The bully pulpit is an essential tool in a high ranking officials tool belt. Using the power of an office to command respect and attention is imperative to people having confidence in their leadership. It is also an important tool in the negotiation process. A person of high prestige or authority can use the leverage of their office to gain the upper hand in a debate, just by focusing attention on an important issue. That much is true, but I find myself wondering just how much power the bully pulpit has these days. It is a phrase often thrown around in a heated debate about just what someone like a Democratic President of the United States can do to bring his party members in line and vote his way.
I also wonder how much of the power of the bully pulpit is lost through ineffective messaging, ineffective framing, and concession to right wing talking points. Effective use of the bully pulpit requires an excellent White House Press Corps willing to go the extra mile to ensure the president's message gets out with as little negative spin as possible. If the White House's press operations fail at that mission, the bully pulpit's ability to shape a debate in the Administration's favor is all but lost.
Much of the bully pulpit's persuasiveness comes from a willingness of the press to report on the actual facts of the matter at hand, and not create a separate set of facts that helps their agenda forward. This is not to say that the press just gives the Presidential Administration a pass on everything, but it is to say that they fairly report on the administrations policy positions and accomplishments free of spin and agenda. But the combination of news and opinion and the rise of the cable news powerhouses have changed this dynamic between president and press forever. The first and foremost of these cable news outlets is Fox News.
In the early days of the Bush Administration, it became abundantly clear that Fox News was operating as the propaganda arm of the Republican Party. Every policy position, every speech, every success of Bush's presidential administration was trumpeted loudly and proudly. In fact, Fox News was often caught lying on behalf of the Bush Administration without much more than the blink of the proverbial eye. Fox News was so good at what they did, George W. Bush hired one of their anchors as White House Press Secretary. It was because Fox News had become experts at setting the frame and tone of debate in both Washington DC and at the nations dinner tables. Despite the vigorous fact checking done later on in the Bush Administration, most of Fox News' talking points and memes lived on years after their expiration date.
The fact that the Republican Party had a propaganda network in their corner strengthened the power of the bully pulpit ten-fold. With the strength of the agenda-setting Fox News on his side, the President could get his message out to the populace of the United States, usually bolstered by the high flying rhetoric of the Fox News Opinionators. Not only was Fox News good for getting the President's message out, but they were also extremely effective at setting the tone of the "national conversation", and getting other news outlets to foolishly buy into their lies.
Which brings me to my next point, another reason for the degradation of the power of the bully pulpit is the dumbing down of our media as a whole. I don't just mean that the average intelligence of the news anchors have gone down, I mean the overall laziness in fact checking news stories before they hit the air. Because Fox News is the loudest voice in the Washington DC punditry echo chamber, they often get heard the most. Often, talking points delivered by the Bush Administration went completely unchecked because, hey, if Fox News is saying it and repeating it, it must be true right? Once again, this magnified the power of George W. Bush's pulpit.
When President Barack Obama was sworn into office, the Fox News Propaganda Network changed from full throated support of the Presidential Office, to destroying the President and his administration at all costs. Barack Obama quickly became AM radio and Fox News' target numero uno, and any meme that degraded the President of the United States quickly got picked up and ran with by the right leaning lie machine. And once again, because Fox News was the loudest voice in the echo chamber, the other news outlets followed suit. Soon, beltway punditry became a gaggle of sqwaking idiots in a struggle to see who could throw the most vicious personal attacks at the President and the Democratic Agenda.
There is another side to this debate though. Through non-use of the tools that the White House Press Corps does have at its disposal, and many missed opportunities to change the debate in their favor, the administration has needlessly gambled away strong progressive policy positions just to get ahead of the strength of the republicans propaganda machine. Another fundamental error the administration has made, especially those that craft the message for the White House and set policy for the White House, is thinking that moving right equates to gaining popularity and political capital. They have essentially bought into the Fox News and Tea Party crafted meme that this is a "center-right" country. And I believe that that is the wrong assumption to make.
People love leaders who stick to their guns despite the odds. Its not a pretty truth, but in my observation, it is the truth. I think the fact that the Administration softens its message to cater to republican framing is folly, and it degrades the power of the bully pulpit. If you stick to your guns, even in the face of strong opposition it lends credibility to the office. I am not saying be inflexible, I am saying craft the message from the point of view of a democrat, not a republican.
Secondly, don't move right just to prove the Republicans wrong. Its not going to do you any favors with the people who supported you in the campaign if you abandon the promises you made and take on republican positions just to prove a point. It may work in the short term, with a quick "GOTCHA!" moment, but in the long run it detriments the democratic agenda. We are not republicans or conservatives, and if we wanted a conservative administration we would have voted for one.
Another thing the administration can do is come out ahead of the spin. Don't just counter the spin, deflate it completely with fact based analysis. One of the Presidents strong points is that he is charismatic and can make an argument. Use that to your favor. Don't hide the Presidents ability to use his celebrity to his advantage. Make sure that there is an immediate spin response team scouring right wing blogs and news-opinion sites to see what the up and up is, then destroy the meme or talking point on contact.
Lastly, stick to your message. It is essential to getting memes and talking points started of your own. If we are going to beat the republican propaganda machine, we must fight them with their rules. I am not saying lie through your teeth, I am saying "Repeat, Repeat, Repeat, Repeat". That should be the mantra in every White House message planer. Get your message out there and repeat it over and over again. Drive it home, make it clear as a bell, and dont fucking waver from that position, no matter how much opposition you get.
It is clear that there are things that the Administration can do to replenish the power of the bully pulpit, and use it as leverage not only within the Democratic Party, but outside of it as well, but there are things that are outside of the administration's direct control as well. If they start working on their messaging and framing issues now, they may just get the upper hand in the struggle for the media in time for the election cycle to really get going. It is possible! They just have to be open to change.
Question is: Are they?