I'm stuck in Baton Rouge traffic and that's what the bumper sticker says on the car in front of me. It's similar to another bumper sticker I was stuck behind (notice a pattern here about Baton Rouge traffic?). That bumper sticker said: "1/20/2013 - Change That We Can Look Forward To."
Shallow? Yes. Short-sighted. Oh yeah. Devoid of any intellectual depth? No doubt about it. Deadly effective? We'll see.
But here's what we already know from our past (successful) campaigns in 2006 and 2008: Facts don't move voters; emotions move voters.
And "Fire Nancy Pelosi" is hard to beat when it comes to firing up your base and getting them ready to go.
Granted, facts (or "facts") do matter, but only insofar as they elicit the desired emotion in the listener.
So when you read "Fire Nancy Pelosi," the fact is Speaker Pelosi and the verb is what jacks up your adrenaline -- regardless of which party you intend to vote for.
And so here's the thing: what is the equivalent three-word bumper sticker that we have that fires up our base?
In 2008 it was "Yes we can." Or, even better yet: "Hope."
But now? Not so much.
At best, "Yes we can" translated into "We did it!" But from everyone from President Obama on down will tell you, that was just the beginning.
Instead, so many people tuned out in January, February and March of 2009 because they felt like they had accomplished the primary mission. But now, in retrospect, that was a mistake.
So now what?
Here's what: have to hold on to it.
So how do you express the stakes of this election in three words that packs the punch of "Yes we can?"
- Stay the Course? Been there, done that.
- Crush the Elephant? Nerdy.
- Fear Speaker Boner? Too inside baseball.
Some of you are uncomfortable with the whole idea of three-word bumper sticker slogans. So am I -- especially when they're the entire platform on which you're running.
But you're missing the point.
The point is this: emotions, not facts, move voters. And Democrats' emotions are pulling us in the wrong direction. We're disappointed, disillusioned, and disgusted. And that's moving us in the wrong direction. Too many of us are moving in the direction of apathy and inertia.
Is there a glimmer of hope in the way that polling is turning in the last couple of weeks before the election? I hope so. But it's awfully late and may be too little to stem the tide. I hope not.
"Fire Pelosi." It's the zombie creed -- but that doesn't mean it isn't brutally effective at triggering some very powerful emotions in our opponents.
So we really need to feel it in our bones that "Yes, we can" turn them back.
Are you "Fired up, ready to go?" Good, because we can make history -- again.
We can do it. Do you feel it?