Sons and Fathers by Daniel Goodwin

Sons and Fathers by Daniel Goodwin

Author:Daniel Goodwin
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Linda Leith Publishing
Published: 2014-01-15T00:00:00+00:00


ALLAN

Sixteen years after I was first elected, and the day after I won the leadership race, Eli came into my office and dropped a CD on my desk. We had both been in the office since 7 a.m., and he was interrupting my careful reading of the leadership transition briefing documents. I’d only had about two hours sleep, but already the previous night’s victory was a distant memory. I remembered a few things, like Katherine smiling and standing beside me and holding my hand as the final ballots were tallied in the convention centre, and Eli on the other side, arms pumping the air like a prizefighter’s ecstatic cornerman, and my father standing next to Eli. My father was clapping and fighting back the tears I had only ever seen in his eyes once before, when his mother died before her time. I was smiling and waving and looking good for the cameras, but all I could help thinking was that I somehow didn’t deserve it, that I was too young. And although any normal human being would have been enjoying himself, relishing the moment, my Presbyterian genes were in complete control, and my thoughts were already focused on the next race.

Eli sat down across from me. “Please watch this at home.”

He looked uncharacteristically nervous, so I glanced at the CD and returned to my reading. “What is it?”

“It’s the first cut of our first-ever assertive ads.” He was being clever with words and I wondered, for the first time ever, if I’d misplaced my trust in him.

I put down the papers. “Eli, years ago you and I decided we’d never run attack ads. This is anthrax. Why are you giving it to me?” I was speaking to him like my father used to talk to me when I was a boy and was being disobedient, and he was trying to sound caring and reasonable.

“I remember our position when we were starting off. Just hear me out. For the sake of argument.”

I signaled okay with a dip of my chin.

“You agree that attack ads will be run against us?”

“Yes.”

“Do you remember the Willie Horton ad?”

I nodded, but grudgingly.

“Do you remember the swiftboating of John Kerry?”

I nodded again.

“Do you agree that attack ads work?”

I didn’t like being led to conclusions like a donkey to water. “I’ll admit they’ve worked in the past. However, I’d argue that in both those cases, the Democrats made the fatal error of not responding quickly enough and hard enough. They let the negative framing of their policies and character stand.”

“You’re right, but no matter how quickly or effectively you respond, you are responding. You’re going second. You’re on the defensive. You’re playing black in a chess game. You’re working hard to tell people that you are not a crook. And once you are called a crook out loud, it never leaves the public’s mind, no matter how hard, and sometimes because of how hard, you work to refute it.” Eli’s initial nervousness was gone. He was speaking passionately but logically, not trying too hard to sell.



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