I'm not a marketing or advertising expert, by any stretch of the imagination. I also am not counting my chickens before they're hatched, in terms of our party's performance on November 7.
But if the past two decades of media communication have taught us anything, it is that the 24-hour news cycle has to be fed constantly. And our clock starts running once the races get called.
So I have a proposal for establishing the message framework the morning after the elections.
In your hands, my fellow citizens, more than mine, will rest the final success or failure of our course. Since this country was founded, each generation of Americans has been summoned to give testimony to its national loyalty. The graves of young Americans who answered the call to service surround the globe.
Now the trumpet summons us again-not as a call to bear arms, though arms we need-not as a call to battle, though embattled we are- but a call to bear the burden of a long twilight struggle, year in and year out, "rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation"-a struggle against the common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease and war itself.
Can we forge against these enemies a grand and global alliance, North and South, East and West, that can assure a more fruitful life for all mankind? Will you join in that historic effort?
In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I do not shrink from this responsibility-I welcome it. I do not believe that any of us would exchange places with any other people or any other generation. The energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring to this endeavor will light our country and all who serve it-and the glow from that fire can truly light the world.
And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you-ask what you can do for your country.
My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.
- President Kennedy, 1961 Inaugural Address
I think the Democrats should not wait for the media to start generating headlines about what the public can expect with Dems in control. I think Democrats should speak directly to the American public about what to expect with our Party holding Congressional control.
I think one of the most compelling characteristics of our party is its ability to be hopeful and thoughtful; deliberate yet optomistic.
So here's my proposal. Create a national ad to play for 2 days in which Democrats are introduced to America.
1) Use the JFK speech as the text for the ad - it not only still resonates emotionally, but cannot help but throw into stark contrast the babbling negative incompetence of the current President.
2) Have different Democrats recite different lines.
Tammy Duckworth, Jim Webb, Eric Massa recite: "In your hands, my fellow citizens, more than mine, will rest the final success or failure of our course. Since this country was founded, each generation of Americans has been summoned to give testimony to its national loyalty. The graves of young Americans who answered the call to service surround the globe."
McGaskill, Cardin, Lamont: "Now the trumpet summons us again-not as a call to bear arms, though arms we need-not as a call to battle, though embattled we are- but a call to bear the burden of a long twilight struggle, year in and year out, "rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation"-a struggle against the common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease and war itself."
Sherrod Brown, John Yarmuth: "Can we forge against these enemies a grand and global alliance, North and South, East and West, that can assure a more fruitful life for all mankind? Will you join in that historic effort?"
Scott Kleeb, Jon Tester, Peter Goldmark, Larry Grant: "In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I do not shrink from this responsibility-I welcome it. I do not believe that any of us would exchange places with any other people or any other generation. The energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring to this endeavor will light our country and all who serve it-and the glow from that fire can truly light the world."
Harold Ford, Whitehouse, Speaker Pelosi: "And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you-ask what you can do for your country.
My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man."