Well, all righty. It’s now clear that the proliferation of Hippie-punching comments from the White House is not just a series of off the cuff remarks, not just blowing off steam, but an actual Campaign Strategy.
Blame the whiners and those who cling to their quaint literal understanding of the word Change. For it is they who are at fault for the Democrats’ impending electoral doom.
There are any number of good pieces on Firedoglake on the topic. Jane Hamsher offers the most perceptive take on the motivation behind the strategy, and points out how self-defeating it is.
I also liked Cenk Uygur’s rant on Ratigan, but this from Bluetexan was perhaps the most succinct.
Just so we’re clear, here are a few examples of messages that don’t appeal to me at all.
“Wake up!”
“Get over it.”
“Right back at’cha. Right back at’cha.“
Yes, I do.
And none of these phrases motivate me to want to vote, canvass, give money, phone bank, blog, you know, generally take time away from putting food on my family to pull the lever for Democrats in November.On the other hand, these would do the trick.
“We’ll fight to add the public option to the health care bill.”
“We’re getting out of Afghanistan.”
“We are pulling the remaining 50,000 troops out of Iraq.”
“We’re going to cut the approximately $1T annual defense budget in half and use the remainder to fund US infrastructure projects, including high speed rail.”
“We will roll back the Bush/Cheney executive power grabs.”
“We will repeal DADT.”
“We will fight for marriage equality.”
“We will reform the Senate and eliminate the filibuster.”
“We will make the Fed transparent.”
“We will legalize marijuana.”
Hope that helps.
On the other hand, these would do the trick.