Catchy title, did it capture enough interest to go beyond reading? My reaction to President Obama's State of the Union message, something was missing. That something is mojo. I could use some mojo myself. So off to the internets for a little research on framing the message.
What happened to the disciplined, on message campaign of the man we elected President? Has his great intellect, training as a lawyer, and maybe even ego, resulted in what George Lakoff calls Policy Speak? In The Policy-Speak Disaster for Health Care written back in August for Truthout , Mr. Lakoff says:
blockquote below the fold
To many liberals, Policy Speak sounds like the high road: a rational, public discussion in the best tradition of liberal democracy. Convince the populace rationally on the objective policy merits. Give the facts and figures. Assume self-interest as the motivator of rational choice. Convince people by the logic of the policymakers that the policy is in their interest.
But to a cognitive scientist or neuroscientist, this sounds nuts.
I don't ever want to relive the horror of the bush2 years. Some say that insanity is repeating the same mistake, over, and over. Like many, it seems to me that opportunity for progressive change is slipping away. As a result, I become angry and frustrated at times.
Don Hazen wrote an article for Alternet that explains the 8 year reign of bush .
He reminded us how, over a period of forty years, the radical right and its rich patrons had invested many hundreds of millions of dollars in think tanks, young talent, spokespeople, and communications capacity that had essentially transformed the language of American politics. And when you control the language, you control the message, and the corporate media does the rest.
I have written to my congresscritters, called their local offices over the past 10 years. They are all Republicans. Senator McCain's staff is the only one that even bothers with a polite, canned response repeating Republican talking points. They have framed their message and they are sticking with it.
Like most of you, I am on the email list for many progressive organizations. Why are we receiving emails to take action and donate from every organization working on the same issue, like healthcare reform? Each group has a different suggested message for what to say or write. In Lakoff's term, all of those messages have been Policy Speak.
The President needs help in framing the message. Democrats need to take control of the language and the message. Then leadership needs to communicate action items to the base. That is my conclusion, after reading the referenced articles. What do you think?