Beyond the Horse Race: What the Election Can Teach Us About Making Change

Dastardly Cleverness in the Service of Good

It was called the most important election of our lifetimes, but so much of the coverage has been the same old horse race stuff. Not on Dastardly Cleverness, though: in this episode we dig deep with experts who have worked with Barack Obama, John McCain and the Democratic National Committee, among others.

Kevin Lewis was one of the first people to join Barack Obama’s presidential campaign back in 2007. He went on to serve as the White House Director of African-American Media, as press secretary to Attorney Generals Eric Holder and Loretta Lynch, and as Obama’s post-presidency spokesperson. Kevin is now a senior adviser at a Washington-based consulting firm, Blue Engine Message and Media.

Dan Schnur no longer belongs to any political party, but he has a background as a top Republican consultant. He was the Director of Communications for John McCain’s 2000 presidential campaign, and the chief spokesperson for former California Governor Pete Wilson. He now teaches at the University of Southern California and the University of California at Berkeley, and is frequently interviewed about politics by major media outlets.

Enrique Gutierrez is the Hispanic Media Director and the Southern Region Press Secretary for the Democratic National Committee, which he joined in the summer of this year. Before that he was the Communications Director for Voto Latino, after working for the Arizona Democratic Party, including during the push in Arizona by the Hillary Clinton for President campaign.

This time on Dastardly Cleverness in the Service of Good, we hear from all three about the crucially important election we just had: not for the usual “Who’s up and who’s down,” but for their deeper insights about change, especially how you make it happen.

One theme that emerged that may surprise: authenticity. As Kevin Lewis says, “Candidates were being themselves, and they weren’t necessarily following the traditional playbooks.”

More at dastardlycleverness.com.