2013

East Stroudsburg University Steven Natiello

THE HOPE INSTITUTE 2013

This document is a brief essay detailing key aspects and lessons from the Hope Institute 2013. The content of this essay is not comprehensive and is not officially endorsed by the Democratic National Committee. This essay reflects the views and values of the author alone.

Natiello You are the future of the Democratic Party and the country... One of you will become President of the United States. --Vice President Joe Biden to the Hope Fellows during his appearance at the 2013 Hope Institute summit. Hope. At 4:09pm on Wednesday June 12, 2013, the Amtrak train pulled into the Washington D.C. Union Station, about three minutes ahead of schedule. I had arrived in the nations capital, excited for the days to come and still completely unaware of the magnitude of the experience that was about to completely affirm my career path. I was about to join 39 other applicants chosen from a pool of over 400 from around the nation in a three-day summit that would reinforce the lessons I had learned in class, and allow me to plant the seeds of a promising network of allies and compatriots. We 40 were about to become the second generation of graduates from a program initiated by one of the most historic American leaders of all time. We were about to become Hope Fellows. The experience was simultaneously uplifting and humbling. Initially created in 2005 by then-Senator Barack Obama and halted until the 2013 iteration, the program was designed to allow promising Democrats to benefit from and be inspired by the brightest minds in the Party. The goal was simple: to instill the knowledge and experience in young Democrats to bolster the party moving forward. The experience proved an incredible affirmation to the knowledge, skills, and recent political history that I had studied in both my undergraduate years as a student of Communication Studies and as in my first two semesters pursuing an M.A. in Political Science. The Hope Institute illuminated the vast range of backgrounds and personalities that constitute the makeup of the Democratic Party; participants came not only from traditionally blue states like California and New York, but from Alabama and Texas as well. Our backgrounds ranged from my two semesters in political science to my roommates Stanford degree and years of experience working on campaigns with prominent Democrats. Working alongside and learning from and about so many Democrats reminded me of the Party, and indeed the countrys incredible diversity and proved that I still have a lot to learn before I can operate on the level of the guest speakers like Jim Messina and Robert Gibbs. Those few days interacting with some of the most influential people in the country completely affirmed my decision to pursue a career in politics. 1

Natiello The firsthand experience with people like Lucas Fleischer, DNC Digital Director, and Mindy Meyers, the campaign advisor of Senator Elizabeth Warren, inspired me and offered me invaluable insight to pursue my career in Political Communications and apply every lecture and every lesson toward giving back to the community that continues to move forward. The first speaker was none other than David Plouffe, the campaign manager who directed President Obamas incredible rise against the odds and author of The Audacity of Hope, the very book that had engrossed my attention since I had purchased it a few days prior. Hearing him speak was like having his book read aloud except so much more candidly, so much more openly. Plouffe described to us his experiences on the campaign trail, from his initial hesitation and intent to retire to that final harrowing moment before the election was called for Obama. He related his concerns for his family, the strengths of their revolutionary grassroots campaign strategy, and the campaigns failure to nullify the Reverend Wright story from the beginning. His emphasis, however, remained with the Message, and the struggle to stay on-message throughout the duration of an increasingly difficult campaign. Like his early failures during the Democratic primary against the behemoth candidate Hillary Clinton, he laid his personal failures and explained to us exactly how he fulfilled his role in aiding the would-be president. Plouffe reminded us that this strategy, this diligent adherence to Obamas message of hope and change, would ultimately elect the next president with one of the highest portions of the popular vote in American history (Plouffe 2009). By most academic accounts, the Message remains distinct from a generic message in that it embodies more than just a careful selection of words. The Message is an ideal, a sentiment sculpted to reflect a very specific value and elicit a very specific response (Tuman 2008, Powell and Cowart 2012). A good Message, Plouffe and most of the other Hope speakers agreed, is one that transcends the campaign and even the candidate. The Message is a concept that represents the American people as a whole and attests to a powerful common sentiment (Graber 2011, Nielsen 2012. Public perception is impossible to control, but the discussion can be shifted using the agenda settings strategy toward topics that more favorably reflect the cause or candidate (Holian, 2004). These concepts are intellectual when described in purely academic terms, however, and can be difficult to move beyond the abstract. Before the Institute, I had read about 2

