“If one candidate is appealing to your fears, and the other one’s appealing to your hopes, you’d better vote for the person who wants you to think and hope!”
― Bill Clinton
Republicans just got punished in the Senate for saying “no” to an up or down vote on an unprecedented number of President Obama‘s Executive and Judicial Branch nominations. Now the Republicans are gearing up for the 2014 mid-term elections by running against the Affordable Care Act, rather than running for anything. That could prove to be a big mistake.
During the 2009-2010 debate over the Affordable Care Act, Messaging Matters called for the Obama administration and the Democrats in Congress to put forth a procession of people who could tell their personal stories about being denied healthcare insurance or coverage. That did not happen, at least until very late in the process, and the ACA’s reputation never quite recovered from unanswered or poorly answered Republican attacks. What we were calling for can now be termed Messaging Maxim #5: Make it Personal.
