Still clueless after all these years

Posted on August 7, 2011 by Myiq2xu

Doctor of Thinkology

Joe Romm at Stink Progress:

Must-Read Drew Westen Op-Ed Spells Out Obama’s Catastrophic Failure of Messaging

The White House is just lousy at messaging across the board, as I and others have noted many times.

I am hoping my book on messaging and communications will find a publisher this year. It explains what Obama and other progressives have done wrong — and details what the winning strategies and tactics are.

According to the Think Progress website:

Joe Romm is a Fellow at American Progress and is the editor of Climate Progress, which New York Times columnist Tom Friedman called “the indispensable blog” and Time magazine named one of the 25 “Best Blogs of 2010.″ In 2009, Rolling Stone put Romm #88 on its list of 100 “people who are reinventing America.” Time named him a “Hero of the Environment″ and “The Web’s most influential climate-change blogger.” Romm was acting assistant secretary of energy for energy efficiency and renewable energy in 1997, where he oversaw $1 billion in R&D, demonstration, and deployment of low-carbon technology. He is a Senior Fellow at American Progress and holds a Ph.D. in physics from MIT.

How can somebody with such impressive credentials be so fucking stupid?

Obama is NOT a progressive and his problem is NOT a “failure of messaging.”

“Obama just needs to communicate better!”

There are no words that could transform Obama into a successful progressive president. His policies suck. So does he. A turd by any other name would still stink.

Ironically, one of the main reasons we were supposed to support Obama was his alleged mastery of speechification. Like his political skills and judgment, his ability to communicate with and inspire the masses was greatly overrated.

Messaging is important, but it is not as important as the message itself. Liberals and progressives have done a crappy job over the last few decades of selling their ideas and candidates to the voters. Despite their best efforts the stupid voters were falling for right-wing framing and memes, and kept voting against their interests (as the progressives saw it.)

So a few years ago some progressives got caught up in “winning strategies and tactics” utilizing better messaging. I think that may have been where the progressive movement went off track – when the messaging became more important than the message.

If all their strategery and tactics had resulted in the passage of something momentous like single payer/Medicare for all, then they might have been justified in their efforts.

But they wasted it all on Obama.

Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help. – Psalm 146:3

This entry was posted in Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink.

28 Responses to Still clueless after all these years

  1. myiq2xu says:
    August 7, 2011 at 7:31 pm

    Powerline:

    Barack Obama has led a singularly low-impact life. His achievements as a “community organizer” were…what, exactly? As an instructor in the law, not only did he produce no significant scholarship, there is no evidence that he made any impact on his students. Consider that point for a moment. Isn’t it extraordinary, given the press adulation in which Obama has basked for the last four years, that reporters have been unable to come up with a single student who says he was inspired, or even impressed, by Obama’s teaching?

    Then we have his brief and undistinguished career in the Illinois Senate, followed by an even briefer and less distinguished career in the United States Senate. Passion? What passion?

    The truth is that there is only one context in which Obama has ever displayed passion–that is, when he was running for political office. When Democrats say, Where is the Obama we voted for and thought we knew? they are referring to Obama the candidate. It is not hard to see why Obama is passionate about his political campaigns, when he is seemingly so indifferent to almost everything else: they are about him.

    • myiq2xu says:
      August 7, 2011 at 7:40 pm

      That was in response to this:

      The most charitable explanation is that he and his advisers have succumbed to a view of electoral success to which many Democrats succumb — that “centrist” voters like “centrist” politicians. Unfortunately, reality is more complicated. Centrist voters prefer honest politicians who help them solve their problems. A second possibility is that he is simply not up to the task by virtue of his lack of experience and a character defect that might not have been so debilitating at some other time in history. Those of us who were bewitched by his eloquence on the campaign trail chose to ignore some disquieting aspects of his biography: that he had accomplished very little before he ran for president, having never run a business or a state; that he had a singularly unremarkable career as a law professor, publishing nothing in 12 years at the University of Chicago other than an autobiography; and that, before joining the United States Senate, he had voted “present” (instead of “yea” or “nay”) 130 times, sometimes dodging difficult issues.

