REASON 1: Incompetence in marketing. (I’ll get to solutions)
Despite the media buzz; Issues aren’t our real problem. Salesmanship is.
The Dems have material to sell; but are unable to sell it. I believe inflation could disappear tomorrow and Biden’s rating would hardly budge.
Joe Biden’s record is far more grounded than Trump’s, yet his ratings still tank even as he passed COVID relief, infrastructure, and then impressively gathers the anti-Russia coalition for Ukraine, gets Jackson confirmed, is confronting inflation, and continues to take on COVID with actual facts and you can add to the list. He should LONG have pulled out of the Afghanistan slump by now. Gave a great state of the union; then fizzled out. Can’t even turn his ratings around with the resurgence of the abortion crisis. Doubt he’ll do effective marketing with the recent tragic gun massacres.
[Of course Manchin and Sinema got away with balking on the For the People Anti-Voting Law. Little risk in bucking a President who’s image is unpopular and lame.]
Joe still thinks it’s what you can “accomplish” and yes, that matters. But ahead of that: how you sell what you’ve done. And counter-sell against the competition. Either you are defining your image or they will. Today, a president needs that combination of presence, energy, omnipresent profile, brashness, repetition, coordinated messaging. That’s why even with great job growth and a still booming economy, Republicans still push “inflation” as the half empty glass. Biden is reacting with countermeasures that a Republican would shout from the rooftops, but fall on deaf ears now.
Consider: In 2004 the heartland was in serious recession, but those folks said: times are bad but we’ll continue voting for Bush because he’s holding the line against terrorism. (They’re gonna blow up my mall if we don’t keep Dubya ) Maybe you forgot. Dems were stunned, but Rove was smiling.
An eye-opener: Read the recent ATLANTIC article “Trump Supporters Explain Why They Believe the Big Lie.” They admit they cannot point to any real evidence and trust their “feeling” alone. The writer Sarah Longwell reveals that with constant messaging and being primed, their “gut” has been manipulated- and FACTS DON”T MATTER. A bandwagon atmosphere is created and maintained.
The secret the GOP has learned: WE ARE ALWAYS IN CAMPAIGN SEASON.
REASON 2: Spineless DOJ : No consequences for the big bad guys.
Top GOP instigators of Jan 6 are still free and wiggling their fannies at the system. The NY Southern District case is still there, but somehow stalled. Meadows and others like him refuse to cooperate and nothing happens to them.
And when you are spineless, your opponents disrespect you even more.
The old schoolyard adage still stands: the kids who disrupt and get away with it, will only do worse.
Folks: we had MOST of the evidence we needed by January 7. The FBI could have had the phone records if Biden demanded soon after he took office. Even McConnell, refusing to convict in impeachment, still made CLEAR that Trump was responsible, meaning: Go get him now, and we won’t stand in your way.
Yet because Biden (and then Garland) choose to operate from a slow deliberate IVORY TOWER of old politics, once again the Republicans are out running us on motorcycles while Joe (and Merrick) are on tricycles. Biden’s refusal to “get his hands dirty” and light a constant fire under all this has HURT him and HURT us. Garland may be a great judge, but not a prosecutor. Fire him, if you have to.
TRUMP and his criminal cohorts learn that They can do whatever and out-lawyer, out -promote and out-run any clock.
And this posture of “hands-off” spinelessness only has further encouraged worse behavior (ie: the crazy anti voting laws, the anti LGBTQ laws, on and on...)
Another secret the GOP learned: The president can meddle in everything, and loudly.
A secret we’ve yet to learn: To defeat Trumpism, you have to get a little Trumpy.
SOLUTIONS: Old Ivory Tower politics are GONE. BLOW YOUR OWN HORN LOUDLY and EFFECTIVELY PROMOTE HOW YOU ARE ON THE CASE.
1. Joe needs to get loud and ugly about getting Thomas OFF THE COURT. (Trump did it with Stevens with far less reason.) Threaten to get the FBI on his wife and more if Thomas doesn’t leave NOW. Yes, get UGLY. If you shock people, that actually helps.
1b: Constantly project, market and praise yourself how greatly you are responding to world problems (like Russia, inflation) you didn’t create. Repeat, repeat, repeat.
2. Same as above with the DOJ turning Jan 6 committee findings into prosecution. And get loud and ugly about demanding an immediate investigation into why the NY case is mysteriously stalled.
3. Hire and listen to a competent marketing firm about turning messaging around, gathering the troops into the midterms. GET ON IT NOW. Get on TV, all the networks, again, again, again and start being in America’s face with this messaging. Learn how to pierce the FOX bubble. Buttigieg was making progress there.
4. Let Kamala be Kamala and actually help. So what if she comes across as an “angry” woman of color. THAT’S HER STRENGTH. Let her energy come out, even if it’s rough.
5. Get active with counterpunching against Florida/Texas type laws: the book banning, etc… These things are blatantly unconstitutional. And I bet an investigation into how DeSantis alters COVID figures from his state would reveal much.
6. And for us: Yes work on campaigns, but I think we have to get loud and angry about pushing our legislators to advocate for our congress and president to get out of the old Ivory Tower. No more tricycles to a motorcycle race.
So yeah, issues matter, but what matters more is how you market and frame yourself in the midst of them.