SENSE AND NONSENSE—PLAYING IN THE CONSERVATIVE SANDBOX
From the editor: It is a small wonder that President Obama and congressional Democrats are getting sand kicked in their collective faces while attempting to build their sand castles in a neo-conservative sandbox that dates all the way back to the Reagan presidency.
BULLETIN FOR PRESIDENT OBAMA: Bipartisanship does not start in the hackneyed halls of a congress filled with spineless, cowardly, self-serving politicians who cave in at the first salvos lobbed by the Republican right-wing propaganda machine. On the contrary, bipartisanship starts with the voters who gathered in Invesco stadium in Denver to celebrate Obama’s nomination, in Chicago and across the nation at 11 p.m. EST, Nov. 4, to celebrate his overwhelming victory, and in the throngs who gathered on the National Mall in Washington to usher in what many thought marked the beginning of CHANGE in this country.
In his successful battle for the nomination and the presidency, Obama and his campaign staff were brilliant in their efforts to speak directly to voters. But, as everyone knows, getting elected and governing are two different propositions. Apparently, President Obama and his White House staff (composed of the Democratic Leadership Council’s “good ole boy” gaggle of back-room politicians led by Rahm Emanuel) think congressional politicians mirror and represent the throngs that elected Obama in the first place. It should come as no surprise to Obama that congressional politicians—once elected—are forced to worship at the altar of big money. The problem in Washington is that MONEY RULES at the expense of the desperate voices of the people.
Obama is still, in large part, saying the right things, but he has not backed up his rhetoric with effective, focused political strategy. Speaking to House Democrats in Williamsburg, Va., on Thursday night, Obama spoke sarcastically about critics of his “stimulus” bill who rail against it as a “spending bill.” He rhetorically asked “What do you think stimulus is?” implying that stimulus is spending. Of course, stimulus is spending, but saying it before a national television audience plays into neo-conservative strategy and their tired, “tax and spend” description of the liberal left and Democrats.
Obama should have said, “The legislation now in Congress is about JOB CREATION.” And then he should have singled out senators such as Lindsey Graham of South Carolina—a senator who is opposing the bill while his state has the third highest unemployment in the nation. And he should have singled out Oklahoma Sens. Coburn and Inhofe as 21st Century “Dr. No’s” who imperil the planet and individual taxpayers. In short, Obama, Speaker Pelosi, and an articulate surrogate for the Senate Majority, Leader Reid, should paint neo-conservative legislators with a single brush-stroke accurately labeling them as OBSTRUCTIONISTS. The truth is the Republican senators named above stand against working families, the middle class, and Main Street while lining the pockets of Wall Street financiers, drug companies, war profiteers, and the oil and gas industry.
Obama’s message machine is, at worst, non-existent and, at best, highly ineffective. In contrast, the neo-conservative message machine is highly coordinated, mass-media savvy, spoken with one voice, and repeats lies so often that lies sound like the truth and the truth sounds like a lie. The major components of the conservative message machine include Washington-based talking-head factories that choreograph stagecraft rivaling that of Hollywood. So-called “think tanks,” such as the Heritage Foundation and the American Enterprise Institute, supply the 24-hour news outlets with a deep source of “experts” who are willing to spout conservative propaganda in return for guaranteed six- and seven-figure salaries.
Frank Luntz, a Republic strategist and author of Words That Work: It’s Not What You Say, It’s What People Hear, is an important cog in the conservative message machine. He has taught conservatives the importance of a disciplined message that is repeated again and again.
The third and most subtle element of conservative propaganda hinges upon the mass media defining anything controversial as legitimate news. Controversy generates ratings, and ratings generate revenue. Consequently, television networks, cable outlets, and radio talk shows work at generating controversy rather than reporting news. The more basic elements of news include timeliness, proximity, prominence, and human interest—whether mystery, oddity, or emotion. Controversy has an appropriate place in the definition of news, but not at the expense of the truth. Controversy is now used by the media to obscure important issues rather than report upon them.
The message of neo-conservatives depends upon lies, fear, and greed. It can be neutralized. Obama needs a cadre of articulate, effective messengers. And the messengers must be given the tools needed to communicate directly with voters.
The three most important tools to be used in cutting through the propaganda that masquerades as “news” in this age of the 24-hour news cycle are:
- CONTEXT
- CAUSE AND EFFECT
- COST-BENEFIT ANALYSIS
These three tools are not just the domain of critical thinkers and intellectuals. They are practical, applicable, and relevant to the everyday lives of millions of people. Using the current debate over Obama’s JOB CREATION bill as an example, the usefulness of all three tools can be demonstrated. The arguments for passing the legislation would be something like the following:
The CONTEXT is Republicans have no track record of fiscal responsibility. Republican administrations have created national debt at an unprecedented rate. The only balanced budget occurred under a Democratic administration.
The CAUSE of the current crisis is the conservative strategy to demonize government and raid the national treasury through deregulation and privatization. The EFFECT is 3.5 million jobs lost in the last year alone, lost pensions, foreclosures, bankruptcies, and bread lines at local soup kitchens and food pantries. For many individuals, depression-era conditions prevail now.
The COST of the Iraq war is $10 billion every month, over 4,500 brave soldiers killed, more than 20,000 wounded, and hundreds of thousands Iraqi citizens killed or displaced. The levies of New Orleans could have been strengthened to withstand a Category 5 hurricane for less than $14 billion. Katrina hit in August, 2005. In 2001, FEMA warned that a hurricane striking New Orleans was one of the three disasters most likely to occur in the U.S. The Bush administration’s response was to cut New Orleans flood-control funding by 44 percent. The BENEFIT of fiscal responsibility is national security, lives and money saved, and a higher standard of living for all citizens.
The conservative agenda as articulated by Republican minority leader pro-tem Rush Limbaugh is to see that the Obama administration fails. This strategy is to prepare for the second coming of a Newt Gingrich-like initiative that captured control of congress after the first two years of the Clinton administration. Neo-cons must have an “enemy” to survive. The new enemy is Obama.
In his pursuit of bipartisanship, Obama cannot be naïve about the conservative agenda. It is powerful, and it is supported by the corporate media and Wall Street “revolving door” executives who move comfortably back and forth between government and business. Obama should organize a domestic MESSENGER CORPS similar to Kennedy’s Peace Corps that speaks with one voice aimed at the American voter. He should not try to please the corporate media. They twist everything to fit their agenda. Obama should stick to the agenda that got him elected. Political power should be wrenched from the hands of the neo-con ideologues and transferred back into the hands of Main Street and the working class just as it was under FDR.
Maynard Chapman
Editor, The Compass Newsletter
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The Compass Newsletter
Maynard Chapman, Editor
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