There is an article in today's NYTimes with the ominous title of
"Some Democrats Are Sensing Missed Opportunities". It interviews several Democratic politicians about their thoughts on how best to make the biggest gains in November. One of our favorite senators was quoted making these central points:
"I think that two-thirds of the American people think the country is going in the wrong direction," " said Senator Barack Obama, ... "They're not sure yet whether Democrats can move it in the right direction. "Mr. Obama said the Democratic Party had not seized the moment, adding: "We have been in a reactive posture for too long. I think we have been very good at saying no, but not good enough at saying yes."
Much more in extended since this board keeps insisting I have too much in the main section even though I did keep it at 3 paragraphs....
Armando also wrote about this article and slammed Obama and all the Senators involved for being negative. But I don't think they're all wrong. For that article to lump all the introspective criticisms together into a rather dispiriting piece may not help. But the central message they are talking about is that Democrats need to start presenting themselves as a better alternative to Republicans instead of just being experts at pointing out their opponent's problems.
I have seen this in numerous news stories about political poll results over the last few months. Most Americans are in full agreement that the Republicans are making a mess of things. But when they consider the Dems they don't know how they would be any different. Atleast in the good ways we politically-aware-types know about. They're all just more "politicians" (said sneeringly). They have years of right-wing-media spin about liberals eating away at their rationality. And being out of power we've been able to do little to prove otherwise.
We need to change this! But when? And in what manner? We know how much better our Dems could do but how do we spread that message through an uncooperative media to a politics-loathing populace?
The WHEN
The issue of when was brought up in the NYT article:
Some Democrats argued that the party had time to put up its ideas, and that it would be smarter to wait until later, when voters would be paying attention.
"When you bring it out early, you are going to leave it open for the spinmeisters in Rove's machine, the Republican side, to tear it to pieces," said Senator Richard J. Durbin, Democrat of Illinois.
But former Senator John Edwards of North Carolina, the party's 2004 vice-presidential nominee and a prospective presidential candidate for 2008, said he thought Americans were eager to hear the contrasting case.
"What the American people are hungry to hear from us is, what is the difference?" Mr. Edwards said in an interview. "What will we do? How will we deal with the corruption issue in Washington? How will we deal with the huge moral issues that we have at home? This is a huge opportunity for our party to show what we are made of."
On this issue I absolutely have to go with Edward's view and the idea of doing something as soon as possible. The "Rove Machine" will be slashing away at whatever we say whenever we say it. And when it comes to voters paying attention I believe they are much more likely to be doing so now then 6 months from now. The difference is that the airwaves are not yet saturated with political messages like they will be in half a year. And given recent trends I'm sure there will no shortage of attack ads and mud slinging. An atmosphere like that causes most people to avoid and tune out political messages or view them as simple retaliations to the other party's message. That's not a time to be pushing a fresh new political message.
If the Dems can portray themselves in a simple but possitive light in the near future I don't think they need to worry about it being forgotten come election day. Even if people don't remember all the specifics they will remember thinking that the Democrats are atleast a better alternative then Republicans. Even if they are still politicians :) And being an improvement is the key point.
So the basic answer is "As soon as possible". Though I'd say that sometime in March would be optimal. Its associated with Spring and new beginnings. The weather will be getting nicer and people feeling better. And its still early enough for people not to be burned-out by election year politics.
The HOW
Here are the main things that I think must be done to promote Democrats as the better alternative:
1) Advertise our positives, not their negatives
Or atleast, never speicify the negatives. I had this idea for a TV commercial... It would start with someone saying "For the last 5 1/2 years this country has been led by Republicans. The President, a majority of both houses of congress and, an increding portion of our courts are all Republican. But this November that can begin to change..." In the background while this is being said there could be images or phrases associated with the worst Republican related screw ups and corruption over that period. This is not negative on the commerical's part. Merly a stating of facts that leads to negative connections being made in the viewer's mind. And a reminder that the majority of blame lies not with Democrats.
The emphasis and majority of the rest of such a commerial should list all our beliefs that the majority of Americans are known to be behind. "We are the Democratic Party" (spoken by a smiling Obama or other charismatic figure in front of a group shot of 100+ smiling democratic politicians) "and this is what we are for...." (which leads to the politicians taking turns stating core beliefs with convicion and pride) If our first and most widely hyped strike of the election year is an overwhelmingly possitive and confident one that is what will be remembered. Even if the details are forgetten or blurred. And the Rove-orchestrated counter strike will seem that much more foul in comparison.
2) Do it in a surprising, different, news-worthy fashion
This is the best way to get through the mis-placed priorities of today's media. And to make sure our message is remembered for a long time. A simple political commercial or announcement, even if it is different is not news. Atleast not the kind of news that gets prominently mentioned on the nightly news recaps and front paged on newspapers and websites. Annoucements should be made at huge gatherings with thousands in attendance and as many Democrats together as possible. Today's Band of Brothers gathering in D.C. is a good example. Make a specatcle of it. And try to avoid corniness or lack of seriousness. Let John Stewart get a joke from a "Where have these guys been!?" type comment instead of his usual hiding of face-in-hands expression when he shows a clip of a Democrat's speach.
The early timing I mentioned in the When section also helps makes an anouncement newsworthy. As would a week's worth of early hinting and teasing of the media about what is to come. So long as what comes is noteworthy ofcourse. A 60-second TV commercial would be expensive. But if they could produce one that does an excellent job of summarizing key points at a key time this year I would gladly donate money to help show it as often as possible, depite the fact that I don't usally donate very often. And I'm sure I'm not alone.
3) Keep the messages as simple as possible
I'm not going to try to list all the possibilities of what we should or could say to describe the democratic party. That's a diary of its own and has been done before several times. I just want to re-emaphasize that every attempt shoudl be made to shorten any list into as few items as possible. Lumping several issues under one header if possible. The different varients and details can always be spelled out in later interviews or possibly in a later series of commercials all tied back to the first one.
4) Come up with a consensus on what to say about Iraq
Obviously this one is not easy since we've been wrestling with exactly how to frame our argument for months. I'm going to take the easy road away from this one as well (this diary is long enough as is) but its something the Democrats have to come up with a single answer for. And if some don't want to go along (say that Joe guy...), screw em.