The White House wants to “reset the clock” tonight. That’s why Bush will follow his speech with a national campaign-style tour and with four major policy speeches. Tonight’s speech will represent more than the usual Rovian framing effort, as it is part of a much grander strategy.
Bush is faltering. Katrina, Iraq, culture of corruption and the beginnings of an actual opposition (best illustrated in the fall, not yesterday) have all combined to create the perfect storm against Bush’s failed policies and misguided political intents.
So what do Democrats and other progressives do to ensure that Bush does not manage to reset his clock tonight? My suggestion: Go on the campaign trail with him.
Bush’s national tour and four policy speeches will be a campaign-like effort. We know this because that’s how Rovian principles are applied. Both the clock setting and the campaign trail are Rove’s stronger strategic patterns. To counter a campaign, and all of the rhetoric and imagery that will be part of it, Democrats need something similar. So why not rent a bus, put Howard Dean and six up and coming Democrats (make them all under 45) with him and go on a heartland tour to six major cities and many smaller stops in the month of February.
The narrative of the bus tour should be: (1) Democrats are on the move for making a difference, taking their calls for better priorities directly to America, (2) the Democrats are gearing up to seize control of the agenda leading into 2006, with a positive and proactive message to Americans. The tour could be called something like the “Return America to Greatness Democratic Tour.” To make the tour proactive, transformative themes should be interwoven with direct attacks.
Themes could match the tour’s route. For instance, the tour could start in Houston, focusing on Enron and Social Security. Employees who lost their pensions and retirement savings at Enron could be addressessed in an outdoor, campaign-style event. Next stop: Oklahoma City to address Domestic Security and the need to tackle all forms of terrorism, not just foreign terrorism. Next stop: Charleston West Virginia, to focus on the human costs to environmental mismanagement, no corporate oversight and a failed energy policy. Next stop: Columbus Ohio, to focus on government accountability and transparency. Final stop: Chicago, to focus on pensions (United Airlines).
The tour should be bold, non-reactive, message-focused and aggressive. Speeches should be timed to coincide with Bush’s speaking tour, and should be placed in locations that contrast Bush’s locations and that speak to Democratic strengths. Rhetoric should be laser focused attacks on Bush’s weaknesses: (1) He can’t be trusted – he’s a habitual liar, (2) His radical agenda is too risky and must be checked by Congress to avoid getting America into another dangerous war, (3) He wants to turn back the clock on popular programs like Medicare and Social Security, (4) He has fostered a culture of corruption in Washington.
The Democrats should also carefully schedule a series of bombshells to drop just before and right after each of Bush’s planned agenda-setting speeches. An all out effort should be conducted to force Bush – or at least his press office – to be on the defensive for the entire month of February.
In this case, it is not so much what gets said, but that Bush gets bogged down and robbed of his chance to restart his failed second term. The White House has put considerable rhetorical resources into making a reset possible. A well-timed, aggressive and strategic counter attack that keeps the White House off message for the next month, to weaken Bush for the rest of his term.
cross posted: EconoCulture’s Political Porn