2006 may be the most important election year in this century. This year will be the bellwether for what direction our country moves over the next generation or two. The most looming problem however, is that the majority of people don't want the country to move in the way Bush/Rove have been taking us, they want change, but it's the Democratic candidates job to show the public what that change would look like.
If the public is confronted with the neo-fascist vision Rove wants to present and no vision from us, it's a no-brainer which direction a slim majority will move towards, it's the something is better than nothing approach to voting. However, if we present a forceful vision to the voters, that they can conceptualize easily, it is also a no-brainer that we will handily pick-up seats.
Rove and the current political team in place on the right are expecting a Democratic party that continues to use a "tried and true" platform, and an implementation of that platform that is power-point ready. Why would they expect differently? Rove has laid his politics on the table for all to see, he does not hide his movement, he does not hide his attacks, for 3 election cycles Karl Rove has openly, notoriously, and relentlessly attacked his enemies. Rove tells us that he is going to attack, tells us how he going to attack, and still we have fumbled our politics. There are no secrets to the Republican machine, there is no genius to their politics, they are thugs, con-artists, and they take pride in their "la cosa nostra" like organization.
But the real goal isn't to dissect their political apparatus, its one fold, and simple, to beat them, and to beat them so badly that people like Rove, DeLay, Ney, Blunt, Hassert, and Frist, will end up shamed (maybe even jailed) the morning after voters go to the polls.
Here on DKos we've had marketing gurus, politicos, doctors, lawyers, scientists, and arm chair political hobbyists explain how we can do better as a party, and how we can get our guys elected. Most have been constructive, and many have been on the right track. But the problem is the same the Dem consultants have been having; connecting with voters on the issues.
It can't be argued that on each issue our party offers voters the best vision. But there is some breakdown in getting our message to the voters, and especially in helping voters conceptualize our approach to each issue the way we want them to see it!
The fix is simple! We narrate our message opposed to our 1990 power-point compatible bullet-points. We have to take the issues and write our message like a fable, easily digestible, and most importantly easy for the voters to place themselves into our narrative.
Newspapers don't sell bullet-points, and it's obvious that they don't deal in facts nearly as much anymore, but they still write stories. If we narrate our message, or platform, we will get the press coverage that we have needed for 12 years! We have to quit complaining about how the Republican message gets more ink than the facts, or the Democratic message. The truth is, the Republican message gets ink because its easy to digest, its does not bog the media down in the need for fact checking (since its just their "version" of the story) and it comes ready to print. We need the same thing, just much more aggressive. Rove this week said we Democrats are mean, I don't think they have seen mean! We can't be defensive; our message has to be 100% offense, 100% of the time.
Voters also don't want to fact check, this is the simplest rule; people will remember what you tell them, not whether or not it is true! This is not a suggestion that we lie either, the only way a 100% offensive narrative would work, is if it is solely based on fact, our traditional foundation anyway!
Through our narrative we must establish 4 spheres:
1) Control over the debate
2) Home field advantage (we establish how the issue is discussed through the media)
3) The perception of our candidates
4) The perception of their candidates
We can only accomplish these 4 spheres by not ceding any issues as "their" issue, or seeing it as one we cannot win. This is similar to the idea that we should never leave any seat uncontested, even down to the local board level! We cannot afford to give the Republicans ground, they have to force them to fight us on every front, the fact is they are weaker, and their narrative is weaker, if they have fight 100 battles, opposed to 10, they will lose. They know this, that is why they practice divisive politics, which is why they try to split politicians like Nelson and Lieberman away from the rest of the party. Once they divide, we have no choice but to cede issues, and leave issues within their narrative uncontested.
That leads to the most important part of a successful narrative; continuity. This doesn't just mean continuity in narrative; it means continuity between the storytellers too! Joe Lieberman has to tell the same story that Ted Kennedy does, Hillary has to be on the same page with Obama! This is Howard Dean's most looming task, brining together all the politicians into a lock step. Unlike the Republicans, we don't have to do this via forced march; we can do this via compromise. Lieberman has a place in this party, like him or not, and his opinion needs to be heard and recognized while forming our narrative. Inclusion is our strength, we are America's party, they are...well...the colonial party (white, male, land owners), and because of our unique status as an inclusive party, we offer something for everyone and a winning vision for all Americans!
So how do we produce such a narrative? Its all aesthetics, we need to remove the Donna Braziles, and Bob Shrums from our consortium of consultants. In our politics today we have a much larger need for writers, anthropologists (sociologists), musicians, and psychologists. If we can begin to incorporate the human element into our message, opposed to the cold hard facts, we will be one step closer, if we can weave the humanistic approach to our fact based issues, through easily identifiable narratives, that hit our enemies hard we will be a Herculean party, with the votes to back us up!