The Democrats Crack Up
Who knows if this will last, but for the moment, it's fun to watch. From Talking Points Memo:
Democratic strategists have been raising red flags about the Obama campaign’s messaging recently, worrying that Obama is spending too much time explaining why the economy has improved over the past three and a half years and not enough time talking about the next four years.
But the Obama campaign seems loath to take their advice, or at the very least, acknowledge publicly that they need to adjust their message.
Which "strategists?" Just the one with the biggest mouth:
“I’m worried that when the White House or the campaign talks about the progress that’s being made, people take that as a signal that they think that things are fine and people don’t feel they ought to believe that,” Democratic strategist James Carville said on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”
Carville is the co-author of a memo, along with Democratic pollsters Stan Greenberg and Erica Siefert, which uses findings from focus groups to argue that the president needs to articulate a vision moving forward with “minimal discussion of the recovery and jobs created and maximal empathy for the challenges people face.”
Meanwhile, inside the hermetically-sealed ObamaDome:
On “Fox News Sunday,” [Obama advisor David] Plouffe argued that Carville and his chorus of Democrats are wrong.
“Those other Democrats are not paying attention to what the president is saying,” Plouffe told host Chris Wallace. “Which is every day, not just in what he says but what he does, he understands our economy is not as strong as it needs to be, that this didn’t happen overnight, it’s going to take us a long time to recover, there’s a lot of people out there hurting. So we are making progress and we need to make a lot more.”
Plouffe’s retort did exactly what the critics warn the campaign not to do: focus on the president’s economic record for his first term, rather than what he would do in a second term.
On “Meet The Press,” Plouffe denied that Democrats were panicking after a few rough weeks and poor economic news. But he called on Democrats to quit the “hand wringing” and focus on winning the election. What Democrats and any other supporters of the president need to do, Plouffe said, “is work like heck to win this election. That’s where we need our energy focused. Not on kind of some of the hand wringing that sometimes occurs in our party.”
Enjoy it while you can.
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Comments:
Sep '10
Re: The Democrats Crack Up
The other "Democratic strategists raising red flags" are the reporters themselves. "Questions have been raised." "Some are wondering whether the strategy might backfire," etc. Reporters at The New York Times have used this device for years to get their own views expressed in their articles.
I think someone in the last podcast--perhaps Rob himself--said this very thing, too.
Jun '10
Re: The Democrats Crack Up
It's a great farcical comedy. I just wish it wasn't so far over budget.
Jan '11
Re: The Democrats Crack Up
Reality has been stomping on the message. A couple months ago, they had two weak but positive jobs reports in a row, at which point they rushed to the microphone to claim evidence that things had turned around. Then, when the next two reports showed a huge drop, they argued that these reports showed how tough it was. We've had 3 1/2 years of confident pronouncements, with each announcement reinforcing the suspicion that they don't know what they're doing. Because their other predictions have been so wrong, they can't possibly expect anyone to believe them now. And yet, apparently, they do.
As others have said, this is how the Iraqis must have felt when Baghdad Bob was confidently proclaiming an impending victory.
Last week, they sent out David Axelrod to contain the damage. Then they tried to soothe the troops with a video from Jim Messina. This weekend, they sent out David Plouffe. They can't send out Obama - every time he speaks, he drops in the polls. Who's next? Biden? Michelle?
Is it time for George Lucas and CGI?
Edited on June 18, 2012 at 6:48pmApr '12
Re: The Democrats Crack Up
Where are the adults in the war room? The Obama team does not realize but anyone would have won the general in 2008....not because of their brilliance. The carping on the outside is by guys who have won tough elections in tough environments, but that wing of the party is dead. I am certainly enjoying he death knell of the blue dog democrat!
Jul '10
Re: The Democrats Crack Up
Soon SCOTUS will kill all or apart of Obamacare. The President will then blaim SCOTUS for an over reach and then begin to blaim us.
That will be it for his second term hopes.
The upside? Glad you asked .. Rob will be buying dinner and drinks in Texas! I feel better already.
Edited on June 18, 2012 at 10:05pmMay '10
Re: The Democrats Crack Up
Does anyone else get the feeling that the media is just biting off its red meat now, months before the election, but will inevitably rally around the Obama campaign in August and September? There seems to be too much, well, honest reporting going on regarding the fumbling Obama campaign.
Mar '11
Re: The Democrats Crack Up
“Those other Democrats are not paying attention to what the president is saying,”
That can not be good.
Re: The Democrats Crack Up
Rob, I think that we will be able to enjoy this for a good long time. Obama is the driving force in is re-election campaign, and his stubbornness is exceeded only by his vanity. As for James Carville . . . in the civil war between Slick Willy and Barack, we know where he comes down.
Feb '11
Re: The Democrats Crack Up
Unquestionably the case. Not one negative word will be written post the convention. Bad economic news will not be reported. Every statistic will receive the agreed-up0n White House spin. Anti-Mormon stories are being written and stockpiled, whence they will drift down upon us with the autumn leaves.
May '12
Re: The Democrats Crack Up
I respect and understand the strategy of staying out of the spotlight while your opponent immolates himself, but it seems like it is raining opportunity for Gov. Romney to crush Obama with a conservative, private enterprise driven turnaround story, but the only headline I saw was that Gov. Romney will not commit to rolling back Obama's illegal immigrant voter turnout order from last week and that Gov. Romney and Speaker Boehner had a hamburger together.
As bad as the democrats appear why isn't Gov. Romney leading Obama by double digits? We can't just blame the press.
Nov '11
Re: The Democrats Crack Up
Schadenfreude is bad karma, Rob.
Jul '11
Re: The Democrats Crack Up
Plouffe's comments strike me as the same kind of idiotic pap I've heard recently from a senior manager. He advised us to "Just work harder", essentially, even though we're down in headcount about 40%, and workload is up - by his magical thinking, we could trim staff down to one person who just really, really, tried extra-special super-hard, and everything would be fine.
The "we need to roll up our sleeves" speech is a certain path to getting tossed down a flight of stairs. There's nothing more insipid and condescending, and this is Barry's point man. Color me unsurprised. Again.
PS: David Plouffe? Plouffe? Really? Was Mitch Milquetoast busy that day? How about Steve Sissypants? Both out getting their nails done?