Last updated on July 18th, 2023 at 01:42 pm
When it comes to messaging, Democrats can be relied upon to frame political issues in self-defeating ways, often – against all odds – finding the single worst means to frame the political debate.
For example, the critical need to reform and rid law enforcement of racism becomes “defund the police.” Perhaps the single most-harmful political message ever devised to crush the hope of solving a real problem. Another example? The need to recognize that “real” American history isn’t always exceptional, indeed at times it is horrific, becomes “critical race theory.” Instead of “real history.”
And, now one of the best economies in history, especially coming out of a pandemic, is suffering under the Republican term, “stagflation.”
Politico published an article today attacking the last issue, the Republican canard that there is something fundamentally wrong with the economy, when in fact, the economy is simply shifting. The pandemic forced much of the economy away from “service” (restaurants, holidays, etc.) to the purchase of goods, especially online. Combine an economy over-reliant on purchasing goods and bottlenecks in ports around the globe and one gets some inflation on goods and empty shelves. Hardly Joe Biden’s fault.
Moreover, Republicans would be selling the economy’s strengths as just that, strengths!
Republicans are blaming Democratic-led stimulus spending for overheating the economy. They’ve rolled out the bugaboo of stagflation — slow growth coupled with runaway inflation — that brought down Jimmy Carter’s presidency. Stagflation is catchy but a canard. Companies are flush with cash, and consumer demand shows no sign of slowing. The economy continues to expand.
There is also the fact that one cannot enter a store of any kind, from the gas station to high-end retail, and not see a “WE’RE HIRING” sign, a situation that very few associate with a bad economy. To the extent that the bottlenecks in ports all over the world have driven up prices, most Americans – by far, have more money to spend to easily overcome the prices. Ask any American family with three children under 12 how that extra $750 or more is helping out with inflation. We do not hear that emphasized enough, “Thanks, President Biden!
“If Donald Trump was president he’d be calling it the greatest economy of all time. If Ronald Reagan was president he’d be calling it the greatest economy of all time,” said Jim Kessler, co-founder of the center-left group Third Way think tank and a former aide to Sen. Chuck Schumer. “This is anything but stagflation. There’s no stag. That’s the critical race theory of the economy.”
It is what Republicans do, latch on to something, anything, and make it the scariest thing that Fox News can grab, then play it all day, every day, to ensure that much of the American public is afraid to get out of bed in the morning.
Messaging is especially important when there is nothing that Biden can do about a lot of the problems in the global economy, to begin with. President Biden cannot suddenly encourage people to get out on a cruise or get on a plane without risking sounding like a hypocrite on COVID, especially as a fourth COVID wave is just starting to build on the horizon.
But what President Biden can do is talk about the gigantic effort he is making to keep ports open throughout the country, to bring down the cost of prescription drugs, and highlight that Americans have more money now, through tax cuts and the monthly child tax credit, thanks near solely to his administration.
But no one is going to say this for the Democrats. They have to be able to get out and say it themselves… which is when experienced Democratic hands begin to worry. Just get it right this time. It cannot possibly be that hard. On this issue alone, mimic Trump. Democrats must simply talk about the fact that no one has ever handled the issues we face better than the current administration. Period.
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