Since even before the election, President Obama and a whole host of Democrats have been arguing that the public was not rejecting the Democrats' program but rather that the poor quality of the Democrats' efforts to communicate the benefits of that program to the American people had led to GOP gains. It is a very peculiar argument for them to make, especially now. There certainly has been no mystery about the content of the Democrats' program. First there was the stimulus, then the huge budget increases, the auto and other bailouts, cash for clunkers, the nationalization of the student loan industry, Obamacare and the Wall Street "reform" legislation. with the exception of the nationalization of the student loan industry, each of these moves received massive publicity. Anyone who paid even the slightest attention to the news knew a great deal about each portion of the program. It is true that Obama sold the stimulus as necessary to keep the country from going above 8% unemployment only to see the rate soar much higher than that. Nevertheless, one cannot call that poor communications; it was simply a big mistake. no one could ever say that there was not a sufficient effort to explain the healthcare bill to the American people; we got entirely too much information on a non-stop basis from the Democrats. Indeed, on each of these portions of the Democrats' program, there was an endless barrage of info coming from Washington to the American people.
The real problem is that the American people did not like what they heard. Indeed, this basic truth is the reason that the current talking points from the Democrats make me quite happy. If the Democrats spend the next year trying to convince the country that they really had a good program but the American people just did not understand it, the net result will be that the Democrats sink ever lower in public esteem. After all, how long will people accept being told that they are, in essence, too dumb to understand this brilliant program? There will be nothing new coming forth about the stimulus and the rest of the expansive government spending. The healthcare law will not kick in except for the rise in incurance premiums for all Americans. nothing will change on Wall Street. But the Democrats will still be telling us all how wonderful their programs really were. It seems to me that for the Democrats it is a no win situation.
In truth, the Democrats need to recognize that the American public has rejected big government and out of control spending. They do not want more statements about how Washington is focused like a laser on jobs; they actually want things done in Washington to promote job growth. The issue is not the message, it is RESULTS!!! For example, when the BP well was leaking into the Gulf and the federal government stood by in total disorder, unable to stop the well or even clean up the mess, no one cared that we were told that the feds had their boot on the neck of BP. We wanted a competent response, not just an angry one. No wonderful speech or catchy phrase could have modified the upset of the American people. They deserved an honest appraisal from the President of the situation together with a realistic plan of action to resolve the problem. We got massive communication but neither truth about nor resolution of the problem.
In my view, the current strategy from obama and the Obamacrats to blame poor communications is the first step towards the defeat of Obama in 2012. Most important, it is a first step chosen exclusively by the Democrats themselves, a self-inflicted wound.
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