I write stories, not only because I love to, but because they are how we communicate best. Life is often a chaotic, nonsensical mess. Humans hate that. If there isn't an obvious coherent narrative we will hastily invent one.
What has been most frustrating about the Obama administration has been its refusal to continue telling the riveting story that got the president elected. There is so much blather right now about whiny progressives, appealing or shunning the base, and whether or not to write off independents. They all miss the point. Very, very few people care about political labels of any kind these days -- maybe Tea Partiers and those nutty Spartacist Leaguers that hang around college campuses. The rest of us just want a good, powerful, hopeful story we can believe in.
The president, in the main, has done his job getting things done, but the White House Office of Communication has not communicated effectively since taking office, and the result will be that John Boehner will be the next Speaker of the House. This fact has been written about and talked about in virtually every medium for months, and the White House's reactions so far has been prickly and defensive.
The only good news from the coming losses might be the White House finally understanding how effectively the minority has harnessed corporate money, rabid oligarchs like the Koch and Coors families, and the Murdoch media empire, to control political discourse even more effectively than they did during the Bush years.
The president is urgently banging this drum now just weeks before the midterms, and it lands on page A17 of the New York Times. And there it dies. No surrogates, few media outlets will repeat this meme. Murdoch's Fox/Wall Street Journal message machine, on the other hand, repeats and echoes its messaging from pundit to host to newscaster to reporter as effectively as the Soviet Union used to. Even if you know they are lying and hate their lies, you still can repeat their lies in your sleep. "Job-killing [fill in the blank]" anyone?
I mean, what does the White House have against catchphrases?
What is most dispiriting about all this is that, spun the right way, the Office of Communications was given the elements of a powerful, heroic story.
A young president, at the eleventh hour, pilots the nation's economy away from the iceberg of a second Depression. Then he courageously takes on the single-most intractable issue of the last century -- health care -- and emerges bloody but victorious. Oh, and along the way he winds down the grotesque tragedy that was the war in Iraq.
Of course the truth is more complicated, but if a Republican had done as much they'd already have his face on money.
Remember how after health care finally passed the White House promised to spend the next months selling it? Hardly happened at all. Though they were the victors, the history so far has only been written by the GOP.
TARP? TARP has already mainly been paid back, according to Murdoch's WSJ, but how many know that?
The stimulus. I've seen small signs in front of construction sites and along highways saying that they were funded by the Recovery Act, but never was there a loud, public, multimedia push. Instead, they chose a stealth stimulus because the GOP was against any sort of stimulus at all. And now stimulus is a bad word? What planet do we live on?
Infrastucture? The president made a fantastic speech about new projects, but the Office of Communication didn't give the plan a name. They seemed to emphasize more the bang ($50 billion) than the buck, didn't have surrogates rush around the country pointing out all the hopeful and necessary projects that would brighten our future, didn't even talk much more about it until today, a month later. These days a month is a year, and a month weeks before midterms is a lifetime.
On Nov. 3, the White House will need to be ready to tell a new story of power, hope and righteous anger. After all, Americans' most favorite story of all is the comeback.
Follow Trey Ellis on Twitter: www.twitter.com/TreyEllis
The American people tried to tell Washington they did not want the health care deform bill proposed. Washington did not listen.
November gives the American people another chance to communicate. They will...very clearly.
American people very much favored single payer or a public opiton until those hopes wer killed by Republicans in Congress. American people tried to tell Washington they wanted bipartisanship. Washington did not listen.
How are those who voted AGAINST a bill responsible for its contents?
Americans are NOT stupid in the collective.
You were saying how amazingly enlightened we were in electing Obama in '08 weren't you?
The people very well DO understand the incredible over reach towards liberal pet dreams at the expense of determined, 24/7 focus on the economy.
Make no mistake, there WON'T be any 11th hr. comeback.
The polls are only wrong in the extent of the carnage for the dems.
It will be epic.
There's a good "story" for you.
Spin that.
Obama made deals with For Profit Hospitals long before Congress debated the bill and promised to kill the Public Option.
Obama and Congress had plenty of time to push through a WPA style jobs program before this election, they didn't do it. Just making speeches saying they're going to create these programs won't fly. The public isn't listening anymore, only action would have changed the course of the election. It almost seems as if Obama wants a Republican controlled Congress.
There you have it in a nutshell.
Nailed it Trey, thank you.
Never before in any nation's history has the 'big lie' been so well funded. And the bumbling WH communications staff has only enabled its telling.
It's hasn't been two years yet for the administration to repair the damage done by decades of poor governance, and though their have been mis-steps, there has also been big steps in the correct direction. I haven't lost faith in Obama, but I have in his administration's willingness or ability to get the word out.
the media is complicit in mangling the president's message. media wonks are obcessed with imprinting their opinions on just about everything. even so, the president and other members of his administration have done a good job of informing u.s. citizens.
faved.
1. Always have an enemy (Obama, Muslims, Government, Illegals, gays etc )
2. Always be the uber patriot so that anyone who disagrees with you is Unpatriotic
3.(most important) Always have the means to repeat and repeat and repeat your message (see talk radio)
After the national hosts like Rush,Beck, Hannity, savage etc use their patriotic, populist rhetoric to manipulate their listeners these stations (90 percent of AM airwaves) play local parroting hosts that repeat and repeat the same message. When Reagan repealed the Fairness Doctrine he opend the door for a handful of megacorporations to buy and control the message with NO time allotted for another opinion. This all started in 1987 and has only grown more powerful and effective since. The first Democratic President to get a taste of this propaganda was Bill Clinton. In 1996 Fox came into the scene and repeats the message once again. The truth cannot get through any longer. It is NOT the fault of the WH Communications staff,. This has been growing since 1987 and has only gotten worse.
With no time for the other facts to be heard it is much easier to manipulate their listeners. Frankly, if I was a listener and researched at media matters or politifact I would be insulted that they think they can get away with insulting you every day. If you get time look ar mediamatters.com. If we don't wake up soon we will be a full fledged oligopoly.
"What We Have Here Is a Failure to Adequately Hide our Socialist Ambitions" would be a more accurate representation of the truth. The redistributionist ambitions underlying the Obama agenda have been mistakenly revealed to the electorate in the mistaken assumption that America really wanted completion of the social democatic state.
Instead of embracing the Obama agenda, the electorate has rejected it - starting with the Massachusetts Massacre and continuing unabated throught the November elections.
Leftists simply cannot comprehend how anyone would reject the "caring" so vividly expressed in the programs, policies, and positions produced by them. Any opposition must be the result of hate, of racism, or of greed.