      A somewhat less charitable explanation is that we are a nation that is being held hostage not just by an extremist Republican Party but also by a president who either does not know what he believes or is willing to take whatever position he thinks will lead to his re-election. Perhaps those of us who were so enthralled with the magnificent story he told in “Dreams From My Father” appended a chapter at the end that wasn’t there — the chapter in which he resolves his identity and comes to know who he is and what he believes in.

      • djmm says:
        August 7, 2011 at 9:51 pm

        Yes, well some of us did not ignore the evidence. I am glad some Obama supporters are waking up, but the country is in a much worse spot than it was in 2008 — because they did not pay attention.

        djmm

      • Pips says:
        August 8, 2011 at 5:17 am

        Those of us who were bewitched by his eloquence …

        This meme about his “eloquence” always annoyed me majorly. Did they really hear “practice or art of using language with fluency and aptness”? And “discourse marked by force and persuasiveness”?

        Wish they had chosen a more appropriate term, like … “bamboozle”. Or “hoodwink”.

    • Dario says:
      August 7, 2011 at 8:42 pm

      Obama’s goal is to destroy SS and Medicare, damage the left and the Democratic Party while appearing to have done through incompetence, not malevolence.

  2. 1539days says:
    August 7, 2011 at 7:54 pm

    Just remember this is long game shit going on. Some of these people talking about how Obama is a disappointment really mean “yeah, he’s not perfect, but he’s good enough. Vote Obama 2012!” Team Dick is already putting most of their effort into destroying any Republican challenger. They may expend about 5% of their energy into taking down a primary challenge from the left. It’s all they’ll need.

    Many PUMAs didn’t have a game plan other than stopping Obama. McCain helped to guide that group with the addition of Sarah Palin. Soem ended up voting for McCain. Democrats against Obama may have to face an even bigger challenge, choosing a Republican over him in the general. It’s the only thing they’re afraid of.

    • insanelysane says:
      August 7, 2011 at 8:06 pm

      Krugman’s NYT article ‘Stuck in the Muddle’ lays out the platform for a remorseful Obama bunch of comments. 10 pages of I am sorry I voted for the fake One. ( Note: there are a few CDS a$$es mixed in)

      http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/07/stuck-in-the-muddle/

      Such fun reading.

      • myiq2xu says:
        August 7, 2011 at 9:35 pm

        Arthur Silber:

        Westen would be better advised to set aside the pathetically misleading question in the title of his article (which I grant Westen himself might not have chosen, although it accurately reflects his perspective), and consider these questions instead:

        What the hell is wrong with me, and with all those other people who made the same terrible error I did?

        Why was I so willingly enthusiastic to believe all the lies?

        And why am I still so resistant to admitting the truth?

        Every Obot in the country should be asking themselves those questions, but they’re too busy looking for imaginary racists.

  4. djmm says:
    August 7, 2011 at 10:14 pm

    It all becomes clear if you admit that President Obama is not a Democrat, but a Reaganite Republican. What we need is a primary challenge so we can chose a Democrat to run in the next election.

    djmm

    • myiq2xu says:
      August 7, 2011 at 10:22 pm

      Digby’s half-wit blog partner:

      The Administration’s messaging is confusing, lacks all emotional clarity, and is redolent of weakness. Not once in the Administration’s response to the S&P downgrade did they mention the word “Republican.” There is no fight left in the Administration, no driving narrative, no emotional core on which to hang one’s hat except a continued and desperate clutch at the brass ring of “compromise.” Whatever that means.

      If these are really the messaging positions going into 2012, progressives might as well ignore the presidential election and focus on winning local races instead.

      The farce is strong in that one

      • Valhalla says:
        August 8, 2011 at 4:35 am

        Plus he’s behind the times. The Tea Partiers are the new scary. There’s tons of messaging around that. Obama’s got his D enablers running around calling them Hobbits and such. Funny Mr. thereisnobrain(inmyhead) hasn’t noticed.