Natiello how David Plouffe and David Axelrod made key decisions to inoculate and diffuse the Reverend Wright crisis, but actually listening to Plouffe and engaging in that two-way dialogue brought experiences to life in a way that a textbook rarely can. Whereas the first night discussions with David Plouffe and several Hope Institute alumni were largely anecdotal and preparatory in nature, the emphasis in the coming days proved to be much more future-oriented. The sessions with celebrated Democrats like Jim Messina, White House Deputy Chief of Staff of Operations and former Senior Campaign Advisor to the Obama 2012 campaign, and DNC Chairperson Debbie Wasserman-Schultz were packed with helpful, even inspirational advice backed up with firsthand experiences that is rarely repeated within earshot of the press. Many of this advice aligned directly with the lessons and direction drawn from my classes, albeit with very different, much more colloquial language. Plouffes account had reminded the Hope Fellows of the value of integrity and discipline when staying on-message, and Jim Messinas account the next day drove home the importance of crafting the message with insight, creativity, and most of all, trust. Campaigns are in essence organic entities with a strong chaotic element, yet campaign staff must adhere to a single coherent message that not only embodies the candidate, the campaign, and the cause, but also reflects the constituents. Messina reminded the Fellows that campaigns arent run but instead are guided as mass entities with ever-shifting components ranging from unruly volunteers on the ground to unpredictable donors and candidate gaffes (Davidson 2012, PolitiFact 2012, Capehart 2012, Nielsen 2012). Nevertheless, the campaign managers must plan creatively to address the inevitable October Surprise and the other countless crises that arise. A strong team of trusting and trustworthy individuals must be assembled and directed by the vision of the candidate and the discipline of the campaign manager toward a common cause. (Messina, Hope Institute 2013). The discussion with Messina always returned to honesty and trust. Know your cause, know your target, and always tell the truth... Be Better, he had reflected between his wistful musings about his interactions with Katy Perry and the President at the DNC National Convention in 2012. He spoke to the Hope Fellows with charisma and authority; having succeeded in an electoral upset that shocked even Gallup, he described his methodology with refreshing candor. 3

Natiello Starting with focus groups, Messina set out to identify the publics perception of Democrats and Republicans alike. Meanwhile, he spoke with Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of Google, Inc. In that fateful meeting, Schmidt gave him a single piece of advice that would shape the campaign and prove instrumental in winning the election: Hire no one who has ever worked in politics (Messina, Hope Institute 2013). This in mind, Messina proceeded to divide the traditional campaign committees into diversified teams, incorporating staff from finance, tech, and across the board into small subgroups to manage key campaign components. He trusted the tech team, even when they decided to restart their project six months in because the whole thing [was] useless (Messina, Hope Institute 2013). The end result, Jim told the Hope Fellows, was a campaign that defied traditional logic. The coordination and high level of trust and coordination brought the door-to-door success rate from 25% to 78% while simultaneously awarding average Americans the chance to play key roles of interpersonal advocacy. Corporate marketing principles maintain that the most successful form of advocacy is word-of-mouth (Griffin 2009), and the structure Messina implemented within the Obama 2012 campaign employed millions of Americans as accredited opinion leaders in a new, ongoing conversation channel of the two-step communication flow (Messina, Hope Institute 2013, Katz & Lazarsfeld 1955). A notion that stuck out from both the discussions with the DNC and the lectures in class was that the Presidents remarkable success originated from the very people whom he vowed to serve. Jim Messina, David Plouffe, and David Axelrod had each served invaluable roles in the campaigns, but their success came from their ability to inspire and channel the passion of a nation that was ready to stand together for change into a single timeless patriotic act on Election Day. Each DNC official who spoke to the Hope Fellows throughout the summit beamed with a certain sense of pride: not pride in themselves, but in the country they cherished so dearly. It was a pride shared by the American people who so decisively chose the leader whom they trusted most with the vision to move the nation forward. It was a pride that I found at once humbling and exhilarating. The Hope Institute was too short, yet the brief experience conveyed lifetimes of passion, failure, determination, and triumph. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs reminded us that 4

