The election is next week and all this campaigning will (finally!) be over. At rallies across the country, candidates and their allies are doubling down on why you should vote for them or for the candidate they are supporting. The messages are mind-numbingly the same: the opposing candidate is incompetent or worse and and only our candidate is your best choice. Political-speak over and over again, falling on battered, deaf ears.
But at least one speaker made the news last week when he took a different tack, framing a candidate’s incompetence in memorable metaphoric terms to help voters really hear and ”see” the danger of electing the other guy.
Would You …?
Former President Obama was at a Georgia rally to support Senator Raphael Warnock (D) in his bid for re-election against Heisman Trophy winner Herschel Walker (R). Obama’s goal was to magnify Wagner’s lack of political expertise and drive home the danger to the country if Walker should win. 
He could have just listed all of Walker’s defects. Instead, he said,
“Now there are a lot of young people here, yes, that makes me excited. Some of you may not remember, but Herschel Walker was a heck of a football player. In college, he was amazing. One of the best running backs of all time. But here is the question: Does that make him the best person to represent you in the US Senate? Does that make him equipped to weigh in on the critical decisions about our economy and our foreign policy and our future?”
Obama then joked that “... just because Walker won the Heisman, it doesn’t mean the audience would let him fly a plane they were on or do surgery on them without knowing whether he was qualified!”
“By the way, the opposite is true too. You may have liked me as president, but you wouldn’t want me starting at tailback by the dogs, I mean, can you imagine my slow, old skinny behind getting hit by some 300 pound defensive tackle who runs a 4.6 40 (yard dash)? You would have to scrape me off the field. No, I can’t. No, I can’t. I am good at a lot of things but that would not be one of those things that I am good at.”
And, by clear implication, Walker would not be a good Senator either.
Mind Opening Metaphorical Questions
Want Walker flying your plane? Doing surgery on you? Don’t think so. Sports stardom experience does not a Senator make. Point nailed with apt analogies.
What mind opening metaphor/analogy question can you use to shift someone’s view of your product, service, processes, systems, or pricing?
And be sure to vote on Tuesday!
Anne Miller
Make What You Say Pay! – with Metaphors
Photo by Element5 Digital on Unsplash
You can view this portion of Obama’s speech at https://tinyurl.com/2p8m2vbu
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