We’ve been writing and speaking about the Democratic Party’s need for better messaging efforts for a good two years, and have been focusing on it for much longer than that. We wrote “A Messaging Manifesto For Democrats” in 2010. We’ve repeatedly cited UC Berkeley linguistics professor George Lakoff and his book “Don’t Think of an Elephant!” for its all-important discussion of issue framing. Sometimes it’s been a lonely effort.
Not any more.
A few days ago, a post by blogger Jill Klausen entitled “5 Words and Phrases Democrats Should Never Say Again” appeared on the influential Crooks and Liars political blog. The post talked about the need for sharp, effective Democratic messaging, and even mentioned George Lakoff. Now others are getting in on the act too.
We welcome this growing effort by Democrats (and progressives who may not call themselves Democrats) to recognize the need to compete with the Republican Party’s effective message machine. Democrats perhaps are at a disadvantage in this area, because we think for ourselves, have lots of good ideas, and don’t fall in line easily. Nevertheless, these efforts at improving political communication by and for Democrats are critical, and if we join our efforts together, they will become even more powerful. And we’re going to join together. Stay tuned.
