Barack Obama | Messaging Matters

2018 election isn’t just about Trump, it’s about us

Written on August 23, 2018 by Messaging Matters in Democratic Messaging, Democratic vs. Republican Presidents

Rally to Save the Affordable Care Act, 2017

This November’s midterm elections could easily focus on Donald Trump alone. After all, this week Trump arguably moved closer to impeachment after his former attorney, Michael Cohen, pleaded guilty to crimes that implicated Trump, and former 2016 Trump presidential campaign chairman Paul Manafort was found guilty on eight financial crime counts as part of the investigation into Russia‘s interference in the 2016 elections. Even before this week, Trump has been a natural target who likes to grab the spotlight each day with an outrageous action or statement. And of course, the first midterm elections two years into a presidency naturally are a referendum on the president. However, it would be a mistake for Democrats to concentrate solely on Trump. Rather, Democrats should make this election largely about us. When Democrats do mention Trump and the Republicans, they need to talk about the pain that these opponents are causing everyday Americans in our lives, and the much better Democratic policies and vision.

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Tags: 2018 Elections, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, climate change, Democratic Party, Democrats, Donald Trump, environment, Gas, healthcare, Michael Cohen, Paul Manafort, Republicans, Russia, taxes

Democratic framing guru says stop talking about Trump’s tweets

Written on January 9, 2018 by Messaging Matters in Democratic Messaging, Media Watch, Messaging Maxims, Republican Messaging

Thinking about Twitter

This blog was founded on the principles of Dr. George Lakoff, former Professor of Cognitive Science and Linguistics at the University of California at Berkeley and the sometimes official, sometimes unofficial messaging and framing guru of the Democratic Party. Last November, we covered an intriguing question Lakoff raised in his blog: “Why are you a Democrat?” Therefore, we are especially interested in Lakoff’s recent piece, where he tells Democrats to stop sharing, repeating and talking about Donald Trump‘s tweets.

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Tags: Affordable Care Act, Barack Obama, Democrats, Donald Trump, framing, George Lakoff, Hillary Clinton, Hillarycare, Law of Attraction, Obamacare, Republicans, social media, The Secret, Twitter

Suggestion for Democrats: gloves off, no cooperation with Republicans

Written on December 28, 2017 by Messaging Matters in Democratic Messaging, Democratic vs. Republican Presidents

Soft and fuzzy Democrats

Republicans in the U.S. Senate have waged at least a nine-year war against the Democrats. The first eight years included obstruction of President Barack Obama at every turn, as the GOP plotted on Obama’s inauguration night. This Republican obstruction culminated in the unprecedented move of refusing to hold a confirmation hearing and vote on President Obama’s U.S. Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Garland, even though the Republicans had 10 months to do so. Now that a Republican is in the White House, Donald Trump, GOP Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and their partisan cohorts suddenly want the Democrats to bend in order to pass so-called “bipartisan” legislation that is written by Republicans, typically with no opportunity for Democratic input. The Democrats should not bend over and take this treatment. Instead, Democrats should fight, filibuster, and otherwise refuse to cooperate with Republicans every chance they get.

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Tags: Affordable Care Act, Barack Obama, David Vitter, Democratic Party, Donald Trump, GOP Tax Scam, infrastructure, Merrick Garland, Mitch McConnell, public option, Republican Party, Senate, Single-payer, Supreme Court

NBC’s Kasie Hunt blames “both sides” for problems in Washington, gets slammed

Written on December 21, 2017 by Messaging Matters in Democratic Messaging, Media Watch

Democratic Rep. Keith Ellison and colleagues demonstrating against GOP government shutdown in 2013.

Today, Kasie Hunt of NBC News took to Twitter to blame “both sides” for the current mess in Washington, including another potential federal government shutdown. Here’s Hunt’s tweet:

Moments where both sides in Congress blame the other for a basic failure to execute constitutional responsibilities to all Americans are part of why trust levels in Congress are so low.

— Kasie Hunt (@kasie) December 21, 2017

Almost immediately, Hunt got slammed on Twitter by many people who all had essentially the same reaction. Here are a few samples, including one from Messaging Matters:

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Tags: Barack Obama, CHIP, DACA, Democratic Party, FISA, government shutdown, Hillary Clinton, immigration, Kasie Hunt, MSNBC, NBC News, Republican Party, social media, spying, Twitter

Donald Trump, the Great Divider

Written on September 26, 2017 by Messaging Matters in Democratic Messaging, Democratic vs. Republican Presidents, Republican Messaging

Armed white supremacist in Charlottesville, VA

Successful presidents of both political parties are usually the ones who, in times of crisis or difficulty, rise above partisanship and unite America. There are many examples of this, from Abraham Lincoln literally keeping the Union together, to Franklin Roosevelt leading us against Germany and Japan in World War 2, to Ronald Reagan eulogizing the Challenger Space Shuttle astronauts or calling upon Soviet head of state Mikhail Gorbachev to “tear down” the Berlin Wall, Bill Clinton soothing a shocked America after the Oklahoma City bombing, George W. Bush standing with firefighters at the World Trade Center site after the 9/11 attacks, and Barack Obama successfully hunting down and killing Osama bin Laden. We may not agree with the policies these presidents pursue after such crises (for example, Bush’s Iraq War), but at least for a time, these leaders make us feel like we’re part of one big, strong nation.

