Sometimes a small observation speaks volumes. Recently CNN's Gloria Borger reported that when she asked Democratic voters what the Republican message was, they regurgitated it easily and correctly. When Borger asked them what the Democratic message was, the voters couldn't respond.
I have strong reasons to believe the GOP message is totally wrong on empirical and moral grounds. We do not need less stimulus right now, but more; we do not need less regulation, but more. We need to focus on job creation, not debt reduction, right now. And "leaving the money in private hands" will not do it, as many of the private hands are overseas (China, for instance, holds many of the treasury bonds we are using to finance our debt). And tax cuts for the rich lead them to save more, not to spend much,
However, the Me-Too Democrats have allowed to the GOP to make deficit-cutting the leading agenda of Washington policy discourse, despite the fact that according to a February 2011 Gallup poll, 35% of Americans felt unemployment was the most important problem facing America; only 11% said the same of the deficit. Another February poll conducted by Pew found that 44% of Americans held that the job situation was the economic issue that worried them most, while only 19% said the deficit worried them most. Even amidst all the recent talk of a debt crisis, an April Gallup poll showed that the top two concerns of Americans were still the "economy in general" and unemployment ranked by 45% of Americans listed as their top concerns, while the deficit and debt were so ranked only by 17%. And, as the special House election in New York just showed, one of the few things the Democrats have going for them is that they are known as champions of Medicare -- yet the Democrats keep saying that they too are willing to cut Medicare, only differently and to a lesser extent. The Democrats may hope that the voters will prefer their watered-down Republican agenda over the harsher GOP one, but they cannot presume the candidate the Republicans finally settle on will be a Tea Party mutant. On the contrary, after the primaries, the GOP candidate will very likely move toward the center.
Meanwhile, the Democrats must do better than arguing that the continued horrible job news, including the recent uptick of the unemployment rate to 9.1%, is merely a bump in the road, that the economy "is going to take a while" to mend, as President Obama put it. And they add that the tsunami in Japan and the Greece-EU debt crisis are at fault, and they soon will be behind us. The Democrats thus act as if they have a secret message from the gods of economics, that without any new major endeavors or policies , the economy will return to a strong growth, unemployment will fall, and -- voila! --they will carry the day, all without having to take the political risks involved in coming up with an active, interventionist economic agenda.
Nobody really knows what the economy will do next. If one had to bet, it would be safest to assume that the economy may recover some, but that it will continue to exhibit a rather anemic growth rate and high unemployment well into next year. Above all, the continued effort -- to which the GOP and the Me-Too Democrats seem to be leaning -- to take out four trillion dollars from federal spending over the next ten years, while states and cities are slashing their budget, is likely to make investors even more reluctant to start or expand enterprises and employers to hire people.
The Democrats need an agenda of their own. If more stimulus is impractical, they should call for massive outlays for retraining the labor force and public works that develop new domestic energy sources. They would be better off, even if the GOP succeeds in blocking such moves. They would demonstrate that they understand that what we now need is to focus on job creation, and cutting the deficit has its place -- later.
Amitai Etzioni is a University Professor at The George Washington University and the author of The Moral Dimension (The Free Press, 1988).
The professor is correct. A combination of poor messaging, poor senate leadership and lack of media coverage has made the democrats ineffective.
How about a message saying the democrats want to shrink the republican party to a size so that it could be drowned in a bathtub.
The Democratic leadership, top to bottom, is rudderless. Talk to anyone on the street who hasn't bought the tea party baloney and it is obvious what is needed. Reorder Priorities (Get out of Iraq and Afghanistan for starters), Hold China accountable for trade violations, and pull back on unfavorable trade agreements (especially the ones that benefit one side only), Concentrate on infrastructure and green technology, provide affordable health care for all Americans, and perhaps most important of all, revitalize our public education system. In sharpening the distinction between parties, I would cast the Republicans as the party of greed and corruption, those who would allow US business to continue to rape and pillage our economy. I would at the same time portray the Democrats as those who care about the working man. (Can anybody find John Edwards talking points???!!!! Good lines even if he turned out to be a bit sleazy!!). Enough bipartisanship already.
