The underlying premise of the Suzuki method is that ANYONE can learn to play an instrument. The most common instrument taught by this method is the violin. You start early and build specific skills over time, reinforcing them through practice, practice, practice and constructive feedback from your instructor. I have a son who took 7 years of Suzuki violin when he was a child who recently picked up his violin at age 45 and played pieces he had learned.
We have lots of great training sessions (national and local) for our Democratic candidates, staff and volunteers. But rarely is that training in comprehensive and effective communications skills. Some people are natural communicators, but most of us are definitely not. However, we can all learn to be better if provided with the resources to do so.
It is not enough to have Communications Directors, ad creators, debate preps, briefly going over scripts and prepared talking points. And whereas developing more effective messages is obviously a critical first step, effective delivery of that message is just as critical.
In Iowa, we have this terrible problem that our candidates are often literally invisible to the vast majority of voters. I know more about John Fetterman in Pennsylvania and Stacey Abrams in Georgia than I do about many of our statewide Democratic candidates, although I know they are all high quality people and am confident they would all govern extremely well.
We also know that the Democratic brand has been badly tarnished for too many voters by relentless deceptive messaging from the Right.
Strong delivery of a consistent message without it sounding canned (inauthentic) is harder then it sounds. However, authenticity is highly valued by Democratic voters and Democratic candidates are more likely to win if they have the ability to inspire. These skills can be learned!
Time to develop and disseminate training resources, including a network of experienced national and local trainers and mentors.