Strange that Elihu Root (1845-1937), who honorably served two presidents in two positions — secretary of state and war secretary — should be better remembered for one quote than as a prime mover of America as a world power. Also a lawyer, Root once said — famously, as mentioned — that "about half the practice of a decent lawyer consists in telling would-be clients that they are damned fools and should stop."
The understandable reason behind lawyers' refusal to advise such is that they'd rarely, if ever, obtain new, and long-term, clients. What further advice would be needed? Yet Root's brand of laconic, robust and truthful advice should apply to political consultants as well. The decent ones would tell would-be clients to be themselves. Even many poorly informed voters can spot a counterfeit candidate right off, hence deceitfully adjusting one's remarks to fit only the moment can be dangerous to one's political health.
That brings to mind Ms. Nikki Haley. She's self-unassured and full of guile. The two just naturally go together: Self-unassuredness requires outside advice on how to be crafty. Put another way, insecurity distrusts instinct. And the external influence on Haley's every word is powerfully evident. Consider the following.
Here's Haley on 16 January, addressing the E. Jean Carroll defamation case on CNN.
Dana Bash: How do you feel about your party’s frontrunner being held liable for sexual abuse?
Haley: I mean, first of all I haven’t paid attention to his cases and I’m not a lawyer. All I know is he’s innocent until proven guilty.
Skip to only 12 days later, when she appears on NBC's "Meet the Press."
Kristen Welker: The jury has now ruled. They have found hm liable of sexual abuse. Do you trust the jury and their findings?
Haley: I absolutely trust the jury and I think that they made their decision based on the evidence.
The quotes I lifted from Jonathan Last, as I will his reaction, since mine is a match.
That’s quite an evolution.
Haley went from not having any idea what the case was about, because she’d never paid attention to it, to having a thorough understanding of the case, the testimony, the evidence presented, and the law. Her understanding is now so thorough that she is able to determine that (1) the jury made the correct decision and (2) this decision was clearly driven by evidence.
Either Haley spent the last two weeks intensively studying the case, or you can’t trust anything she says.
I believe I'll go with door #2, as pretty much anyone would, which explains why Haley's support is so low. Her partisan backing should be much higher, given the hefty number of Republican voters who either loathe Trump or merely have misgivings. Most of the support she does have comes not from voters admiring her; it comes only from voters wanting someone other than you know who. And almost certainly her base would be significantly larger had she just been herself all along (assuming she has a "self").
Successful candidates opt for a version of Occam's Razor: The best solution to getting ahead in politics is usually the simplest one. In policy terms, that means grossly misleading voters, since real problems remain problems because they're complex and therefore no simple solutions exist. They are, however, furiously peddled. In terms of personal presentation, the opposite is true: to mislead voters by misrepresenting oneself creates a problem. Being yourself from the beginning is the simplest solution to avoiding one.
Yet conspicuously, Nikki Haley is surrounded by overpaid kibbitzers, thus she is this and that, everything and nothing. That's done her great harm — and been a greater gift to Donald Trump. The only external advice needed by Nikki was Elihu Root's, somewhat tweaked: "About half the practice of a decent candidate consists in telling her opponent that he's a damned fool and should stop."
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