On both MyDD and the Daily Kos, there has been a lot of teeth-gnashing and fretting over the fact that many Democratic ads haven't mentioned the party anywhere in the ad. The general feeling was that without such self-identification, there would be no way for the Democrats to build a Brand Image. If we're going to ride on a wave, every candidate must mention that they're a Democrat, or we're lost.
Well, if we ride a wave at all, it may just be because those candidates didn't do just that.
We know that the Foley scandal is, in essence, about putting party ahead of the people. This is the reason why the Republicans wish to divert the issue to Foley himself. And, again, as we know, if the issue was purely about Foley, this wouldn't make much of a scratch. Discovering a sexual predator on the spot, only to see him resign, is almost a non-story. We'd be limited to a few biographical "what happened" stories before it faded away.
However, the issue is with the cover-up. And in studying the cover-up, everyone involved didn't want to rock the boat with party power. And this is what the voters are seeing.
One problem that we have with keeping intellectuals on the same page as the rest of us is the tendency for "radicals" to think "Well, they're both bad." More often than not, when a new Republican scandal breaks out, even the smartest people I know will say, "Well, neither the Democrats or the Republicans are much good." Sure, they'll vote for a Democrat in a pinch, but it's because they're not a Republican. We've been fed the horsepucky by concern trolls that "not-Republican" isn't enough, that we needed an "alternate message". Most of us interpreted that to mean creating a manifesto of some kind. And we had a few attempts by Nancy Pelosi to create one, as well. Creating a party image was paramount. We're Pepsi, and they're Coke. We must be an Exciting Brand Name.
Now we have a message that's fallen into our laps. The Republicans put party over people. We put people over party.
What's more, it's horrendously true. Such a philosophy makes for bad groupthink, obviously, which puts our GOTV into a difficult position. Because the Democrats value individuality, diversity and the average person, we don't give the voter something Higher than Themselves to look to. The Republicans can dangle the promise of heaven or Being Rich Like Them (hey, maybe you'll win the lottery!) but all we have is "We'll make your life RIGHT NOW not suck so much." It's not as convincing as it should be during times of prosperity, because people don't pay attention to the whirring of the infrastructure until the Republicans come along and throw wrenches into it. But with so many wrenches, so many fears, and so many needs, people are finally beginning to pay attention.
However, as has been documented elsewhere, people now have a bad view of Congress. They have a bad view of partisan politics. They have a bad view of the Status Quo. What if we met the new boss and it was the same as the old boss? The Democrats have been around for just as long. Surely they're all tainted as well. Ads like this one are the smartest way to respond. It makes an impression that the people, the actual constituents, matter more than the actual party itself. And as a result they don't mention the Democratic party. To link people-powered action with images of Congressional infighting would create more voter disconnect.
This is what the Democrats are really about: paying attention to the needs of the people. Every Republican policy has been geared to some elite chimera that they can forcibly sell down a few gullible people's throats via ads, church and Fox News. All we, as Democrats, have to do is show true evidence that we're paying attention to the problems that people are experiencing. Everyone's story is different, so it will be difficult, and writing a narrative will be horrendously hard with such a patchwork of issues. But over time, we can link our observant and empathetic values to the name of the party. This is how we really crash the gates. "Democratic values? You're soaking in it."
We have our simple message, and it's "Democrats: People Over Party." Elegant and relevant.