After 20+ years in TV news, I've learned a thing or two about delivering a message the most powerful way possible. With that as background, here are 5 steps President Obama needs to take to sell the stimulus NOW.
#1 Time for an address from the Oval office. It will convey the weight and urgency of the message. Also, you can control the message, unlike interviews with anchors. Right now, no one needs to worry about cabinet appointments. The message is jobs.
#2 Use the D word. It’s time the nation understood the cost of delaying, or doing nothing. Another Depression, plain and simple. And how expensive would that be?
#3 Stop calling it an Economic Stimulus. Call it a Jobs Bill.
#4 Spell out how many jobs, and when. Attach to each expenditure the number of jobs created, and how soon. It will validate the expenditures and quiet RW attacks. For example:
Line Item: National Endowment for the Arts
Jobs created: 1,000
When: Within 3 months
#5 Show you’re ready to hire. During your address cut to live video of one or more offices set up in some key districts—offices that will be ready to take job applications THE DAY AFTER THE MEASURE PASSES. The locations could be selected to exert political pressure on holdouts, or placed in hardest hit economic regions. This will have a powerful visual impact. Wouldn't you just love to see a Republican congressman or Senator explaining why he's voting against opening that job fair?
Okay Kossacks. Bring your ideas too. Let's get this done.