Everyone who reads American history can recall some of our great moments of reform in this country. Some are heroic, such as Eisenhower's sending of Guardsmen to force the integration of a public high school in the South, the creation of Social Security, and the War on Poverty. Others just pass into the night and their effects may not be felt for months or even years. But few can argue that reform needs to happen in this country. Even fewer could argue that one organization, one movement in particular badly needs reform. That organization is the Democratic Party.
I am not Zell Miller. I never will be Zell Miller. I am not advocating DLC reform. My reform is more simple, certainly bolder and would go a long way towards TEACHING our elected officials what they need to know, particularly when it comes to the Media.
Dick Durbin caved in to relentless pressure and apologized for his remarks. That's very unfortunate, b/c there is nothing wrong with what he said. Also, where was the pressure coming from? Most certainly from Republicans. They specialize in mock outrage and the paranoia effect on American voters. What saddens me is that it is quite likely that Durbin was pushed into apologizing by his own party. A party that does not know how to fight back. A party that has an appalling media strategy. Or perhaps it's a good strategy, but damn they sure don't take advantage.
Here is my reform idea. The Democratic Party and all of it's elected officials should do the following. SEND HOME THE COMMUNICATION CONSULTANTS, MEDIA STRATEGISTS and CAMPAIGN ADVISORS. Send them home for a week. If they want to pay them, fine. That's their call. Just get them the hell out of their offices for a week. Keep staff assistants, personal aides, whatever. Just get rid of campaign advisors, media strategists and ALL communication staff for a week. Make our officials write their own press releases, their own floor statements, speeches etc.. Make them get in front of the cameras and face the country and learn to speak to the country, rather than a press secretary.
What will this do? By God, It will force them to say what they believe, or face awful embarassment in front of the microphone. Just like you don't learn Spanish just by reading vocabulary cards, you don't learn how to speak to the media, you don't learn how to force the media to listen to you, if you are constantly relying on others to do the work for you. For a precious week, it would not be, "Mike, yesterday the Senator voted to allow flag burning to continue. Does he have any comment?" It will be, "Senator, yesterday you voted to allow flag burning to continue. Why?" Our elected officials (and our un-elected officials) need to be put in situations like this. It teaches them how to do it. It teaches them to speak in real language, not Senate or House speak. One reason they speak this way is b/c THEY AREN'T THE ONES doing the talking most of the time. So when they do, they haven't the slightest clue how to act. Am I wrong, or has everyone forgotten Kerry's "for it then against it" flop. The man isn't stupid. He just had NO IDEA how to talk to the country. The Republicans are masters at it. They know how to push questions aside and to distort answers. Most of all, they know how to force the media to look away from them and direct fire at the Democrats. Look at Tom Cole, when asked about social security a while back, started criticizing Democrats, then snuck in a patriotic reference to the war on Terror. As if Social Security has anything to do with the war on Terror. But that didn't matter.
Sometimes, to get a job done, you have to do it yourself. Imagine that. To get this done, our officials need to be in those situations instead of their press secretaries. Instead of sitting around a table saying, "Well if Betty is asked this, how should she respond to it, it should be, "Here's my answer to that, it's just ridiculous. Here's why!" Send them home for a week, learn how to do it, then when they come back, tell them, "This is how it will be done. If you wish to stay and help, that would be wonderful. If not, here's the door. Have a nice life." This isn't permanent firing, god knows these people need their staff. But for one week, I think they can handle it. And enough of our officials need to learn how to speak for themselves. Somehow, they've forgotten.
Am I the only one who thinks that Kerry personally delivered about 4 states to Bush simply on the belief that he was a wimp? Had Kerry responded to the SBV(no T as there was no truth in what they said) with a comment like "Not that it's any of your damn business, but here are my records. Here you are, you shmuck praising my service. What now?" all may have turned out differently? O'Reilly would've been stunned, even James Carville and Bob Novak, they who never shut up, would've lapsed into shocked silence. What could the GOP have possibly done? Whine about Kerry's language being unpresidential. Well, with a polished media strategy, that would've been settled real quick, with sound bites of Bush's, "Major league asshole" comments from 2000. Furthermore, what would the SBV have done. It's on paper, its in the record, and Kerry DID WHAT THEY ASKED. Whats more, the next Kerry interview, you can bet more people would've been watching. The more people that watch means the more people that can be convinced. It would've been over, and I for one believe that WV, FL, OH, MO, CO and NV would've all been closer, and we would have snagged at least two of those states, and hence, the election.
Right now, it is rare that a politician speaks for himself well. The one who did it, John McCain in 2000, became a media sensation over night and almost stole the GOP nomination right out from the social conservatives who annointed Bush. Right now, the Democrats have precious few who can do that. Howard Dean, Barbara Boxer, John Conyers, Louise Slaughter, and some others, both elected and unelected. Durbin? I thought so, but then why apologize? He's not in any re-election trouble, and what he said was right.
Democrats have been all over Howard Dean lately for things he said. While I believe it could've been worded better, Dean was right in much of it. Democrats, I believe, privately forced Durbin to apologize. I believe this b/c Durbin had no reason to do so. No re-election trouble, facts to back him up, he just had no reason to do so, and I don't believe he would have had he not been pressured by inside folks. Folks who are scared of the media, and obsessed with impressing voters who cannot be impressed.
The best example I can give unfortunately comes from a Republican. in 1980-81, Ronald Reagan appointed Sandra Day O'Connor to the US Supreme Court. Reverend Jerry Falwell publicly stated, "Every good Christian should oppose her nomination." Barry Goldwater, high ranking Republican publicly responded, "Every good Christian should kick Falwell's ass."
I wait for the day when a Democrats has the guts to equal that, in front of television cameras. I hope it's not a long wait.