I read lots of diaries here on 2006 strategy. We debate what kind of plan to have, when to have it, how many angels fit on the head of a pin,
ad nauseum. What we never seem to discuss is what to do
before the plan.
I sell for a living. Salespeople can get really hung up on process: How to greet your prospect, how to prepare marketing pieces, how to close; it's a lot like the Democrats' dilemma. Successful salespeople (and I'm not counting myself) internalize all the processes and make the sale seamless, logical and persuasive.
The main tool in a salesperson's kit, though, is not one of the things you usually associate with sales. The tool is a secure knowledge of why their prospects should want what they have to offer. The reason should boil down to one word. Just one word. Fun, protection, sex, belonging; primal stuff. You can not be persuasive without a clear understanding of your overarching reason to persuade.
Put even more simply: Define, with one word, what you represent. Make the person you are trying to persuade believe that you represent that word. Then sell your product or idea.
When we get hung up on the plan, we miss this point. First, what's the word? How do we convince voters that that word defines us? Then, and only then, do we present a plan. Any salesperson who gives any thought to what he/she does will tell you this is essential. Lots of people fail in sales every year, just as politicians do. This is usually why they fail.
Our word: Competence.
We must hammer home the breathtaking incompetence of this Administration and its abettors in Congress. We must be willing to use the word to describe Donald Rumsfeld, John Bolton, Condoleeza Rice. We really don't have to use it to describe our co-Idiots in Chief. It will flow naturally. Check out sometime how Truman came from behind to defeat Thomas Dewey in 1948. He decried the "Do-Nothing" Congress, run by Republicans. He essentially said to Americans: It doesn't matter what plan I put up, if you don't give me a Congress that will consider it.
Republicans will respond with things like the bankruptcy bill. The obvious response is that the only people Republicans do anything for are rich ones. In fact the response is so obvious that it should be stated up front, when we discuss their incompetence.
They're very competent when it comes to spending your money. When it comes to giving tax breaks to the wealthy. When it comes to helping their big business buddies. But give your soldiers proper equipment? Respond to a natural disaster? Make sure you have a living wage? Health care? A secure retirement? Forget about it.
What, then, do Democrats offer? Competence. A government that functions for the people, not in opposition to them. A government that respects their privacy, not one that invades it. A government that recognizes the value of all workers, not just those lucky enough to be born here. A government that functions, not one that slashes and burns. Competence.
As soon as most Americans are convinced of this frame... as soon as Democrats persuade themselves that this is what they offer... I'll be happy to see a plan. Not until.