Laying It On The Line: A Mission Statement

“Know your enemy and know yourself and you can fight a thousand battles without defeat.”
– Sun Tzu

Progressives too often know neither.

There are plenty of sites for people who want to vent their displeasure at the Bush Administration and the Right. And plenty of places to get policy information and news.

Hopefully this blog will be something else – a place for progressives to come together and talk about strategy and tactics. A place for the Karl Rove’s of the left, not the Rush Limbaugh’s.

The Facts, Ma’am. Nothing But the Facts.

We like to sneer at the proponents of “intelligent design” for their refusal to face scientific facts, twisting some and ignoring others. And, yet, recent electoral defeats are testimony to progressives’ refusal to shed preconceptions and our confusion of desire with reality.

Not that I believe there is no place for spin. Heaven forbid! Thirty-plus years of poltical warfare is testimony to that. But the strategic tasks of the progressive movement have to start with things as they actually are. (Don’t think for a moment that Karl Rove doesn’t have a better grasp of our issues than we do.)

So, Blog Principle #1:  Look the facts in the face, however unpleasant or inconvenient.

Sticks and Stones May Break Your Bones. But, Oh, Watch Out For Them Words!

In 2002, after two years spent beating up House and Senate Democratic leadership about the need to make “jobs” a centerpiece of their message, a Senate leader signaled his surrender. “I get it,” he said. “We’re going to talk about stimulus and the economy.”

Aaarghhh! It’s not “the economy”, stupid, it’s JOBS. Priorities…stimulus…the economy: Beltway language! We will get nowhere if we don’t use words that most Americans use in daily conversation.

And while we’re at it, make it short and sweet. I am sick of Democrats complaining that our message is more difficult because it is more complex. If we can’t put it in a sound bite, it means we don’t yet understand it well enough.

And don’t be mealy-mouthed. Stop whining about how ‘we’re not in the majority so the press won’t cover us’ and start saying something newsworthy.

That never seemed to stop Newt Gingrich. Stop blathering about “misstatements” when you mean “lies.” Or something “creates the appearance of impropriety” when you mean “corruption.” Stop talking to the New York Times editorial board and start talking to America.

So, Blog Principle #2: How we talk about things is as important as what we say.

Before You Throw a Punch, You Plant Your Feet

I sit in on focus groups from time to time. The last time I heard even one member in one focus group say he thought he knew what the Democrats stood for, Bill Clinton was in the White House (‘Opportunity and Responsibility’). The problem is that they’re trying to please everyone in the caucus and you can’t stretch a message that far and still have it mean anything.

The same is true for the Republicans. That’s why they don’t try to. They give money and best wishes to the thirty Republican House moderates and then get on with the business of defining the heart of the party.

Before you can work on the nuances of your message you have to stand for something. Everyone knows what the Republicans stand for (Less Taxes, National Security, Moral Values) so they can get away with “Compassionate Conservative” and other image-softening smoke-blowing. The Democrats need to be something than the pro-Choice alternative to the Republicans.

This doesn’t mean we shouldn’t appeal to “moderates,” “swing voters” or whatever they’re calling the opposite of populism these days. Nor does it mean we should always aim our message to the base. That’s a question of tactics and one of the subjects of this blog, not its mission. The Republicans have certainly done a good job of it without sacrificing their principles.

So, Blog Principle #3: Firm in Principle, Flexible in Tactics