The Big Thing Democrats Don't Do Well

[David Morris]

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2014/09/heres-why-obama-fumbled-economy-last-night

Democrats and Republicans are both good at some things and bad at others.
One of the things that Republicans are good at is making—and repeating over
and over and over—firm predictions about the outcomes of their policy
preferences. If you fail to wage eternal war in the Middle East, there will
be a terrorist attack in the United States. If you lower taxes, the economy
will improve. Etc.

These are easy things to understand for voters. And guess what? Eventually
there *will* be a terrorist attack. Eventually the economy *will* improve.
So when those things happen, Republicans have a nice, simple story already
planted in the public mind that allows them to take credit or place blame
for it.

Democrats are not so good at this. President Obama fumbled last night on *60
Minutes* when he tried to take credit for the improved state of the economy
compared to when he took office. Partly, of course, this is because the
economy is only in so-so shape. But it's also because Democrats have no
simple, pre-digested narrative. They never said—over and over and over—that
if we passed a stimulus bill, the economy would improve. Or that if we
rescued GM, the economy would improve. Or that if we raised taxes on the
wealthy, the economy would improve. Instead, Democrats had sort of a dog's
breakfast of policy choices that they endorsed, but never made into a
centerpiece of a claim about economic recovery. So now, when the economy is
recovering, nobody really gives them any credit.

Now, this may be a more honest way of conducting our affairs. Most
government policies really do have only a modest effect on economic growth.
Likewise, most government policies have only a modest effect on the chances
of someone eventually pulling off a terrorist attack. But honest or not, it
means voters don't associate Democrats with much of anything. They don't
give them credit for improving the economy, for example, or for preventing
terrorist attacks. And honest or not, it's political malpractice.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://waste.org/pipermail/pynchon-l/attachments/20140929/1932e80e/attachment.html>