        • Pips says:
          August 8, 2011 at 5:01 am

          In the previous thread votermom quoted a reference to “Priorities USA”. Their Mission Statement reads as follows

          Priorities USA Action is an Independent Expenditure PAC that supports candidates who will advance policies that provide the strongest and most sound outcomes for middle class families.

          Words, just words, but hey! aren’t they lovely words, lol.

          So what exactly are they saying? And who do they think they are fooling? … “Independent”? With Bill Burton running the place? Lol. It looks more like let’s “Bash Romney and TTP”.

    • 1539days says:
      August 7, 2011 at 10:54 pm

      Reagan’s been out of office for 22 years and dead for about 10. Let’s leave him out of it. Dick is a Democrat. He was (s)elected by the Democratic Party. He has the full support of everyone with any power in the Democratic Party. Calling Obama a Republican may help some people sleep at night, but the Democratic Party either needs to be fixed or abandoned.

      • angienc says:
        August 7, 2011 at 11:09 pm

        Honk! Like it or not, Dick does, in fact, represent the “New Democratic Party.” He has it’s full support — hell, they rigged the primary to ensure that he was the nominee and kill off the “Clinton/FDR wing” that existed. They did that because he *is* what they *are.* Believing otherwise is just wishful thinking. The Clinton/FDR Democratic Party is DEAD. It died May 2008.
        That’s why I am now registered as Independent.

        • myiq2xu says:
          August 8, 2011 at 1:06 am

          The “New Democratic Party” looks a lot like the “Old GOP”

        • Mary says:
          August 8, 2011 at 8:57 am

          Me too, angienc.

          We can’t rebuild the real Democratic Party until the current fake Democratic Party is cleansed.

          I keep wondering if Donna Brazille feels any remorse at all. Probably not.

      • Three Wickets says:
        August 7, 2011 at 11:55 pm

        Yeah but he admires Reagan, and he’s a Reagan-Laffer supply sider for the rich elite. Supply side worked once during Reagan when boomers were piling into the workforce and top marginal tax rates, interest rates, inflation rate were all sky high and Reagan pulled them down. It was an inevitable adjustment to the massice economic shocks of the 70s. Today we have the opposite. Top marginal rate have never been lower, interest rates are near zero, we are still deflating more than inflating, and boomers are beginning to retire. There is no bebefit to Reagan-Laffer supply side policy, except for the wealthy shareholder class. We need effective demand side stimulus instead from the Treasury or the Fed or even from the private sector. Without demand (here and abroad) there is no confidence, there is no growth. Barry’s legacy will be that he bailed out banks, insurance companies, mutinationals, rich people, got us into deeper debt as a result, and he left everyone else to fend for themselves during the Great Recession.

        • Dario says:
          August 8, 2011 at 12:14 am

          We need effective demand side stimulus instead from the Treasury or the Fed

          Do you think a good stimulus is all we need? I’m thinking that another stimulus, though desirable, would be a temporary band-aid. I believe we need to change our trade policies (rewrite our trade agreements, like NAFTA), and taxation. Both, the trade and taxation must be fair to wage earners. If we don’t fix what ails the economy, all the stimulus in the world won’t bring us back to sustainable economic growth.

        • Three Wickets says:
          August 8, 2011 at 12:55 am

          I guess. Tax policy has played a role in stimulus so far, whomever it’s helped, and however effective or ineffective the programs have been. As for trade, the battles these days seem to be fought with monetary policies, capital flows, and currency trading more than with tariffs, sanctions and trade agreements. Not sure.

    • pompmommary says:
      August 8, 2011 at 5:25 am

      i think that our nostalgia for the democratic party of kennedy, lbj, tip oneal, hubert humphrey, has blinded us to the fact that it is gone with the wind.

  5. arkachips says:
    August 8, 2011 at 12:39 am

    In response to the question Jake Tapper and a lot of us ask, ie what has the President been doing? Here’s one answer – he’s been asking for comic art –

    http://www.comicbookmovie.com/fansites/joshw24/news/?a=43893&t=Joe_Quesada_On_Spoiling_Storylines_In_The_Press_Reveals_He_Was_Recently_Hired_By_Obama#comments

Comments are closed.