Anatomy of a Failed Campaign (part 4/4)
“Win or lose, knowing it or not, Perot is the harbinger of a new era of direct democracy!” — Charles Krauthammer
Ross Perot Made Bill Clinton President
Perot invented political campaign marketing for the age of cable television. In 1992, he ran for president as an independent candidate. His polls nationwide qualified him to appear on the TV presidential debates with President George H. W. Bush and Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton. Just a year earlier, Bush had kicked out Saddam Hussein from Kuwait to protect Western crude oil supplies and was flying high on approval ratings north of 90%.
One year they say is a long time in politics. On election day, Perot received 18.9% of the votes cast, which created an unprecedented political upheaval that caused Bush to lose his reelection bid to Clinton. Many writers focus on how Perot used TV for his historic campaign, but they leave out the most important part — his use of data analytics and informatics to create a virtual counterpart to the Republican Party and Democratic Party structures and organization.
Politics in the Age of Information
In his previous life, Perot had been IBM’s best salesman and exceeder of targets. He left IBM to establish Electronic Data Systems, which marketed digital software support to large businesses, especially in health insurance. For his disruptive run for president, Perot tapped into his own specialization, then he deployed his company’s talent and salesforce to create the virtual organization that scaled up the goodwill and political capital he had around the country.
(Not that I want to put ideas in the head of Elon Musk.)
Obama 1.0 is a Model that should interest Peter Obi
Sixteen years later, Barack Obama perfected Perot’s tactics and strategy to become America’s first marketing and social networking president. However, Obama did two things differently:
First, where Perot ran an independent campaign, Obama worked the levers and acquired the Democratic Party. Thus, he was able to scale up and execute his ambition with a formal organization.
Second, where Perot spent more than $65 million of his own money, Obama raised nearly $640 million from 30 million supporters. His campaign set up online facilities that reached and received between $50 and $100 in small donations from supporters.
The Hard Way’s The Only Way
“I don’t expect LP or PDP to align with the APC. All I am calling for is a more rounded opposition with pragmatic views and solutions!” — @ruffydfire
Perhaps even Rufai’s call for an AG/UPN-style institutional opposition may have been overtaken by events. PDP’s inability to expel Mr. Nyesom Wike, former governor of Rivers State and now a super minister in Senator Tinubu’s cabinet, for anti-party activities is a cautionary tale for those who would inaugurate a new party. For eight years, Wike sustained the payroll of the PDP secretariat. That allowed him to grow bigger than the party. PDP has since been hollowed out.
The Labour Party is a nonstarter for the reasons I gave in the first part. Additionally, in early November, the NLC president, Comrade Joe Ajaero, was in Owerri to rally Nigerian workers. He was arrested by the police and thoroughly brutalized. Two weeks later, the NLC — which shares ideological afinity with LP — and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) tried to protest this brutality and called for nationwide strike. It failed miserably.
The civic associations have lost their capacity for mass action and relevance by atrophy.
It’s flight or fight!
I prefer peace. But if trouble must come, let it come in my time, so that my children can live in peace!” — Thomas Paine, American Founding Father
I think it’s up to our leaders to resolve an incongruency that has arisen from the campaign. The Obi-dient Movement, of which Peter Obi is the emotional and singular agency of aspirational leadership, is distinct and separate from any political platform. He could lead the movement out of the LP and form a rebranded sociopolitical association in-transition to a registered party.
This new association could discharge the following offices: communication, ideology, politics. mobilization, youth, welfare, and opposition research. And it can be powered by small donations from persons — at home and abroad — who are invested in his vision for a New Nigeria is PO-ssible which works for all. The story of the personal funds people invested in various aspects of the last campaign will be told at another time. Suffice it to say, it exceeded expectations.
Senator Tinubu and APC, with their monopoly of access to our common wealth, have successfully subverted all institutions of state. They are leading us to a one-party state. We must shake our inertia and build a super structure to deliver the vision of the youth.
https://medium.com/@vickynwugo/anatomy-of-a-failed-campaign-before-his-excellency-mr-7bccf2b3b78f
