The famous Carville haiku written on a dry-erase board in the Little Rock war room of the 1992 campaign read:
Change vs. More of the Same
It's the economy, stupid
Don't forget health care
Here's my proposal for a new haiku:
Stay Positive
It's about America, stupid
Get them to the kitchen table.
here's why......
Faced with a Bush adminisration that really is a
miserable failure and a danger to our world and nation...it will be tempting for the Democratic nominee to run a campaign based on negativity...
of course, that would be a huge mistake.
The starting point for every argument during the 2004 election should be to "stay positive."
And I mean every argument...when asked about tax cuts....we respond..."I think the tax cuts were a bad idea...here's what how my plan will be fiscally responsible and reform the tax structure so that it works for everyone." When asked about WMD...the response should be...."Whether or not Iraq had WMD is a moot point...here's is my plan to deal with the current situation in Iraq."
This isn't Pollyanna politics...it's actually rapier-like parrying of the only thrust the Bush Administration will be able to make...that we Democrats are negative. We're not. We never have been. And by remembering to stay positive we keep the momentum of the argument focused on why we are the best choice to run the government.
It's about America, stupid.
Think about this for a second. It seems counter-intuitive. But it is the core of what 2004 will be about. Bush and the Republicans have articulated a clear vision of what their America is about (corporate interest politics mixed with divisive cultural issues)...we need to counter it with our own. There has never been a better or more important time to define what the Democratic vision of America will be for the next generation.
It seems, here in December 2003, that this election is winnable strictly over how poorly the Bush Administration has handled foreign policy. That, however, is a huge misperception.
We will only convince the electorate to vote Democrat if we convince them that our vision for America, our values and what we stand for, is more appealing and more in sync with their own than that of Bush and Co. It is only through this lens that we can bring up foreign policy.
Take these contrasts: partnership vs. going it alone. working together vs. playing one off the other. looking at our long term interests versus doing what's expedient at the moment.
All of these tropes are rooted in our domestic policies...and pose an inherent critique of the Bush foreign policy at the same time. By keeping the focus on America we speak to the American voter....and make an implicit argument about how Bush has mishandled our foreign affairs.
It would be a huge political disaster at a crucial moment...if we allowed this election to be perceived to be about foreign policy. Not simply because it's a losing issue...but also because in talking about foreign policy we've stopped talking about the voter. The voter is America...they are our laser focus.
And, finally, we need to get this voter to the kitchen table....if we don't get significant numbers of Americans doing the math in their heads, getting out their calculators...we will lose this thing.
All the lies and funny numbers of the Bush administration don't mean jack if we don't get the voter to sit down and do the math for themselves. That should be the thrust of our effort...where all the momentum is going.
The only way the swing voter or battleground voter will vote Democrat is if we make it a pocketbook, common sense choice. Quite frankly, there's alot of folks out there who will vote Democrat but, when it comes down to it, don't really like the culture of our party.
We need to get them to the Kitchen Table.
Stay Positive
It's about America, stupid
Get them to the kitchen table.
How about it?