Progressive Movement

It smells like elitism. Or so Republicans and Hillary Clinton would have you believe. Pot, meet kettle.

Problem

But really, Obama’s statement that rural, working class voters were ‘bitter’ for their economic situation, and ‘cling’ to guns and God for solace was politically tone deaf. Not to say he was wrong, but the choice of words is appallingly bad, especially for Obama. He should know that Clinton and the Republicans will twist statements like that to mean the worst things possible.

Trying to cast yourself as a man of faith, particularly after the Rev. Wright dust up, and then saying people ‘cling’ to religion screams out that you are not really a person of faith. No one who truly believes would say something like that, nor believe it. This seriously undercuts his claim of being a believer. Clinton deftly exposed this weak flank,

“The people of faith I know don’t ‘cling’ to religion because they’re bitter. People embrace faith not because they are materially poor, but because they are spiritually rich. Our faith is the faith of our parents and our grandparents. It is a fundamental expression of who we are and what we believe.”

Add that to the Rev. Wright issue, and Obama has a long-term problem regarding faith.

Moreover, the elitism charge also sticks. He cannot bowl, and now he basically claims that people who like guns only do so because their job sucks, if they have one. Man, that just smells of not understanding the culture of guns, religion, and bowling, and if people do not believe they can have a beer with you (notice Clinton just did that?), they will not vote for you.

Sen. Evan Bayh, a Clinton supporter, nailed this one,

“We do have economic hard times, and that does lead to a frustration and some justifiable anger, it’s true. But I think you’re on dangerous ground when you morph that into suggesting that people’s cultural values whether it’s religion or hunting and fishing or concern about trade are premised solely upon those kinds of anxieties and don’t have a legitimate foundation independent of that.”

He has dug himself a huge hole, and Clinton is doing her best to dig it deeper for him. So far she has done a good job. Her problem is overreaching, so she has to be careful not to go on too long or too harshly.

On a more strategic level though, I have to agree with Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo about the damage Clinton is doing (more…)

Messaging, Elections, Obama, Analysis, Racism, Hillary Clinton, gun control, Abortion, Narratives, Faith frame, primaries, Elitism frame | 1 Comment »

Gen. Betrayus testified that we have unstable progress, but progress nonetheless. John McSame claims victory is in sight. American Enterprise Institute fellow Frederick Kagan advocates the notion that Iraq has achieved almost all of its political objectives we established for them when we started the escalation. Bush touted the civil violence in Basra last week was a sign of progress.

Okay, nothing new here. The Republican spin machine is doing what we expect it to do - convince the public the war in Iraq goes well.

The chorus recently has increased the volume, trying to drown out the bad news coming out of Iraq, such as the increase in American casualties, the violence in Baghdad and Basra, and increased power for Al Sadr, the decrease of Prime Minister Maliki’s power, and the defeat of the Iraqi security forces of Basra combined with over 1,000 of them deserting their units.

The media has done an okay job of countering this spin, MSNBC obviously, Michael Ware of CNN, and Richard Engel of NBC just to name a few. But even that leaves much to be desired.

Ultimately, public opinion has not changed much on Iraq, even with the decreased levels of Iraqi violence. It is as if the extended occupation negates decreased casualties. The longer we go, the more the public will simply tire of the ’stay the course’ rhetoric.

Granted, conservatives have technically changed their message to ‘the surge is working’, but when you delve into the actual policy, (more…)

Messaging, Iraq, Elections, McCain, media, Analysis, Economy, Petraeus | No Comments »

Charlton Heston died Saturday night. Sure, he was a crotchety old Republican, heading up the NRA and campaigning for conservative politicians, but who does not love Chuck? I mean, the dude made ham fisted acting ironic and cool - just ask William Shatner. And despite his conservative ways, he marched for civil rights and made a slew of liberal films in the 60s and 70s, like Planet of the Apes, Omega Man, and Soylent Green.

Makes me wonder if he understood the messages in those films. No matter, because if you are good enough to part the Red Sea as Moses in The Ten Commandments, you are good enough to make liberal message films you do not understand.

