, and has traveled to more than 40 countries, among them China, Vietnam, Japan, Ukraine, Israel, Turkey and the West Bank Palestinian Territories.
Fineman is married to Amy L. Nathan, a senior counsel at the Federal Communications Commission. They live in Washington with their two children, Meredith and Nicholas.
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