Managing the Media Machine

When Democrats lose seats in this November's election their failure to manage liberal policy proposals and media coverage should be recognized as the most important strategic political and policy error.

MSNBC and the recognized liberal media are being subversive and more coherently critical while providing no real policy advocates. While the conservative media's fear mongering, they don't even pretend to be interested in policy, ties them up in the horse race for ratings. The public has seen this rerun before playing out multiple times over the last decade. But Republicans at least used the media to promote their agenda and disseminate, rightly or wrongly, how they wanted people to come to think about the available policy options. Remember Iraq as the mushroom cloud provider or the wonder of deregulated energy.

The Obama adminstration has failed not just to shape the way people think about policy options but to properly inform them of the options in the first place. By not utilizing those liberal proposals even if they disagreed or had no intention of pursuing them as potential policy tools to make the space for them. Don't feel comfortable putting Joseph Stiglitz and James K. Galbraith in your cabinet fine, I don't understand why not, but at least unleash them on the talk show circuit put a spot light on their advocacy to reframe the debate. You just might manage to move public opinion in your favor or at least into a more informed position. If Obama is unable or willing to be the champion for progressive policies then he should elevate those who can and will.

While Democratic the Obama administration has maintained a marginally left of center policy position evidence by those selections to the primary positions of authority such as Fed Chair, Treasury, Defense, Ag, Transport, et al. Considering the recognized deficiencies of conservative policies(see last decade) and the diminishing economy incredibly Democrats still find themselves in a self limiting policy position. Republicans over the last half century understand the power of ideas and the process by which they become accepted utilizing it to advance the interests of their primary constituents at the expense of the rest of us. Ironically, the task for Democrats is to do the same but in the opposite direction. Now it is always harder working against the status quo but history is on the side of those that continue to work to break it. At least give them a hand or soap box.