Josh Marshall and others have pointed the need for a consistent message with unifying themes that can be conveyed in memorable soundbites. But can a 60-page platform be summarized in 10 words or less? Can we do some collective brainstorming to help in distilling the platform to a core message?
My attempt:
Green Jobs.
Wall Street for Main Street.
Judgment and Integrity.
These are words and frames that Obama is already using, that contrast strongly with current and McCain policy and positions, and articulate a different clear governing framework. Reasoning over the flip.
What does Obama stand for and what exactly is the "change we can believe in"? Different people would give different answers, covering different parts of the platform. Josh Marshall and others have pointed out that this is a problem – there must be consistent messaging with unifying themes that can be conveyed in memorable soundbites.
But can a 60-page platform be summarized in 10 words or less? Can we do some collective brainstorming to help in distilling the platform to a core message?
As a start, this is my understanding of Obama’s central approach and messages:
Green Jobs.
Wall Street for Main Street.
Judgment and Integrity.
These are words and frames that Obama is already using, that contrast strongly with current and McCain policy and positions, and articulate a different clear governing framework.
Green Jobs
A single solution to three major long-term issues: energy, climate change and economic hardships created by globalization. This contrasts strongly with inaction and non-solutions such as "drill, drill, drill". The long-term solution is complemented by short-term stopgaps: tax rebates, stimulus checks, using strategic reserve etc.
Wall Street for Main Street
Reshape economic activity to benefit everyone, not just the rich. This contrasts strongly to supply-side trickle-down economics, "Main Street through Wall Street" – the idea that if corporations and rich people are given tax cuts and made richer, this would eventually create prosperity for ordinary people. 30 years of flat incomes for ordinary people and income explosion for the rich have shown that this is a failed policy, as Obama keeps reiterating in his speeches. This Wall Street / Main Street frame has been articulated by him repeatedly. Economic activity and prosperity is a good thing, unbridled pursuit of profit to benefit shareholders at the expense of employees, customers and the country is not so good. Long-term prosperity requires that everyone benefit.
Just about every major policy proposal echoes this frame:
Health care: Universal coverage and "making healthcare affordable for all" are designed to prevent cherry-picking of healthy people without pre-existing conditions, making healthcare unaffordable for everyone else.
Free trade and outsourcing: Encourage free trade and competition, subject to worker protection. No encouragement (tax breaks) for offshoring that eliminates jobs.
Financial industry regulation.
Education: Merit pay to encourage excellence, but not programs like NCLB that defund schools based on test scores. In contrast, McCain’s voucher program would allow private schools to cherry-pick wealthy and brighter students, leaving the public school system to rot.
Windfall profits tax: If the system enables companies to make high profits unrelated to their own actions, reshape the system so that shareholders do not benefit at the expense of customers.
Obama seems to push this frame in every economic speech, that wealth creation should benefit everyone.
Integrity
The third part of the change in governing frameworks is judgment and integrity:
Judgment to make the right decisions, considering different viewpoints, understanding the long-term dynamics of problems such as terrorism.
Integrity in Government, rejecting the Bush/McCain policies that undermine accountability and violate the Geneva Convention.
Integrity in campaigning, rejecting the politics of character assassination (different from pointing out negatives).
Integrity in policy. Partisanship involves voting with party irrespective of personal conviction on the issues and the will of the people represented. Integrity in legislation involves trying to find policies that are broadly acceptable to as large a set of people as possible. The latter seems to be the Obama approach, especially on social policy ("One America, not a Red and a Blue America").
The "change we can believe in" as I udnerstand it is real long-term solutions in the form of green jobs, reshaping economic activity to benefits everyone, and judgment with integrity.
So what do you think? Are these the core change messages of the campaign, or do you see it differently? Are there other themes not covered here? Can we distill a core message to push throughout the netroots and beyond, destroying the meme that Obama is not articulating what he means by change?
p.s. I am from India. A very interested observer, because as Biden said, there is an opportunity here to change the direction of not just the US, but the entire world. Thinking and policy frames in India and other countries are definitely influenced by the tone set by the US – especially the burning problem of climate change. I find it interesting that the themes outlined above are exactly as applicable to India, if anything more so.