Had Obama been an ideologue, he would have set out bold parameters and directions, against which opposition would be judged.
Instead, he felt he needed to create cooperation between the factions that control the country and lost whatever edge he had. This 'kumbaya' mode is fine, if the fight is not vicious and with so much at stake as reality shows.
I've said from Day One that the Democrats not only didn't have a message, they had no direction. Those that delivered the Democratic message were terrible. Basic questions went unanswered. Challenges were unanswered. 'Facts' were skewed against them. They looked weak because they appeared to have no convictions in what they were doing.
I can't find two people who know what the health care bill does, as an example.
You can't lead if you confuse your followers. The one thing that ideologues have as an edge is conviction - right or wrong doesn't matter. Conviction looks like strength - and, it provides direction even when things start to go wrong.
There are many reasons for the apparent weaknesses of Congressional Democrats and the appearance of a lack of conviction on the part of Obama. But, whatever the reasons, it's very disappointing. We need fighters for leaders. We need to get behind ideas and feel like we are part of progress.
Instead, we acquiese too easily. Compromise before compromise is necessary. We sit back and get attacked without a strong voice to defend our ideals. It's disheartening.
"Outsourcing is just a new way of doing international trade," said N. Gregory Mankiw, chairman of Bush's Council of Economic Advisors, which prepared the report. "More things are tradable than were tradable in the past. And that's a good thing." The report itself, under Bush's signature, offered similarly encouraging words, asserting that "when a good or service is produced more cheaply abroad, it makes more sense to import it than make or provide it domestically." Mankiw and the president's report contend that the U.S. economy ultimately will benefit when the production of goods and services finds its way to the nation that can render them most efficiently.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&contentId=A30194-2004Feb10
In the last four years they owned congress, Republicans voted 11 times to reward corporations that create jobs and profits overseas. The cost added directly to the deficit. One impact is the loss of 42,400 factories (6 million jobs) between 2004 and the end of 2009.
Can we count on some federal dollars to: repair, patch or replace concrete on bridges, remove paint inspect and repaint steel on bridges. Some federal funds would get a bunch of bridge inspection teams up and running. A watch one - do one - teach one type of O J Trainning and the State of Georgia would be greatful. We would no longer need to close our eyes when driving over or under some of those structures. The cost to tool-up each crew of five would be under four thousand dollars and I will carry my crew in my truck - your fuel & your insurance and up keep. We could rent compressors and jack hammers scaffolds and bucket trucks as needed. I am ready to rock and roll.
So where are the bucks?
Demand is probably the only thing that might create jobs. Maybe the buying public will rescue the economy, but I would'nt bet on it anytime soon. The recession has many deep rooted causes, The GOP is stuck in neutral regarding the equally obvious revenue part of the equation, believing that cost cutting is the only solution. Wishing so won't make it happen friends.
Both sides are at fault, but the GOP is driving the bus off the cliff.
It is taxes that keeps the businesses from creating more jobs here. The U.S. has the highest corporate tax rate in the world, at 39% is it any wonder that business keeps its money in the bank or overseas?
It's not the big business that this hurts it's the small business because they can't afford to take their business overseas where their not taxed as much so the small business stays small and can't hire more people after paying all the taxes.
The biggest employee in the country is the one that's killing the country, Big Government and all it's free stuff. So with the largest payroll and it's large giveaway program and the continued borrowing and spending and no one wanting to actually face up to the truth you can expect a mighty fall.
So hunker down folks and get ready for the shakiest ride of our lives.
but only if you go to train the new employees
The problem is that it's always "later".
Respectfully, Mr. Etzioni, the time is now. Later is too late. Now may already be too late.
The wars and the bailouts were Bush's excuse. Military spending to "re-arm America" was RR's exuse. Stimulus and shoring up the banks was Obama's excuse.
There's always an excuse.
Why is reality so hard to fathom?
WE DON"T HAVE THE MONEY
The GOP keeps running the narrative, and we Dems seem to have lost a backbone as well as our own perfectly respectable story and vision.