Hello, Team Obama? Hope you don't mind if I ask a question.
Not sure you've noticed, but we have mid-term elections coming up and things are not looking good. Yes, the economy stinks. Yes, major accomplishments of your first 18 months are not being celebrated as joyously as you hoped.
But there is something very important you should think about in the context of the upcoming election: where's the message?
You all ran one of the best presidential campaigns in history. It was developed behind a strong, inspiring national message, "Change You Can Believe In." You stuck to it and drove it home. Everything flowed from that simple message and it motivated millions. In short, it worked.
Democrats across the country are now confronting a very difficult political season and control of both houses of Congress are at stake.
I admit I am not a political communications expert or professional sloganeer. And, I agree that you can do a lot by running local campaigns district by district. But, I think it's very important Democrats have something to unify behind, get excited about, and build our campaigns around.
Here's a simple suggestion: "Democrats: Delivering Change for You."
I know, it's not the sexiest slogan, but I think it works on various levels.
First, it is positive, forward-looking, and sets it up for Democratic candidates to run the laundry list of things we've done. It is an energetic message with a foundation of truth and allows us to claim correctly that we are fulfilling our 2008 promises. It harkens back to our historic victory in 2008. And it connects the issues back to the electorate.
It also sets up Republicans on several fronts:
- It alludes to the fact that Republicans have blocked change at every step of the way.
- It puts Republicans on the defense and sets up the natural question what is the Republican plan?
- It alludes to the huge mess Republicans left us to clean up.
Finally, it makes it clear that the work is far from done, which again allows Democrats to talk about all the things we're trying to do to get Americans back to work, fix the economy, and solve so many of our other problems.
Now, you'll probably want to focus group this. And, I'm sure (or at least I hope) real political professionals are considering other national messages and slogans.
But, the main point is whether it's some version of this slogan or some other positive message, it's time to get the campaign going and get the D-Team on the same team.
Team Obama, it might be a better use of time to come up with such a national message instead of blaming the Professional Left and your liberal base for not being as thrilled as you'd like.
As Kurt Cobain said, "Here we are now. Entertain us." I'd paraphrase that to "Here we are now. Organize us."