k9disc has an excellent diary up on the Reco list right now that I think makes a very important point:
Democrats need to shift the focus away from how we will spend money, to How We Will Serve The People Of The United States.
Here's what the Democrats need to do:
We need to paint a brilliantly clear picture of WHAT WE WILL DO.
Lyndon Johnson brought us the
Civil Rights Act and
Medicare. Franklin Roosevelt gave us
Social Security and the
Securities and Exchange Commission. Dwight-by-god
Eisenhower created the
interstate highway system, and Richard-friggin'-
Nixon brought us the
Environmental Protection Agency,
and the
National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Teddy Roosevelt busted trusts, started the FDA, and pushed the National Parks. John F. Kennedy gave us the vision to move the space program into high gear. Harry Truman headed the Truman Committee during World War II, to fight war profiteering and fraud. And Bill Clinton created 22 million jobs, bringing us from the largest budget deficit to the largest budget surplus in U.S. history.
We need to show Americans WHAT WE WILL DO FOR THEM. Paint them a picture. Hold them by the hand, and SHOW them what we will do. Not explain why we're doing what we're doing. Not launch into long-winded arguments about how the Democratic way is superior to the Republican way - just SHOW THEM WHAT WE WILL DO FOR THEM. It's okay to use examples from Republican administrations, too - tell `em that we believe that a good idea is a good idea, no matter where it comes from. Can you imagine any current Republican proposing the establishment of the EPA, or the FDA?
Who doesn't want clean air and water for their children? Let's ensure them! Who doesn't love the national parks? Let's protect `em! Who doesn't want the minimum wage raised? Let's raise it, for the first time in 10 years! Who's against improved veterans' benefits? Let's give our troops the kind of services they've more than earned! Who doesn't want improved health care access for all Americans? Let's make it happen!
I realize, in posing the above rhetorical questions, that there is a group that is opposed to all of the above - but SO WHAT? Who gives a rat's ass about those who would oppose such things? The Democrats have to make the public realize that the Democrats are for The People, in ways that matter to The People.
I also realize that there are a LOT of niggling details to be attended to in order to make any one of the above actually happen. But SO WHAT? That's a given; people understand that - at least give them the credit for understanding that. But -
Show. Them. Where. We're. Going. Exactly where we're going. When you're selling someone a cruise to Hawaii, you don't need to tell them about how the engines work, or how the food stocks are brought on board the ship, or what the structural details of the hull are - you just show `em the pictures of where you'll be taking them.
Let's paint that lovely picture for the American people, and take them on that beautiful cruise they so richly deserve.