By Arch Lustberg 
A story is circulating about Tom Coughlin, coach of the New York football Giants. His team was having a so-so season. His relationships with the players were frayed. His style was dictatorial. He was cutting, nasty, cruel. Someone suggested that he make a u-turn and talk to his players with the love he showed his grandchildren. He thought it was a great image. He tried it.
 
Need I tell you that his team went on to win the Super Bowl? The players gave him the extra effort he now deserved. 

What does this have to do with the 2008 Presidential Election?  Everything.

 

Nothing works like the open face, which I call making intellectual love to the audience. It's the face we produce when we talk to a baby. We also need silent pauses with relaxed, steady eye contact to attract audiences. 
 
Those are the techniques that inspire us to find our candidates competent and likable. John McCain and Hillary Clinton - and even the president-elect - could have benefitted from some training.
 
There were a few things I learned from watching election '08, and there were even more things I was sure I already knew and that this election strongly reinforced:
  
In a debate or in a big venue, everyone forgets the microphone and yells. No one enjoys being yelled at, making it difficult to call any one of them an effective speaker.  Early on, Barack Obama gave two major speeches from the heart, and he soared past Hillary Clinton, who never did learn to "love her audience." 
 
There is much to like about Hillary. She demonstrated it brilliantly in New Hampshire when she became a real human being, and again when she did a warm interview on (of all places) Fox News. There too few of those intimate moments.
 
Here are some of the lessons I learned from Election '08:
 
Obama didn't win. First, Hillary lost. Then, McCain lost. McCain changed from the loose, "Straight Talk Express" guy, to the man willing to do anything, no matter how unlike his pleasant, honest self, to get elected.  His years of captivity, torture and willingness to cross party lines could have carried him. 

 

 And, of course, there's "My friends." It irritated even the most ardent supporters.
 
What can I say about Sarah Palin? By selecting her, McCain threw himself on his sword. She appealed to people who were already leaning McCain's way. There was no way the evangelical right was going to vote for Obama. Sure, it helped people who weren't certain they were going to participate in this election make up their mind, but his selection was obviously opportunistic and not worthy of the country-first image he was so eager to project.
 
While I believe that Joe the Plumber has already vanished from the public scene, having no value to the constituency he's trying to build, Sarah Palin will be getting offers from entertainment industry agents eager to sign her to a book deal.

 

Palin is far more marketable as a fun celebrity than as a serious, national political figure. She's far more credible in a league with Kelly Ripa and Kathy Lee Gifford than one with Hillary Clinton.

John McCain's best moment in the campaign was his concession speech. Too late, Senator.

 

 The opinions expressed are not necessarily those of CSG/ERC. Mr. Lustberg is a media trainer at CSG/ERC's Eastern Leadership Academy.

CSG/ERC is a non-partisan organization that provides a forum for new ideas; promotes successful state and regional policy innovations; advocate smulti-jurisdictional problem solving; offers leadership training and technical assistance; serves as a catalyst for public/private dialog; forecasts policy trends affecting the region and represent regional interests at the federal level.