I also wonder if he moved to more conservative positions because he just wanted to piss off all the self-righteous liberals in Hollywood. Whatever his reasons, it sure took a lot of cajones to be so publicly defiant to the overwhelming status quo, either that or simple minded. One was never quite sure which one it was with Charlton.

Still, he may have been the first real big cheese-tastic star. And for that we owe him a moment of silence.

Chuck, I will never try to pry your gun from your “cold dead fingers.”

Uncategorized | No Comments »

On the 40th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination, there has been a bunch of talk about his racist past. Well, at least his poor record regarding honoring Dr. King and civil rights in general. In fact, even Rep. John Conyers got in on the action, sarcastically blasted McCain for his 1983 House vote against establishing a federal holiday for Dr. King.

Check out this post from Daily Kos. McCain seemingly thinks Dr. King did not do very much for America. And that theme continues with this post.

McCain has played Three Card Monte with his views on MLK for over two decades, even supporting Gov. Mecham when he revoked the holiday in Arizona, but now saying he fought for the holiday’s recognition in that state.

He claims did not understand the issue when he voted against in 1983, even though he was 47 years old at the time. If you want even more contradictions you can go here.

This stuff is all over the Internet, and now it is here. But is it good messaging?

Messaging

Absolutely. While Obama and Clinton likely fight for the Democratic nomination into the early summer, something needs to slow McCain down. At a time when we might actually have a black President, the Republican nominee has a history of trying to deny recognition for arguable the greatest black Americans to have ever lived. The contrast is damning.

This is an issue that will be hard for even white America to deny. And more than his previous semi-racist opinions, his hypocrisy surrounding the issue shows that McCain is a fraud, a charlatan. He is no maverick, or straight talker. He is talking out every side of his mouth to try and convince people he has good reasons for fighting tooth and nail against recognizing MLK.

Progressives and the media need to mention McCain’s racism at every turn while this issue is hot. It could take a life of its own, and if it does, McCain could be seriously, if not permanently damaged. This is serious. Democratic spokespeople and liberal commentators need to force the media to talk about this whether they like it or not.

If we go after McCain’s strength, his maverick, straight talking persona, McCain will have nothing to run on. His integrity will be shot.

Messaging, McCain, Racism, MLK | No Comments »

Last week there was an up tick in violence in Iraq, especially the fighting in Basra. We recently passed the 4,000 death milestone and as a result there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth over casualties in Iraq.

So much so that Bush had to give a song and dance about how everything was going great over there. Too bad the vaunted Iraqi military got its butt kicked by Al Sadr, forcing a cease fire that gave Al Sadr much needed political power. But that is another story.

Here is the problem with too much focus on casualties. What goes around comes around. True, the increase in Iraqi violence and U.S. military deaths does not help the neo-conservative cause, and it undercuts the spin that the escalation is working. But the flip side was that before this, practically everyone had to say the escalation was successful because violence was down.

If you live by the casualty figures you die by the casualty figures. At the end of the day, progressives are making the case that Iraq will not work since they will never embrace a political reconciliation. That is the truth, and people need to stick with that line of reasoning. So even when violence is bad, simply say,

“The Iraqi violence comes and goes. Ultimately, what matters is political reconciliation and power sharing. That is not going to happen, and thus we cannot succeed in Iraq. If we get stuck on casualty numbers we miss the point. The point is nothing is happening politically that will stabilize Iraq. We need to leave.”

You cannot argue about a political solution and then point to violence when things get bad, because then when things get better, you do not have an argument. It is also logically inconsistent since violence is not the same as a lack of political stability. Violence is a by-product of an unstable situation and religious animosity going back a millennium. However, it is not always present in such unstable circumstances, nor in excessive amounts.

So beware of that which looks like a gift. It can sometimes be a curse. I suggest that all Democrats and progressives eschew pointing to casualties and violence in Iraq and instead focus on the myriad social, religious, political, and economic problems the country has. That is the real problem and obstacle to progress. The more the public understands the underlying problems in Iraq, the more they will want to leave.

Trust me, the public will know about the casualties. And they will not like them. But given the opportunity when asked about casualties, use it to talk about the intractable political problems.

Messaging, Iraq | 1 Comment »