The Get-R-Done Coaltion

“Git-R-Done!”

- Larry the Cable Guy

It remains to be seen if Senator McCain’s gambit of suspending his campaign in order to focus on the proposed $700 Billion bailout legislation will work. What is clear is that McCain and his campaign are trying to appeal to a special coalition of the American electorate. A good name for it is the Git-R-Done Coalition.

Fans of the comedian Larry the Cable Guy or the Blue Collar Comedy Tour will recognize the reference. It is the signature catch phrase of the Larry the Cable Guy persona played by comedian Daniel Whitney. Your kids may know him as the voice of “Mater” the Tractor tipping pick tow truck in the animated movie “Cars”.

While the phrase Git-R-Done may be famous on the Blue Collar comedy tour, Git-R-Done Americans are not just Blue Collar, nor are they just White or Southern. Many are small business owners and entrepreneurs. Some are African-American or Hispanic.

Git-R-Done Americans can be Libertarian on many issues - “That’s none of the government’s business!” – but approve of government action in other situations – “Why are all those people still trapped in the New Orleans Super Dome?”

Git-R-Done Americans don’t like long drawn out discussions of public policy, partisan advantage and arcane “branding” or “positioning” politics. A good feel for Git-R-Done Americans is presented in a cell phone TV commercial called “What if Firefighters Ran the World?” It shows the US Capital building filled with firefighters instead of elected officials. The firefighters speedily go through such issues as taxes and clean water. Then they all agree and say “Done.” This is the spirit of Git-R-Done Americans, and in many elections they are the swing vote.

In 1992 Ross Perot declared that he would approach Washington by “getting under the hood and fixing it.” A definite Git-R-Done phrase. In 1994 when Newt Gingrich and the other House Republican leaders with the help of remarkable pollster Frank Luntz announce the Contract with America, Git-R-Done voters responded. Git-R-Done Americans may or may not have agreed with all of the points of the Contract with America, but they agreed with the idea of having a simple clear set of goals.

Because that is the way Git-R-Done Americans approach their lives. They set simple clear goals and try to achieve them. If something breaks they try to fix it. They understand that goals and circumstances may change along the way – but they want to see movement not just rhetoric.

At first, Git-R-Done Americans liked George W. Bush. His “aw shucks”, plain spoken, Texas swagger and CEO approach to the presidency appealed to them. Al Gore’s nebulous and intellectual Global warming approach was unsettling. Gore seemed to like to talk a bout a problem more than fixing it.

So Bush was elected and Git-R-Done Americans were pleased. We were attacked by terrorists? Then go to Afghanistan and get them. There is a threat from Iraq? Then get rid of Saddam Hussein. US Education is poor? Then make the schools accountable. Economy slow? Then cut taxes to stimulate it. Git-R-Done!

But then things slowed down. After many years we were still in Iraq, and until the surge started, things weren’t changing. In fact, many in the media misinterpreted the polls at the time. They felt that there was an anti-war, anti-military, peace movement breaking out and this was impacting Bush’s poll numbers. That may be true among the Move On type voters. But Git-R-Done voters were upset that nothing was changing. We aren’t winning in Iraq? Then send more troops, fire the Generals or the Secretary of Defense, or change the strategy – but if it ain’t working fix it! Yet General Abazaid and Donald Rumsfeld kept asking for more of the same. Don’t just stay where we are Git-R-Done!

Along with this came Hurricane Katrina. People were trapped in the Super Dome. The National Guard was waiting for permission to go in. Americans were in trouble and the government appeared frozen. To heck with FEMA rules and the Governor allowing troops in, Git-R-Done!

Then the Republican Congress wouldn’t make the tax cuts permanent and spent a lot of time on pork barrel, sex scandals and corruption. Bush and the Republicans weren’t Gettin’-R-Done. So Git-R-Done voters set out to fix it and gave the Democrats the majority.

Since Senator Harry Reid and Speaker of the Hose Nancy Pelosi have little to show for their tenure, Congress’s approval ratings are low. Some Democrats thought they were sent there to hike the minimum wage or to end the war in Iraq. They misunderstood. Republicans had become fat, lazy and corrupt. Democrats were sent there to Git-R-Done. So far they have not.

Senator McCain’s “Straight Talk” is a direct appeal to Git-R-Done voters. That’s why his idea of suspending his campaign to work on the economic bailout is a good one. Of course now Democrat leaders are saying a solution is at hand. Before McCain made his move, Democrats were stringing things out – so long as the Economy stayed the focus, Obama’s numbers were going up. But if Congress Git-R-Done then the campaign can move on (small “m” and small “o”) to other things. So it was a win-win for McCain – he either looks like a leader, working on the big problem while Obama tries to debate himself, or action is taken on the economy which means it is likely to be less important 40 days from now.

For now at least, McCain is Getting-R-Done.