Some party reforms I'd still like to see.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

Before you get your lather on, I think our party leadership has made a lot of progress in many different areas. I'm very happy with Dean and Reid, and I think Pelosi has gotten a little better in her job as well (especially in handling Katrina).

Still, I think we've got to get our message out by revamping the way we send our messages. People complain we don't have a plan, but they think that because we'll give 30 minute dissertations as to why Social Security is a problem, while Bush gives his three word catchphrases. Guess which one is more likely to get put on the nightly news? I'm quite frankly sick and tired of hearing "Democrats don't have a plan". We have a fucking plan. It's spelled out rather well. The problem is people aren't going to take the effort to find out what that plan is. We need to shrink the message down and make it easier to digest. This, I feel, is our major shortcoming compared to the Republican party.

Secondly, we don't have an effective wedge issue in our favor. The Republicans have been beating to death gay marriage, gun control, and abortion. Not enough of us are "hell on wheels" over it they way they are. We might feel strongly about these issues, but not enough of us would sit in rain for three hours to vote on it. Part of the problem is that we were in power for too long for our own good. Not enough people have a genuine fear of losing their civil rights and liberties. Not enough people see the danger in letting Republicans have their way. We not only need to do a better job expressing that danger, but we also need to find a wedge issue of our own to deal with. An issue that we can rally a large number of people around, that people WILL stand in the rain for. I'm open to suggestions on this one. Iraq is quickly becoming that kind of issue, but it will be a short lived one. We need a lasting touchstone. Maybe it's education reform. Maybe it's health care. I'm not sure, but we need to find it sooner or later.

Finally, our grassroots organizations need to be seen outside of their typical roles. Like it or not, we need to compete with the churches as political entities. As I see it, the major difference is that the churches are actively involved in the community for issues other than just spreading their own message (even though their message is the only real reason they do anything in many cases). They do food and clothing drives, help build up the community, and provide basic services needed and accessible to most people and they are very visible in doing so. How many times do you see unions when they're not striking? How many times do you see NOW when they're not protesting? We wonder why unions have an image of being lazy and why women's rights groups are called "feminazis", and yeah, a lot of it is the smearing of the right, but the smear sticks because of the fact that these are seen as self-serving interest groups first and public services second. The church is not seen that way at all, despite the fact that you could easily argue them to be the most self-serving organization of them all. Yeah, it's a public relations battle. But with diminishing resources and no cohesion amongst the different groups, I think it's time for our party to take a more pro-active role in assisting these groups. A perfect example of this need was the recent NARAL ad against Roberts. Now, if they had anything remotely approaching a capable PR or marketing staff, they could've easily steered clear of that nightmare. Unfortunately, you get what you pay for. In my estimation, the DNC needs to be more proactive in working WITH our groups to get them all on the same page and ensure they can lead a more effective public relations strategy that benefits everyone. We also need to get these groups more visibly active (with "visible" being the point of emphasis) in the community. It's no longer good enough to just be fighting the good fight. We need to prove we care about more than just our own interests. And before you hammer me, yes, I realize our groups really do a lot of what I'm talking about, but we need more of it, and it needs to be more publicly known.

Anyway, this is just my take on things and I've been known to be usually wrong. I'd like to know what you think. Thanks for reading.

[blondeatlast]

1. Spot-on. I think a lot of the problem is that we do the "community" work

the churches do, but we don't advertise it.

The unions, especially first responders in my area, have been out in force serving the Katrina victims here. All the public employee unions have gotten out to help--they just aren't looking for publicity for it. Maybe we should encourage them to.

Move On has done a tremendous job in coordinating housing for Katrina victims. they have a pretty good PR machine, but the word just isn't getting out. They need to take it up a notch.

As for the wedge issue; I think I may have it--and it conveniently fits into the two word culture:

Civil Rights

I'm not going to go into it here and let others respond to it. I know what I'm thinking about it, I bet others are thinking much the same. I'm curious to see if I've picked up on something that others have lately.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

4. Well, I think in the wake of Katrina,

we could be ready to take up civil rights as a touchstone once again. I think it had stopped resonating with people, but now that we have another blatant and visual reminder of the vast inequalities that still do exist, perhaps we can gain some ground again. I don't think it's a home run, however, to merely paint it as race. I think we need to extend the civil rights movement to the poor. It's far more encompassing and compelling for a lot of people. More people can relate to being poor than can relate to being black or hispanic. But I think you're onto something.

[blondeatlast]

7. I knew someone else could sense what I've been sensing. It's an

all-out war on the poor--

Sheesh--that phrasing was an accident, but it just might work.

We are being pushed into creating a permanent underclass; even lower-middle income types aren't welcome in "their" world.

Race is a part of it, but poverty and lack of opportunity have far more to do with it now.

[electropop]

2. How about this catchphrase?

"Stop the Republican looters."

follow up with:

"Everything Bush and his party do, is done to loot our economy: steal from the poor and give to the rich. The war, the Katrina travesty, the tax cuts, everything."

[blondeatlast]

3. We must begin to think in total abstracts. Those phrases are

still too complicated.

You have to understand that to catch the middle, you have to remember that they work 8-12 hours a day, take care of their kids, mow their lawns--they don't have time to analyze what they are being manipulated into thinking.

It sounds crass, perhaps, but the Rs have won the middle this way while manipulating the far right fundies to their side. The fundies do not have the middle's best interests at heart--in many cases they are diametrically opposed. But the Rs win while we sit stunned at our losses and wonder why.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

5. You're right.

"Fight em over there so we don't fight them here"
"Tax and spend liberal"
"Culture of life"

These phrases really don't say much of anything, but they resonate, in part because they're easy to understand and in larger part because of the Republican committment to hammering away at these phrases every chance they get. The closest we've come to that is Edwards' "Two Americas", but even that message doesn't get across unless you sit down and listen to everything else he says. We have to "keep it simple, stupid."

[electropop]

9. Republican Rip-Off

Cruel Conservatism

How are those?

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

10. It's not bad, but it may not be substantive enough.

"Use and Abuse Conservatives" might get that point across a little better.

[electropop]

11. edits: "(S)He's just another Ripoff Republican"

and "This is yet another example of Conservative Cruelty."

[welshTerrier2]

6. no, "we" don't have a plan ...

Clinton has a plan; Reid has a plan; Clark has a plan; Kerry has a plan ...

Dean went on MTP and said something to the effect that it's bush's job to come up with a plan ..

i think the problem goes well beyond merely lacking a catch phrase ...

we need to make serious reforms in our intra-party processes ... we need to make Democratic "leaders" more responsive to the will of the Party's constituents ...

what is the Democratic Party's plan for Iraq?
what is the Democratic Party's plan for purging the government of special interests?
what is the Democratic Party's plan for the rapidly increasing friction with China?
what is the Democratic Party's plan for peak oil?

and even in cases where you believe the Party might have some form of consistent position, i think we have failed to "consistently hammer these themes" to the American people ... our message has to be long-term and ongoing; not campaign to campaign ...

and we need to stop being an ad hoc collection of candidates and start becoming a movement for progress ... it will take more than just catch phrases to achieve that ...

[blondeatlast]

8. "Long term and ongoing..." EXACTLY. I'm a loyal Dem, but one thing that

just KILLS me about us is that after the elections, we just sit seemingly silent. We don't make an effort to engage our own base, much less attract new voters. We just wait two years until the next Congressional election. ARGH!

We need to PLEDGE to have Dem candidates in EVERY election, from dog-catcher to President. We have to do the advertising and PR between campaigns.