James Carville and Stan Greenberg’s Democracy Corp polled different messages and came to a depressing conclusion. They discovered that any Democrat who talks about the Republicans’ responsibility for creating our current economic mess is not going to be well-received. Apparently, people do not want to hear about the past or listen to people engage in the blame-game. Unfortunately, you simply cannot explain why more is not being done to improve the economy without referencing what the Republicans have done and are doing to obstruct change.
If we keep giving the Republicans a mulligan, nothing will ever improve. Sometimes, you have to shape public opinion, not just figure out what message sells best in the current environment.
a lot of progressives were saying this in January 2009. other people in the white house thought differently, took a different route and here we are. those that got this wrong in january 2009 should be fired, those that were right should be promoted. accountability has to start somewhere.
Eh, I disagree. I think the WH genuinely expected Collins and Snowe to have a heart under the circumstances. I mean, that plan did work with Arlen Spector.
It was the people responsible for “Recovery Summer” who should be fired. But given how Washington works, I expect they’re now running the reelection campaign or something instead.
Excuse me. I’d like to point out the great state of Wisconsin who was warned by our President – that guy in the WH- not to give back the keys. They didn’t listen.
From day one the WH consistently reminded the American people who was responsible for this economy and the loss of jobs. Do I have to remind you of how the media and Republicans kept crying that Obama shouldn’t bring up bush anymore?
the WH has been telling them. Democrats in congress on the other hand for some strange reason, along with all those progressives, like to join to with Republicans from time to time and pretend that our economic woes began with Obama.
Excuse me. I’d like to point out the great state of Wisconsin who was warned by our President – that guy in the WH- not to give back the keys. They didn’t listen.
You, and he, don’t understand why people vote. Hectoring people, telling them the other person is sucks worse, is not going to make people want to vote. Doing something good, helping them get jobs, is going to make people vote. Improving people’s lives will make them vote. Using neo-liberal economic voodoo and then telling people the other guy is worse is not a recipe for success.
This is why I’ve come to hate the Carvilles of the world so deeply. What the so-called survey shows is that the message Carville et al are able to create polls badly, not that what a creative person might say would get the same reaction. “Democracy Corps” is just more self-appointed pundits trying to set the parameters for, and thus control, the political discussion.
Doing focus groups is no way to run a country. the DC (interesting choice of initials, BTW) poll simply lays out an obvious self-contradiction that they themselves created by their methods and their questions. Shying away from any connection to history makes things neater for the consultant/pundit class because it keeps things simple and they don’t have to work or think. The prescription the offer is worthless because it makes no sense.
Of course people don’t want to hear about the bad shit, especially when just about everything is bad. But bad shit sure works for the teabaggers and the Reps in general, doesn’t it? DC might have actually done something useful if they’d explained why “negative” messages, ie historical reality, works so well for the bad guys but the good guys absolutely have to stay saccharine. Voter anger got Obama into the WH. Now he’s apparently supposed to cede that ground to the idiot side and pretend the state we’re in just came from God or the Fates or something. Remember when the left was supposed to be the thinkers? Now we’re being nagged to give all that gloomy stuff up and just stick to the Positive Thinking snake oil.
Great comment. You really put things in perspective.
So it’s the height of executive genius to massively leverage a company’s capitol and risk-or even court-bankruptcy. But if the government has a debt load comparable to, oh, let’s say 9 MLB teams that’s a historic crisis requiring the liquidation of all government social programs, plus the lowest tax structure since the Guilded age. The children, elderly and sick supported by our feeble government assistance will just have to sacrifice so that the CEO Jeebus can magically renew the economy through luxury boating and Caribbean vacations.
But Bud Selig is very sorry such information was maliciously made public and shines a potentially critical light on the upstanding billionaires Bud is tight with.
For the last 24 months, since Obama won, the Repukeliscum have been saying that the economy was destroyed by Fannie and Freddy and by poor people who wanted to own their own house. Over and over, this is the message from the fascists. And we now learn that MESSAGE DISCIPLINE IS SUCCESSFUL.
What we need is a White House that does NOT FUCKING ROLL OVER, which they are DOING AGAIN. They had, on Friday, a horrible jobs report, which was caused by the Republican economic policies initiated after Nov 2010. And what do they say? Nothing about Repukeliscum, and wobbly bullshit about “oh, things will turn around”>
WE NEED A STRONG MESSAGE THAT THE REPUKES ARE TO BLAME.
Carville is trying to stay relevant. tell his tired ass to go somewhere and sit down
I read this differently: the public wants to hear a plan of action, not just the assignment of blame.
It is important that Democrats shape public opinion by pointing out the causes of the meltdown and the Great Recession, you’re right. My takeaway from this research is that the Democrats should do so in the format of contrasting what the Republicans did, and continue to do, with the Democrats’ plan going forward.