Unfortunately, this is not the case with Donald Trump. Rather than being a Great Uniter, he has repeatedly proven himself to be the Great Divider, usually along racial and ethnic lines. Indeed, Trump essentially begun his presidential run during Barack Obama’s presidency by being one of the head cheerleaders in the “birther” movement, which questioned Obama’s Americanism and his birth certificate. Trump then ran his own presidential campaign in a divisive manner from the get-go, saying in his presidential announcement speech about Mexican immigrants:

They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists.

From there, Trump has pitted one group (often his base of white males) against another, including the following partial list:

The sad, selfish argument against healthcare

Written on September 24, 2017 by Messaging Matters in Democratic Messaging, Democratic vs. Republican Presidents, Good Government, Republican Messaging

Senate GOP Healthcare bill

In the current debate over Republican efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, one of the saddest arguments to be heard is the one that goes, “why should I pay for someone else’s healthcare?” Such an argument gets many things wrong at once, both intellectually and morally.

First, the entire concept of insurance is a pooling of funds and risk, so that everyone is literally paying for someone else, and vice versa. For example, in South Florida, one is told that car insurance rates are high for all residents because there are many claims due to the large number of tourists getting into trouble with rental cars on unfamiliar roads. Many local residents would rightfully object to paying higher rates for others’ accidents, but that is how insurance works. The idea, however, is that costs are kept down by pooling the risk, for example, such that middle-aged drivers might pay more than they get back in claims, but when they are both very young and very old, they are much more likely to have more claims, so the system balances out. Similarly, the Affordable Care Act (based on a conservative idea from the Heritage Foundation and first implemented by Republican Governor Mitt Romney in Massachusetts) incorporates premiums paid by younger people, who generally have fewer claims, going more to older and sicker people, but such young people of course could get into a serious accident or become sick themselves any time, plus they are likely to have more claims as they age. Thus, the idea of “why am I paying for someone else?” may only be true for a brief moment.

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Tags: Affordable Care Act, Barack Obama, Democrats, Donald Trump, Faith-Based Initiative, George W. Bush, government, healthcare, Iraq War, Republicans

Social media coverage of Hurricane Harvey brings Americans together

Written on August 28, 2017 by Messaging Matters in Democratic Messaging, Democratic vs. Republican Presidents, Good Government, Media Watch

Driver receives assistance in Pearland, TX during Hurricane Harvey

This past weekend, Twitter and Facebook posts about the Mayweather-McGregor fight gave way to posts about Hurricane Harvey making landfall in Texas, and causing tremendous flooding devastation. Since then, as more traditional media such as broadcast and cable TV news are making admirable efforts on the scene with live reporting (and even some rescue work), social media users are sending around gobs of information, donation and volunteering tips, and rescue requests. Here are some of the highlights of social media activity in Houston, around the U.S. and in other countries as well:

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Tags: Barack Obama, Donald Trump, Facebook, Houston, Hurricane Harvey, social media, Texas, Twitter

Donald Trump and the Nazis

Written on August 14, 2017 by Messaging Matters in Democratic vs. Republican Presidents, Republican Messaging

Anti-Nazi demonstration in Pittsburgh in solidarity with Charlottesville victims

The latest tragedy in Charlottesville, Virginia can be laid at the doorstep of Donald Trump‘s White House. After a terrorist attack by a white supremacist at a neo-Nazi rally that left one counter-protester, Heather Heyer, dead and multiple people wounded (two Virginia state troopers were also killed when their helicopter crashed on the way to the scene), Trump could not condemn the right wing hate. Instead, shockingly, he said:

We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence, on many sides. On many sides.

Obviously, there are not “many sides” to the white supremacist hate on parade in Charlottesville. There were the bigoted haters, some of them armed, and the people who came out to protest against them. The terrorist, James Fields, even chose the same method of driving a vehicle into a crowd of civilians as is used in other terrorist incidents. Even web hosting company GoDaddy has dumped white supremacist website the Daily Stormer, after the site posted a vicious attack on Heather Heyer which followed its promotion of the Charlottesville rally.

Republicans find out they have nowhere to hide

Written on July 19, 2017 by Messaging Matters in Democratic vs. Republican Presidents, Republican Messaging

GOP Health Plan

On Monday night and Tuesday, the latest Republican Senate scheme to repeal the Affordable Care Act but not replace it for two years, went down in flames. Republican Senators including Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins and Shelley Moore Capito came out against moving the plan forward in the Senate, effectively killing this version for now.

Republicans are learning a powerful lesson: the obstructionism that worked for them when they did not control all three branches of government does not work when they do.

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Tags: Affordable Care Act, Barack Obama, Donald Trump, George W. Bush, GOP Civil War, Great Recession, healthcare, Hurricane Katrina, Mitch McConnell, Obamacare, Republicans, Senate, Trumpcare

How to get back at Trump for pulling us out of Paris Climate Agreement

Written on June 2, 2017 by Messaging Matters in Democratic vs. Republican Presidents, Good Government

Flooding in Miami Beach, Florida

As many people feared, Donald Trump yesterday withdrew the United States from the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement that was signed by 195 nations. Trump has added America to an extremely short list of outliers, including only Syria and Nicaragua. However, all is not doom and gloom as a result of Trump’s bad decision. First, plenty of state officials and companies will continue their commitment to fight climate change, for example, by deploying more clean energy such as solar and wind power. Second, there are many efforts each of us can make to bridge the climate change gap that Donald Trump is creating:

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Tags: Barack Obama, climate change, Donald Trump, elections, environment, Facebook, global warming, Paris Climate Agreement, Twitter

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