A shifting Master Narrative

EVERY presidential campaign has a central storyline that produces all other stories, says Jay Rosen, professor at New York University. This Master Narrative is how the news media describe the campaign. Always shifting, it goes something like this:

Barack Obama, positive: Fresh face, great speaker, synonymous with "change," which country wants badly. Wildly popular with young people and African-Americans. Could redraw Electoral College map.

Obama, negative: Lacks federal government experience. Short on specifics. Some voters believe he's Muslim. Spent 20 years in church of crazed preacher. Has trouble with white working-class voters. Dissed rural Americans over guns and God. Tax-and-spend Democrat.

John McCain, positive: War hero, maverick, distance from unpopular president makes him most electable Republican. Fate tied to surge in Iraq.

McCain, negative: Elected during Pleistocene era. Sold soul to win nomination. Using standard GOP attacks - race, flag, and elitism. Hothead. Forgetful old man. Clueless on economy. Surrounded by lobbyists. Early low road has disturbed allies (and mother) and diminished him.

The 2004 Master Narrative. John Kerry was a decorated Vietnam veteran, an out-of-touch snob, and windsurfing flip-flopper who allowed his war record to be smeared into doubt. Bush was a goofball simpleton, draft dodger, and puppet of Dick Cheney and Karl Rove. His stubbornness made him seem safer in a post-9/11 world.

The best Master Narrative. Bill Clinton's storyline was admirable: A poor boy from a place called Hope, he overcame his circumstances, met President Kennedy, and went on to become governor and president. Constantly in hot water, he was an adroit counterpuncher with nine lives.

Who shapes the Master Narrative? Three cable news channels, CNN, Fox, and MSNBC, are major influences on the Master Narrative, according to Marty Kaplan, who directs the Norman Lear Center at the University of Southern California. Kaplan, who once wrote speeches for Vice President Walter Mondale, told me: "Matt Drudge rules the world." The right-wing aggregator of stories and opinion on his eponymous website, Drudge defines what's news and virtually dictates who's booked on cable TV news shows. His elite audience of reporters, columnists, and producers are eager to be listed on his continuously updated website and admit to checking it several times daily.

Other voices of the Master Narrative include the man with the worst case of attention deficit disorder on TV, the irrepressible Chris Matthews at MSNBC. Mark Shields on PBS and George Will of the Washington Post/Newsweek/ABC are regular contributors to the MN, as are David Brooks and Frank Rich of The New York Times, plus Howard Fineman at Newsweek and Joe Klein of Time. Bill O'Reilly's TV and radio popularity allows him to steer opinion on the right.

You get the answers to the questions you ask. McCain had been pitching that Obama was "risky." So when the NBC/Wall Street Journal pollsters asked voters which candidate seemed more risky, lo and behold, it was Obama by 16 points, validating riskiness as a storyline. Wonder what they would've found if they'd asked which one is more likely to start a war?

Kitchen sink, part 2. Ever since he returned from slaying his commander-in-chief dragon, Obama has been backpedaling. McCain, stuck in political neutral, had to try to shift the Master Narrative. He decided to do what Hillary Clinton had done: Throw the kitchen sink at Obama. Mock him. Ridicule him. Act macho. Call him The One (the anti-Christ). Twist his every position and carry it to its logical extreme. And like the Clintons, get race on the table.

No Gandhi. Lest he appear to be going the way of John Kerry and Mike Dukakis, Obama must take the campaign to McCain in strong, sustained terms. He cannot play Gandhi ("In no way was McCain's campaign being racist."). He must hit McCain fast and hard, a la Israel, which strikes back twice as hard as its attackers, to get them to stop. Politics, like war, is a self-policing business.

Déjà vu all over again? The Master Narrative shifts over time but can be hard to change once it sets. Obama's soft response to McCain's attacks has raised déjà vu fears among Democrats. Will we look back at this period as the time when yet another Democrat lost control of his storyline?

Dan Payne is a Boston-area media consultant who has worked for Democratic candidates around the country. He does political analysis for WBUR radio.