(MintPress) – He’s a constant presence in the U.S. political campaigning world. From television commercials to the tactics of political strategists, his philosophies and lessons live on, decades after his involvement in the U.S. election scene.
Even a victorious Mitt Romney would have famous Republican campaign strategist Lee Atwater to thank if Nov. 6 delivers a victory.
The reaction one might have to former Republican Atwater largely depends on where one lands on the political spectrum. To the far right, he’s a hero. To the left, he’s a villain. Those in the middle might remember the regret he showed at the end of his short life, when he attempted to apologize to those he hurt along the ladder of political success.
Regardless the impression of the man, there’s no denying he’s an influential figure in U.S. politics, one who worked behind the scenes to shape the way political campaigns are run today — on both sides of the aisle. This was a notion even recognized by film critic Roger Ebert, in a review of the documentary, “Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story.”
“A plausible case can be made that Lee Atwater was the greatest single influence on American politics in the last 40 years,” he wrote.
Negative ads work
“He wants to do for America what he’s done for Massachusetts” became a tag line of 1988 pro-Bush political campaign ads. That line followed a number of negative images regarding scenarios that occurred during Democratic presidential candidate Michael Dukakis’ time serving as governor.
It was Atwater’s first presidential race, and he pulled ahead with effective, negative campaign ads that labeled Dukakis as a weak leader who allowed hardened criminals to walk and turned his back against pollution in the Boston Harbor.
The man considered ruthless in his path to victory knew they worked. And, according to the results of the ‘88 election, they did.
Yet not all of the pro-Bush ads that year were negative — many of them focused on a positive Bush, one who was not only a war hero, but an everyday American guy.
“He realized they took the party of the rich, of corporations and turn it into the party of the working man and he did it brilliantly by putting George Senior into a cowboy hat, cowboy boots with a big Texas flag on the side having him eat pork rinds,” Stefan Forbes, director of the film, “Boogeyman,” said in an interview on National Public Radio’s On The Media.
He turned attention away from the Iran-Contra scandal, a situation many are still baffled over, by exposing a Massachusetts prison weekend pardon system. In particular, he used the face of Willie Horton, an African-American man who had been convicted of murder and was sentenced to life in prison, in a campaign ad that remains famous today.
With that one shocking campaign ad, media attention darted away from the Iran-Contra scandal and attacked the next hot issue, which was found in Horton. Atwater was successful in his diversion, and his candidate went on to win the election by a landslide.
It’s a tactic still used today. It was less than one month ago in which a secret video of Romney at a campaign fundraiser was leaked to the press. Perhaps most destructive for the campaign was a sound clip of Romney claiming he wasn’t concerned about 47 percent of the nation, as they were dependent on the government and would not change their vote.
The remarks caught on tape were incredibly damaging for the Romney campaign. But they still had the attacks in Libya that killed four Americans to focus on.
Within weeks, the nation was focused on the Obama administration’s handling of attacks in Libya — an issue the Romney campaign was sure not to let go of.
Romney had initially gone into attack mode, using the opportunity to hold a press conference and slam the president for what Romney claims was an apology of U.S. values — so the direction the campaign took was nothing new, but a continuation of what it had started.
“When our grounds are being attacked, and being breached, that the first response of the United States must be outrage at the breach of the sovereignty of our nation. An apology for America’s values is never the right course,” he said.
The thing is, Obama never did apologize for America’s values. While now it is known that the attacks in Libya that resulted in four deaths were not spilled over from protests regarding the anti-Muslim YouTube video, Obama at the time said the video did not represent the values of America.
Still, Romney went on to claim that Obama was sympathizing with those who attacked and killed the four Americans. Since that time, the Romney campaign has been successful in keeping the attention on the Libyan tragedy, and the Obama administration’s handling of the situation. In fact, when Americans hit the polls in November, the soundbite of Romney and the 47 percent will likely be out of the picture.
Romney’s first appearance in the presidential debate series knocked to the wayside the 47 percent comments, as he went into attack mode, putting the attention on Obama and the mistakes/failures he’s made over the last four years.
And it worked. Polls showed the conservative skyrocketing in the polls, with pundits claiming the corporate executive, who in the last two years made $45 million, came off as a regular guy — one whose concerns voters could identity with.
Karl Rove, Crossroads
Atwater’s presence is perhaps felt greatest in the world of Super Political Action Committees (PACs). Karl Rove was Atwater’s right hand man — or vice versa. In fact, Atwater’s first gig was managing Rove’s campaign to be elected president of the Young Republicans. Rove initially lost, but Atwater challenged the outcome,
It’s no surprise that Rove is now the founder of a “social welfare” organization, Crossroads, infamous for its political ads. Having worked the system in what some would describe as true Atwater fashion, Rove skirts around the campaign finance laws by calling his organization one dedicated to social welfare. With that title, he can keep his donors private — and still use the funds to create politically motivated campaign commercials for Romney.
The same themes seen in political advertisements in 1988 are seen in today’s Crossroads ads. And, of course, Democrats have taken on the same tactics, portraying their candidate as the down-to-earth man who Americans can relate with — while demonizing the opponent.
So, while Atwater set out to change the political climate of the Republican advertising machine, he in turn influenced the opposition party — and everything inbetween.