Still Dominating the Debate II

The Post continues its discussion of the Obama presidency today, with E. J. Dionne offering his analysis of the current Conservative backlash and its success: www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/17/AR2010011701934_pf.html. He makes the obvious point that the best way to confront conservative orthodoxy is by discrediting it and offering an alternative narrative. Obama was somewhat successful at this, though one could argue that really he just ran as not Bush and on a rather nebulous notion of “hope.” For that hope to be instantiated in the real, it will take a cogent, persuasive vision of where that hope should lead us.

As Dionne argues, “It's also striking that most conservatives, through a method that might be called the audacity of audacity, have acted as if absolutely nothing went wrong with their economic theories. They speak and act as if they had nothing to do with the large deficits they now bemoan and say we will all be saved if only we return to the very policies that should already be discredited.” I think the point is Democrats must continue the dialogue that Obama initiated during his inaugural speech. It is not if government is good or bad, but when it is necessary for it to intervene. Conservatives win American minds and hearts with simplistic, ahistorical messages that prove empty and disingenuous under the glare of real scrutiny. Yet the media does little to shine that light upon that discourse.

So it is the dual job of Democrats to both successfully challenge Republican lies and outdated economic theories with arguments not so wonky or complicated that the average American can’t understand them and to offer an alternative to the current order of things. If one really thinks about it, the last one to do so was Gore, in the last month or so of the 200 election, when he was arguably pushed toward populism by the insurgent run of Nader. Obama has also provided the frame of an ambitious new direction, but it needs more details to be truly compelling to the general public. What vision does the Democratic party have for America? What vision do they have for the role of government in the economy, healthcare and the environment? How are their policies going to help the economy recover and grow in the future? What is their vision for improving the quality of life for the average American?

Because conservatives have a clear (though obviously in my mind flawed) vision of what America should look like, well-developed frames and discourse to spread and reinforce that message, as well as outlets to galvanize their base into action, they tend to dominate the debate. Democrats need to find a vision they can embrace themselves so that they can escape the tendency to react rather than proactively act and thus always be on the defensive. It’s extraordinary that this situation continues as they control Congress and the Presidency. On MLKs birthday, it seems apropos to remember that being right is not enough – one must have the power to persuade others of what is right as well.