4/7/15
“The election is next week and the polls have me only slightly ahead,” said the president to his staff. “We need something dramatic to push people to re-elect me rather than believe my opponent’s promises for change.”
“Yes, sir,” said his campaign manager. “We should spend the remaining time reminding people of all the social programs you’ve created or expanded, then the day before the vote hit ’em hard with the message that they need you.”
“Good. I like that. But we need to make it clear that my programs are better than the ones the other guy is proposing. We don’t want him getting any traction on the base I’ve built.”
“Right. If only we could win the support of that group pushing for smaller government. We’d sure take the lead then. But they’re still following that third party guy. They’re what’s keeping us from getting a clear majority.”
The president thought about this for a moment, then his face brightened with an idea. “That final push you mentioned needs to be directed specifically at those hold outs. But word it in such a way that my supporters and my opponent’s supporters can get behind it too. Plus, I want you to put it out with the widest possible coverage — every TV station, radio station, and newspaper, every social media outlet, and as many billboards as you can get. Use every resource we have. This must be our biggest push.”
“Right.”
“But make sure it’s held until the last day. I want it to be fresh and have impact. And I don’t want my opponent or any critics to have time to respond to it or pick it apart. It should be the last thing they hear before voting.”
“Gotcha. Will do.”
A week later the president’s last minute push covered the country even more widely than he’d envisioned. This happened because as soon as the campaign ads with his final message hit the air, all of the news agencies and talk shows were commenting on it. Nearly every person in the country had either seen it or heard about it. The coverage was total.
There was just one small problem with the effort — the message being spread wasn’t what the president had wanted. In fact, its meaning, and the resulting effect, was exactly opposite of that intended. It all centered on the omission of a single word from the transmitted slogan.
“This is a disaster!” the president shouted. “Today’s ratings have me down nearly to the teens!”
“Well at least you’re not as low as your opponent,” said the campaign manager. “He’s already in the single digits. So you’re still ahead of him.”
“But he’s no longer the one I need to worry about. Look at the numbers for that third party guy. He’s about to hit 50%! And he’s still rising! Whose fault was this?!”
“We’ve been looking into that sir. I personally checked the ad copy to be sent to the agency, and it clearly had the word ‘NOT’ in it. In fact the phrase ‘CAN NOT’ was bolded and highlighted. So something got garbled, mistyped, or deleted between here and the final print order. The agency is checking their work orders and print files to see if they can find the break in the communication chain. But they haven’t got back to me yet.”
“Isn’t there any way we can retract it or call it back, or something?”
“No, sir. If you recall, you explicitly said to time the release so there wouldn’t be any time for rebuttal. But the good news is that voter optimism has nearly tripled in just one day. Confidence in the soon recovery of the economy is now higher than it’s been for more than a decade.”
“No,” said the president. “That’s not good news. The people only support us when they think we’re their only hope.”
“Perhaps we could spin this so we can take credit for it. If only we had more time.”
“A disaster! That’s what this is, a real disaster.” The president crossed to the window and gazed out. A moment later he jumped backwards and nearly frothed as he spoke. “There it is!” He raised his arm and pointed to the window. “Right out there. I can even see it from here!”
His campaign manager and several members of the staff went to the window. Across the plaza a large billboard was clearly visible and emblazoned in bright letters with the errant message.
Our society CAN recover from all its problems without total dependence on the government!
COPYRIGHT PROTECTED
