Or at least electioneering is.
It seems appropriate on this national election day in the U.S., to remind that what politicians do to get elected is called marketing.
In fact, most media coverage of elections is about the various marketing efforts, their target markets, how much they are spending, and how effective they are (polls).
The major reason the results have been such a whip-saw over the last few election cycles is because, of course, this doesn’t have much to do with their ability to actually govern – or even what policies they will attempt to implement.
You may recall my frequent essays on how great marketing starts with a great product.
In politics that would be someone with policies that will actually be effective, plus the skill to actually implement them.
Now how rare is that? Republicans are fond of saying that we should elect people who have actually run a company and met a payroll. Sure, that at least gives hope of competence.
Yet if you ever studied the workings of large corporations, you’d be faced with horror stories right, left and center. At the end the usual thought is amazement that these companies manage to survive at all.
The occasional exception – Google comes to mind – stands out by its rarity.
End of rant.