[The Montreal Gazette, Canada]

Kommersant, Russia

The Politics of Smear in America

"It's been a long time since we witnessed such a fascinating presidential campaign on the United States … The American election is a unique mixture of drama and soap opera, a mudslinging-struggle over ideals, well edited truths and even more carefully constructed lies."

By Nikolay Zlobin

Translated By Igor Medvedev

October 7, 2008

Russia - Kommersant - Original Article (Russian)

It's been a long time since we witnessed such a fascinating presidential campaign on the United States. An African American has never been so close to leading the world’s leading power - and it's the last time a hero of the Vietnam War - which has had such a monumental impact on the American psyche - will run. The era of "Vietnam" is passing, and only John McCain can extend it. Neither has an American woman - never mind a former first lady - been able to win the support of 19 million voters. Moreover, never in the United States has a woman been so close to the Vice President's chair. The current election is a unique mixture of drama and soap opera, a mudslinging-struggle over ideals, well edited truths and even more carefully constructed lies.

As they say in America, victors don't win elections, the other aspirants lose them. And that's one area in which these elections are no exception. It has to be won on TV screens by undermining the competitor with compromising information and forcing him into struggling to preserve his reputation. The task isn't to prove the truthfulness of your statements as it is to knock the wind out of your opponent.

Posted by WORLDMEETS.US

A McCain-Palin supporter shows her colors.

To do this, it's more desirable to be elegant, subtle. Stupid charges of say, money laundering or old romantic indiscretions aren't enough. I recall the furor Bush Jr. created in 2000 when during an election debate, he brought up the issue of Russian corruption and dropped the name of Prime Minister Chernomyrdin [1992-1998 ]. His Democratic opponent, Albert Gore, took some time to recover before he continued the dialog. In doing so, Gore decided not to raise the issue of Russia again. This despite the fact that Gore and Chernomyrdin were co-chairs of the famous Gore-Chernomyrdin Commission. By dropping the name of Chernomyrdin at the right time, Bush - who had only traveled abroad twice - convinced Americans that he had a better grasp of global affairs than Gore, who had visited dozens of countries during his eight years as vice president [This is the debate in which Bush decries the idea of 'nation-building. Watch the debate from Oct. 11, 2000 ].

The same happened four years later, when John Kerry accused Bush of secretly owning a lumber mill. This sounded so silly that even the most ardent opponents of George W. Bush left the subject alone. It had become clear that Kerry had already lost and that this was his political death thrall. However, Bill Clinton’s answer to the accusation that he smoked marijuana in his youth was one for the history books. Everyone knew this was true and were ready to pounce on him for lying. But Clinton outwitted them all. "Of course," he said, "I smoked marijuana. But I didn’t inhale." And he became president of the United States.

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Candidates don’t need to convince their supporters. They have to convince those who want to vote for your opponent and the undecided. The latter comprise about 20 to 30 percent of the electorate. It's for their benefit that smear campaigns are waged. This is a war in which months of high ratings can be wiped out in an instant. Because elections aren’t won in August, September or October, but on the first Tuesday in November of every leap year.

*Nikolay Zlobin, director of the Russia and Eurasia Project, World Security Institute.

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[Posted by WORLDMEETS.US October 7, 4:36pm]