Posted on 11/13/2022 7:31:55 PM PST by lightman
Tom Peters, a management guru of the late 20th century, coined the memorable quote “under-promise—over-deliver.” His advice constitutes a well-known business strategy aimed at maintaining, extending, and satisfying a company’s customer base.
In under-promising, but over-delivering, businesses can satisfy their customers who would be pleasantly surprised and grateful that they gained more than they expected.
Peters’ quote is also capable of explaining political developments, including the lacklustre performance of the Republicans in the United States midterm elections.
For many months now, media commentators and politicians have been predicting a landslide Republican victory in Congressional elections—a red wave no less—which would decimate the Democrats.
Even former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton somehow expected a Republican tsunami when she said in an MSNBC interview that American voters may not really understand the consequences of a Republican congressional victory.
However, we now know that the Republican win is certainly not a landslide victory, but an electoral ripple. The prediction that the midterms would provide former President Donald Trump with an ideal platform from which to launch his bid for another presidential run in 2024 did not eventuate.
Although the U.S. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has declared that the Republicans have reclaimed the House of Representatives, its final composition remains unclear.
As the pundits would now say, the outcome of the midterm elections is on a “knife-edge.”
How Did so Many Commentators and Pollsters Get It Wrong?
Like many conservatives around the world watching the U.S. midterms, I was hoping that the Republicans would win it “quite easily.” This hope was based on the expectation that the political and economic situation provided fertile ground for a convincing victory.
Indeed, could it not be expected that the chaos created by the Biden administration would be uppermost in the mind of voters on election day?
The current American administration mismanaged the economy with inflation running at 7.745 percent—it was 1.9 percent when Trump left office—and petrol and energy prices are skyrocketing, partially because of the administration’s deference to the high priests of climate change.
From a political point of view, the chaotic departure from Afghanistan, leaving behind hardware worth billions of dollars, and the subsequent institutional discrimination against women, was irresponsible.
Afghan women are now effectively treated as slaves in their own country: very recently the Taliban even decreed that women are not allowed to go to a gym or use a public park.
The Biden administration’s lax implementation of its immigration and border security laws has seen more than four million migrants illegally enter the country. Its bias on contentious social issues was also evident in its strident criticism of the Supreme Court decision in the Dobbs case which overturned the judgment that for nearly 50 years supported abortion on demand.
There are countless other examples that evidence the current administration’s political and economic neglect. Hence, the climate was ideal to deliver a convincing Republican victory which did not seem to have happened.
It’s Complicated
There are several reasons for the less than convincing win of the Republicans. These range from a failure to effectively communicate their message to the electorate to electoral hubris.
Another reason for this outcome is that electors want predictability when a situation is complex and difficult. As the economic and political climate in the United States is indeed problematic, an expectation that the electorate would opt for change may well have been misplaced.
The electorate may have concluded that it is better to stick with the devil they know, than to embrace an uncertain future!
This is also relevant for Australia because how else would it be possible to explain Labor victories in Queensland and Western Australia—we might soon add Victoria to this list too—where people brutalised by the lockdowns and have had egregious violations of their rights continue to vote for the same government.
I was circumspect when commentators and politicians, for such a long time, predicted a red wave.
My cautious approach derived from the fact that common sense suggests, and experience confirms, that a practice of under-promising, but over-delivering, is better suited for electoral success than over-promising and under-delivering.
Specifically, when over-promising—confidently predicting an easy and convincing Republican victory—over such an extended period of time, many Republican voters may have decided not to vote.
However, the aggregate loss of votes, caused by a practice of abstention, is likely to be substantial. It is always necessary to galvanise the voter base of a party, even if all predictions point to an easy victory.
Conversely, Democrat supporters would have tried to vote to minimise the “inevitable” red wave.
Hence, a practice of under-promising, but over-delivering would have better served the interests of conservative voters in the United States. Peters’ aphorism is thus as relevant to the political world as it is to explain business success.
Umm-kay.
Back on Planet Earth, I'll take "under-cheating" for 40.
Nah, the Pubbies lost because there is a thumb on the scale.
Since the Dems have set up a system where they can “cure” a ballot, where they can manipulate the voter registration system and where they can suppress the Pubbies votes, there is little chance that the Dems can lose.
The red wave did happen, it was real and it was enormous.
But the theft was even larger.
Or are people just too afraid of the Democrats to call it what it was, another election theft.
Shame on Epoch Times. Shame on the GOPe. Most of all, shame on all the MAGA weak-sister supporters who are now part of the problem.
Post of the Day!
They didn’t. The red wave was here. Commentators and Pollsters please ‘splain Florida. A supposed “purple” state that is now R+20.
We expect an incumbent president to lose house seats in a midterm. Obama had a “shellacking”. Trump lost hugely. Yet here we have Biden skates right by.
did anyone believe the dems wouldn’t continue to cheat?
why wouldn’t they?
The vote got delivered it just didn’t get counted.
Its the fraud people. Its the fraud. You’ve been watching it happen now for 5 days. Its 2020 all over again.
You’re supposed to manage expectations before the event. Not after.
So many times in the last month, I wanted to say, “Don’t count your chicks before they hatch!” But I didn’t.
Well then maybe both sides conspired yet again against djt
Who cares about anything outside My
Borders of Arizona,,,,
Kari should be IN very soon.
Well, that’s cool, because the Democrats and establishment Republicans under promise and over-steal.
It is amazing people don’t seem to get this…
You might want to check on that, because that one looks like the perfect steal. Like landing a plane without a bump.
I ain’t saying...
Just saying.
I grew up in the Chicago suburbs.
By the time I was in 4th grade I knew dead people could vote.
What pisses me off is that Repubs along the way didn’t crack down on voter fraud!!
THEY ONLY WANT TO GRIFT
Exactly. Money. The UniParty members take their cut and sell the country down the river.
Well they don’t get it because Fox Snooze has their talking heads yakking 24/7 splaining it away. You watch that toxic ooze long enough you start to get brain washed.
If you have a functioning brain cell you can see you are watching an identical repeat of 2020.
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