Natiello our time to serve is short, so dont be comfortable. Eric Schultz, Special Assistant to the President and Deputy Press Secretary continued: Opportunity knocks all the time. Do you have the courage to open the door? Do you have the courage to open the door for someone else? (Schultz, Hope Institute 2013). Ultimately, thats what politics should be about. The moment a door is opened, each person should be thinking about how a door can be opened for someone else. The single trait shared by every person present was a genuine desire to serve. The desire was nearly tangible, and clearly evident in the passion in each voice. When Debbie WassermanSchultz described her perseverance in the face of adversity, every Hope Fellow retraced the journey with her. I had to work harder than anyone else she had said, and assume that I would have no or very little help (Wasserman-Schultz 2013). She won that first election with 53% of the popular vote in a 6-way race. She knew was she wanted, and she focused until she won. Looking forward, I know the road wont be easy. I have since applied for work within the DNC and I will continue to apply until Ive found the niche that best applies the skills Ive learned in class and the insights I gained from unique experiences like the Hope Institute. Ive worked hard, but I will need to work harder if I want to truly give back to this incredible and diverse national community. The knowledge and experience that the DNC staff brought to the Hope Institute wasnt handed to them freely: Lucas Fleischer worked 60 hours per week before he was hired as a staffer. Each guest at the Hope Institute earned his or her experience by the sweat and tears of perseverance; by the setbacks and failures and triumphs on the campaign trail; by the courage and convictions and the nitty gritty of disciplined messaging and the diversity that distinguishes the Democratic Party. Each person sacrifice so that they could amplify a voice and make the biggest difference (Fleischer, Wasserman-Schultz, Woodhouse, Hope Institute 2013). They serve because they are the body that represents America, and they came to visit us Hope Fellows because they believe in what we have to offer. I will work hard to serve because I believe that this proud and diverse nation deserves nothing less than the best we all have to offer.

Natiello Works Cited Capehart, Jonathan. "Mitt Romney Trashes the 47 Percent." Washington Post. The Washington Post, 17 Sept. 2012. Web. June 2013. Davidson, Amy. "Mitts Forty-Seven-Per-Cent Problem." The New Yorker. Cond Nast, 18 Sept. 2012. Web. June 2013. Flowers, Julianne, Audrey Haynes and Michael Crespin. 2003. The Media, the Campaign, and the Message. American Journal of Political Science, 47(2), pp. 259-273. JSTOR Graber, Doris A. Media Power in Politics. Washington, DC: CQ, 2011. Print. Griffin, Emory A. A First Look at Communication Theory. Boston: McGraw-Hill Higher Education, 2009. Print. Holian, David. 2004. Hes Stealing My Issues! Clintons Crime Rhetoric and Dynamics of Issue Ownership. Political Behavior, 26(2), pp. 95-124. JSTOR Nielsen, Rasmus Kleis. Ground Wars: Personalized Communication in Political Campaigns. Princeton: Princeton UP, 2012. Print. "Mitt Romney Says 47 Percent of Americans Pay No Income Tax." PolitiFact. PolitiFact.com, 18 Sept. 2012. Web. June 2013. Obama, Barack, Joe Biden, Lucas Fleischer, Robert Gibbs, Jim Messina, David Plouffe, Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, and Brad Woodhouse. "Hope Institute 2013." 2013 Hope Institute. Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Washington, DC. June 2013. Lecture. Plouffe, David. The Audacity to Win: The inside Story and Lessons of Barack Obama's Historic Victory. New York: Viking, 2009. Print. Powell, Larry, and Joseph Cowart. Political Campaign Communication: Inside and out. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 2003. Print. Tuman, Joseph S. Political Communication in American Campaigns. Los Angeles: Sage Publications, 2008. Print.