Waldman on Bush

Paul Waldman, a senior fellow at Media Matters for America and the former associate director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center, wrote one of our favorite books on Bush. It nailed the great prevaricator with a one-word title: "Fraud." If you were in a contest to distill Bush into just one word, we judge that to be the winner. (Although we would argue "Failure" would be a close second.)Waldman is back with another solid book, in which he emphasizes the importance of inclusive messaging that embraces the working class and independent voters (and maybe a few sane moderate Republicans, although such a species is nearly extinct.)This book understands the importance of concepts that are often dreaded as marketing tools by liberals, such as packaging, the character issue, and putting up the good fight. In a rebuke of the DLC, Waldman makes the case, as BuzzFlash has, that public opinion is not a fixed target, particularly in a vibrant democracy. What the right wing has shown is that public opinion is molded by strong and tenacious messaging; in a democracy, public attitudes and policy dont sit still like a duck in a pond. They evolve.We interviewed Waldman the other day and he totally agrees with the BuzzFlash notion that form is content to American voters. It doesn't matter what position Democrats take on wars, if they are seen as weak and apologetic when it comes to political battles. He noted that the Republicans almost never apologize, while the Democrats often retreat at the first sign of brush-back from the White House or RNC. Furthermore, Democrats in Congress often abandon their colleagues under fire, while Republicans almost always rally around a fellow elected GOP official under fire for a political comment. The total picture to the public is that Democrats are wimpy and weak; and Republicans are confident and strong. In this case, form (more than public policy) is content.Waldman's key point in "Being Right is Not Enough: What Progressives Must Learn from Conservative Success" is that progressives have allowed themselves to become defined by the right wing. (And this is a theme BuzzFlash harps on all the time.) Rather than being on the offensive by letting the public know what they stand for in a recognizable easy-to-digest phrase, progressives have become whatever the right wing labels them to be to a large sector of the American public.This is a great con game, because most Americans share, according to polls, most progressive values. Yet, the right wing has even co-opted the word values, as if progressives don't have any. The truth is merely that progressive values are defined differently than the right wing would have it, but the right wing has progressives on the defensive.If you had to define the essential message of Waldman's book, it's that progressives need to play offense. And they need to do some things that they are generally not comfortable with (look at John Kerry's 2004 campaign): define the opponent's character first, throw the first punch, stand up strong for your beliefs, and fight back.All of this is done within the context of establishing repeated, unifying themes, such as, "Progressives believe we're all in it together."In our interview, Waldman noted that if you can't explain why you are a Democrat with four quick reasons in 15 seconds or less, then you are in trouble.Because television and the attention span of the average American require it.The Republicans know this. They are marketers, after all. They understand how to sell people and ideas.The Democrats have to swallow hard and take note. You don't have to compromise your ideals to close the deal. You just have to know how to pitch them.BUZZFLASH REVIEWS