The Positives of Negative? 

Had an interesting conversation with my mom last night. Apparently she had a door to door campaign worker come to the house yesterday. As she describes it, the conversation went something like this:

Campaigner: Hi, my name is Kimberly with the Democratic National Committee and we're fighting to defeat George W. Bush.
Mom: Sad for you, you've come to the wrong house.
Campaigner: Well, you have a great day.

First, I have to give my mother points for containing herself. Had someone asked me ahead of time what I thought she would say to perky Kimberly, I would have guessed that it would have been somewhat more harsh then what she did say. (Pssst... in case you haven't guessed, my mom is pretty conservative. She makes Rush look like a centrist, and she makes me look left wing.)

Second, I give points to Kimberly. She seemed to be very polite, and nice. She didn't comment on my mother's obvious fondness for G.W., she thanked her for her time and went on her way. Lately I've seem to be confronted with so much negative on the internet regarding politics on both sides that it's nice to hear the opposite.

Third, I have to wonder about what she was campaigning for. Lately there have been some polls about how people voting for John Kerry aren't really voting for John Kerry, they're voting against George Bush. I've also seen some opinion pieces on how Kerry does better when he's out of the light. I think that's sad. Even more sad is the fact that not even someone campaigning for the man is saying it out loud. She never mentioned John Kerry's name, not that my mom gave her much of a chance. In my mind at least, I would think that the first words out of her mouth should have been "Hi, my name is Kimberly with the Democratic National Committee and I'd like to encourage you to vote for John Kerry." It's upbeat. It's positive. It's for something, not against something. I personally think that voters respond better to a positive than a negative.