Courting ‘Joe Sixpack’

This was a feature written for one of my classes, on the importance of segmenting your audience in political strategy.

 

When presidential hopeful, John McCain, chose a little known Alaskan Governor to run for Office with him, no one expected the appeal that a “hockey mum” would have on the fickle voting public. Whilst Sarah Palin has drawn the ire of Democrats and supporters alike – being a transparent manoeuvre by the McCain camp that reeks of tokenism – the appointment has, nonetheless, boosted the momentum of McCain’s campaign. So, the question remains, why? Make no mistake that Palin is being used to compete for the voting bloc that Hillary Clinton’s failed bid has left in its wake.

 

It has long been held that political strategy focuses not only on public perception but also appealing to the ‘safe’ constituents – the voters who fall in to the same patterns of voting – and consolidating these likely voters. The task would remain, then, to source voters outside of these established voting groups. Barack Obama’s campaign focused on non-voters, with an aggressive initiative encouraging voter registration, managing to tap in to the youth market. In doing so he mobilised a completely new constituent of voters beyond regular voters, which would push him to victory in the primaries.

 

Historically, this is not the first time that a Democrat has done this to get to the White House. John F. Kennedy’s

Post Secret…(or how I learned to stop worrying and start sharing my most intimate secrets with complete strangers)

Every Sunday I have a mid-afternoon ritual.  No, it’s not spending time in prayer, cleaning my room, or even cutting up that hose that my neighbour always sprays on my window when she thinks the music is too loud.  Instead, I log onto Post Secret to read this week’s round of anonymous over-shares.

The idea is fairly simple; people send in their secrets on the back of a postcard, designed in any way they want – with absolutely no identification – and the supreme lord of the site will post it on the web.  The secrets people choose to share range from ridiculous to heart breaking (with a few stops at psychotic along the way), and each week I find myself with a small keyhole view into complete strangers’ lives.

It makes me wonder about the desire to transmit our secrets over the web.  I suppose that might sound strange from someone who writes on a blog using a fake name – but in my case, the idea is to practice writing (and give my friends and family a break from my whining).  The whole idea of casting a secret into the abyss strikes a chord with me.

There seems to be something primal and necessary about the confessional.

D-Phat

I recently found out that my step-sister is coming to the end of her one-year maternity leave. Yes, you heard right. One year. Now, before you all quit your jobs to sign up to whatever it is my step-sister does, I should warn you. It’s not as easy as all that. In order to get this job, she had to do a law degree, a Master’s Degree at Cambridge (yes – the one in England, not the one that sells free degrees from their grimy window in Surry Hills), an internship at the United Nations, and who knows how many sexual favors. And even then, there was the background check, the psychometric test, the written test, and then the interviews. All this, to get into the trainee program at the Departments of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT).

D-Phat

And yes – to answer your question: my step-sister is annoyingly perfect.

I can think of at least 20 people – off the top of my head – who would lie, cheat, kill or steal (or a heady combination of all four) to get one of these coveted Grad jobs. I can think of another 30 who would quite like one, but who’d have to stop and think for a second before shooting their best friend in order to qualify. I suppose that it’s fair enough; one you get in, you relocate to Canberra (gross), apply for international placements, learn a new language full time, then have all your accommodation and travel paid for while you get sent on three-year postings all over the world.

And it is hideously, painfully, and notoriously, difficult to get a place as a Grad.

More than one keen as mustard International Relations major has been left disappointed, finding themselves rejected by the one place that wouldn’t think their papers on MI-5 links in the Uzbek Symphony Orchestra anything other than a conspiracy theorist wank written by a Dan Brown wannabe.