Election 2012 - The Power of the Narrative

One of the things I took away from the election season this year, was the power of the narrative. Social media has given us the opportunity to freely share our opinions. To learn more about each other’s lives and to share personal stories with one another.

In this past election, the candidates saw this as an opportunity to develop the credibility of their candidates while discrediting their opponents through narrative.

Obama, the story -> Obama inherited a horrible economy and was given little opportunity to make many of the changes that he wanted to make because of this. He did what he could and needs a chance to do more. Romney is a greedy, out-of-touch millionaire who cannot relate to the needs of the everyday person.

Romney, the story -> Romney can balance the budget and get the economy on track because he has a track record of balancing budgets and saving companies. Obama is weak on domestic and foreign policy.

While there were many sub-bullets under each of these narratives, these were the overarching stories that were spread by the candidates, the media, and voters across the country.

The end result, a majority of the people in America could relate to Obama’s narrative more than they could relate to Romney’s narrative.

Being relatable is the key to success in this day and age.

In my opinion, a candidate becomes relatable through the dissemination of the best possible narrative into the public and anyone looking to do well in the world must keep this in mind.