Rove to the Next Guy: Report to the Principle Immediately

In my last tip, I outlined the belief system that needs to be the fundamental underpinnings of a political platform. Instead of racing to develop policy (as liberals love to do), let's practice some good ol' fashioned diligence and first create a set of guiding principles that will inform future policy decisions:

Guiding Principles Drawn from Beliefs

We Believe America is the Best Place for All Americans to Live, Grow, and Prosper

• America is a better country when all Americans are better off tomorrow than they are today.
  
• Americans prosper when they have good jobs, good friends, a loving family, and can afford to enjoy themselves.

We Represent Keeping America Beautiful

• Our children deserve a country that is beautiful no matter where they live, visit, or play: our land, our seas, our cities, our plains, our hills, our valleys.

We Represent Keeping America Free

• Religious freedom and freedom of religion
  
• Americans are free to chose their own individual paths in life
  
• Freedom to enjoy life as long as it's within the laws we've set for conduct
  

We Represent Fairness to our Neighbor

• The next door neighbor
  
• The next town over
  
• The next city over
  
• The next country over
  
• The next civilization over
  
• No matter what their beliefs, it's our duty to be fair
  

We Represent Real Democratic Leadership

• Take the lead in human rights and democratic values
  
• Stay aware of the world, so we can continue to lead
  
• Invest in innovation, so Americans can continue to lead the world
  
  • Continue America's rich history of world-class innovation
    
  • From Coal & Steel, to Ford, to Coke, to Finance, to Internet, to Beyond!
    

We Represent Safety and Security

• A 3-tiered Safety and Security Principle:
  
  • National Defense : Enhance military to handle insurgency wars
    
  • Local Policing/Safety: Enhance local police to handle domestic insurgencies (ie., gangs)
    
  • Health & Wellness: Enhance healthcare to protect Americans' physical safety
    

We Represent Americans Working Together

• We Americans have more common ground than differences
  
• When we unite in our common ground, we ensure success for our future!
  
• When we focus on our differences, we waste our time and energy
  

In future tips, we will drill into these principles, and explain how these will not only create a spiritual gravity that attracts voters all over America, but will also help infuse some much-needed confidence, which will then reassert itself as an attractive force. It will be the positive feedback loop required to take control of the national dialog.

Rove to The Next Guy: It's Time for a Paradigm

Next Guy,

John did his best considering who he is and how he operates. Did his campaign use the advice laid out on Kerrys Karl Rove to help them win? We'll never know for sure. For what it's worth, I did hear the term "abuse" come up in one or two stump speeches, but that was clearly not enough.

John did not immerse himself in a real strategic campaign. There was no diligence in developing the vision, mission, and goals of the campaign. The Kerry campaign was totally tactical, and based on the energy of anger and resentment. As a result, the people who were full of BushHate voted, and the rest yawned and said that they'd rather have a guy who represented something, at least, in the White House, even if he is an abusive, misleading, miscalculating, misinformed bully.

This is what happens when you're out-strategized.

The point of all this is, the opposition party needs a Rovian Strategist that not only exists (many do, including yours truly), but strategists that the party leaders respect and defer to consistency. Let's hope that the Next Guy has this level of discipline.

So, Next Guy, let's start defining the new paradigm now. Paradigm? Yes, paradigm. No policies, no plans, no positions... not yet. If people don't see an alternate paradigm, they will continue to live in and support the current paradigm that "W" has graciously defined for us.

The new paradigm needs a name, which will emerge as we define it. For the time being, let's just call it "D10" (for those of you playing at home, that's Democrat + 2 + 0 + 0 + 8)

The D10 Paradigm

Beliefs:

We Believe America is the Best Place to Live, Grow, and Prosper
We Believe in Keeping America Beautiful
We Believe in Keeping America Free
We Believe in Fairness to our Fellow Man
We Believe in America's Leadership
We Believe Americans Deserve Safety and Security
We Believe in Americans Working Together

Can any American argue with these? Of course not. That's the point -- if your core beliefs are universally agreeable, then once you communicate these beliefs, you no longer will have explain your positions. They will explain themselves, because you're going to tie each position to a core belief.

However, you cannot simply tie a belief to a position. You need to generate a set of guiding principles that are based upon your beliefs. The next tip will take us from beliefs to principles. Stay tuned.

Rove to Democrats: Jesus is Not the DNC Chair

Democrats,

In light of the election results and exit polls touting "morals" as the key agenda, we've already heard many of you gleefully quoting the Bible, as if you've all suddenly become born-agains. Bridging the culture divide is critical, but pandering is pathetic.

You're embarrassing all of us. Stop it.

Hang tight -- we're working on a paradigm shifting strategy and political manifesto that will provide you with the real moral power source that you need to regain confidence, and win. In the meantime, please, stop with the political hackery.

Thank you.

About Our Karl Rove (along with "best of" reviews)

George W. Bush and the Republicans had a Karl Rove on staff in the White House for six years, and will have a Karl Rove (and disciples) in the wings for years to come. The Democrats have nothing even close.

To be clear, Our Karl Rove does not advocate nor replicate any "dirty deeds" that Karl Rove is infamous for. Instead, Our Karl Rove aims to leverage and expand on the political strategy, messaging, and branding, and counter-branding that Rove, Luntz, Card, Hughes and others have so effectively mastered.

This group of Republican operatives have effectively transposed marketing and PR best practices from big business into the political sphere, leaving the Democrats looking like rank amateurs in comparison.

This state of affairs is not good for America, because people respond to marketing even more than facts.

As a result, there is an unhealthy imbalance between the parties' ability to communicate their value to the American public. This boutique blog is designed to help Democrats regain this equality and balance.

On this blog, Karl Rovian advice will be delivered to a Democratic party that does not yet seem to value the power of brand, message, and political management as part of business of politics.

Note: Advice and political messaging will be published on this blog on an as-needed basis. As a result, this is not a traditional "daily" blog. Information will be posted only when high-quality information is prepared and developed.

We invite the Democratic party leaders and the Progressive Net Roots to exploit the insights and recommendations on this blog. Use them when you write op-eds. Use them when going on political talk shows. Use them to advise the candidates you work for. Let's change the debate by changing the framework in which we talk about our values.

With your support, insights, and comments, we can all create a better Karl Rove than the original. Let's roll.

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The editor of Our Karl Rove is a politically independent communications and technology professional. In conjunction with an advisory team, the editor of Our Karl Rove believes that it's critically important for the future of America that there are at least two healthy parties competing for the hearts and minds of Americans. Our Karl Rove is not based in the D.C. area, and is therefore not subject to the distortions of the establishment's political echo chamber.

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OKR REVIEWS
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"Our Karl Rove is the blog you should be glad that Democratic strategists don't seem to listen to." - Comment on the conservative Galley Slaves blog

Our Karl Rove Featured in an article by The Nation's Ari Melber.

"Every progressive needs to read this [blog]" - One foot in the clouds, one foot in political activism

"An attempt to simulate Rove's 'good twin'. Worth reading." - Joshua Rhys Taliesin O'Madadhain

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"As usual, Our Karl Rove is astute and on the money. But on this occasion particularly so. That dude amazes me with his ability to put his finger on the precise subtextual little things that nobody is really conscious of, but that everything hinges on. - A Million Dollar Arm and a Five Cent Head

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OKR is listed in Campaigns & Elections magazine.

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