Robert Sharp

Pupil Barrister

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The Bigger Gaffe

18 January 2009 / / 0 Comments

Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight fame dissects the demographics of the recent US elections in Esquire:

If Bill Clinton was the first black president, then Barack Obama might be the first urban one. He is the only American president in recent history to seem unembarrassed about claiming a personal residence in a major American city.

And the future of America is urban, with populations in cities growing much faster than in the reliably Republican rural areas.  They’re also easier to canvas.
During the election campaign (or was it the Primary campaign, its all a bit of a blur), Obama’s one gaffe was to pity rural voters who “cling to religion and guns.”  He was universally panned at it threatened to compartmentalise him as a candiate without mass appeal.  The gaffe went through several news cycles.  Meanwhile, John McCain and Sarah Palin spent their entire campaign proudly drawing a distinction between urban elites and the so-called “real” America in the rural areas.  At the time, it seemed to be your normal, run-of-the-mill Republican campaign rhetoric.  With hindsight, it was one huge gaffe.

Update

Just remembered this link, which describes the “Bittergate” gaffe, how it came to be reported, and the tough decision taken by the ‘citizen journalist’ who reported it.

“A candidate should never play political scientist”

The Convention on Modern Liberty

18 January 2009 / / 3 Comments

Writing in the Observer, Henry Porter advertises the convention, to be held on 28th February at various locations throughout the United Kingdom.

But this is no awayday for MPs, because in some sense the convention is a challenge to a parliament. For a brief moment, we will be airing the issues that haven’t been heard in the Commons this past decade, because Labour has all but anaesthetised the business of the chamber to push through its laws.

The website is now tested and live at www.modernliberty.net.  Please tell your friends, spread the word, and buy a ticket.  That other site of mine, LiberalConspiracy, is a supporter too.

Beta-testing

16 January 2009 / / 3 Comments

I’m proud to have been drafted in to help the Convention on Modern Liberty create a new design for their – our – WordPress website.The site will be updated  tomorrow to reflect the changes.
Another site to launch recently is LabourList, a party blog that has managed to draw many senior government and party figures to contribute. It went for a “soft launch” last week, and currently carries the notice

Beta Test Site – Official Launch 12th February 2009

However, that hasn’t stopped folk like Iain Dale writing reviews of the site, run by Derek Draper, pointing out its failings as a worthy challenger to ConservativeHome and its ilk on the political right.
As a director of 59 Productions, I was (until 2007) involved in many a theatrical production, ranging from site-specific work in Scotland to high-budget productions at the National Theatre and the London Coliseum.  With all these productions, it was standard practice to have one or more preview shows, effectively public dress rehearsals, where not only were creases ironed out of the staging, but often entire scenes were cut or reworked to make it more effective.  Beta-testing for live performance.  In each case, critics understand the fact that the previews do not necessarily represent the production in the way the director envisages.  They respect the effective embargo (to borrow a term from press releases) on reporting and reviewing the performance.  They wait until opening night.
It is perhaps a sign that the act of blogging is still in its immaturity, that the concept of holding off on judgement is not applied to the launch of blogs and websites, in the same way as it is for other forms of expression.

Obama's 100 Days for Human Rights

12 January 2009 / / 0 Comments

Effective online campaigns often draw in supporters by asking them to do something simple, such as signing a petition or sending an e-mail.  Effective lobbyists usually asks for small, well defined, incremental steps, that a Government can act upon for a quick public releations “win”.
Amnesty’s Obama’s 100 Days Campaign uses both these insights (from the field of behavioural economics, all the rage in 2008) to lobby the incoming administration on Human Rights.  Despite the fact that Obama is massively popular, he still requires a great deal of political capital to push back some of the human rights abuses enacted during President Bush’s eight disastrous years.
Not many people have signed the petition yet.  Why not add your name to the list?

Imagination and Perversity in Politics

11 January 2009 / / 1 Comment

In commenting on my previous post, Conceptual Reality felt that I was debasing the suffering of the Palestinians by describing Israel’s attacks as “lacking imagination”.  Its worth making some more notes on this.
First, the kind of thinking I am lamenting is nowhere more starkly illustrated, than in yesterday’s Times editorial, ‘In Defense of Israel’, where the paper notes that

70 such rockets were launched from Gaza into Israel in December. This was the criminal act that triggered the current crisis

as if the one and only possible response to these atrocities was a military onslaught that the same article labels a “vision of hell”.
“Meet fire with fire” is the council.  “An Eye for an Eye” is the creed.  “Visit each atrocity back on them, ten-fold” seems to be the doctrine.  When I lament a lack of imagination, I think its just another way of yearning for some new thinking, an alternative route out of the mire.
It seems to me – it has always seemed to me – that there is a virtue in counter-intuitive thinking.  That is, doing the opposite of what is expected of you, the opposite of what your gut demands.  Maybe even the opposite of what the electorate expects.  There is actually great power in turning the other cheek: Just look at Ghandi, who foiled an Empire.  Look at Desmond Tutu who averted a blood-feud that could have lasted for generations.  Look at Christ!
Consider the messy world of Realpolitik: I hate to segue straight from Jesus to Barack Obama, but the manner in which the President-Elect turned his foes attacks against them is worth noting.  While all manner of political mud was thrown at him, he ignored each attack.  He conspicuously declined to retaliate.  In doing so, his opponents were illuminated as the dirty players.  Their poor style of leadership, and their lack of solutions, were also thrown into sharp relief.  They were portrayed as leading America into a dead-end.
Politics in Gaza is more deadly, but has some similarities.  The Venn diagramme of possible solutions depends on the opinions of the people, and with imagination, patience and leadership, these can be shifted.  But it requires stepping outside the cycle of violence.  Whoever achieves this will be a great man or woman.  We don’t yet know who they will be, or which country they will be from.
Returning to this idea of counter-intuitive solutions:  I think perversity is a virtue here.  It seems to be important elsewhere in political philosophy.  Votaire/Tallentyre’s famous adage that

I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it

has a certain perverse quality to it – the words of someone who is willfully and stubbornly putting principle before gut-feeling and common sense. Yet it underpins the principle of freedom of speech.  It seems equally perverse for us to be defending the human rights of murderers, terrorists and genocidal maniacs, yet in doing so, we uphold and strengthen those rights for everyone.
Transcending the common urge for revenge, the urge to follow the “natural law”, is what makes us better and civilised.  But this transcendence requires a leap of the collective imagination.  No-one in a position of power is showing any inclination to make that leap at present.  How to do so?  I note that for the three beacons I mentioned earlier (Ghandi, Tutu, Christ), religion is a common thread…

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