Playing the Word Game.

[aden_nak]

The NeoConservatives have absolutely mastered the word game, in a way that the Democrats have shamefully failed to understand. This particularly upsets me, because I have always thought of the Democratic Party as the party that swayed people with the eloquence of its words rather than the fear-mongering of its policy.

I don't think the problem is that Bush is invulnerable to counter-attacks or well played arguments. Certainly, he gets more favorable coverage than not. But the truth is that the Democrats, over the past four years, have failed to produce any damning rhetoric to topple Bush that also fits into a 15 second sound bite. And like it or not, that's the condensed version you have to spoon feed the media to get it played back on the evening news.

Social Security Privatization is a sham. It's a ruse. It's a distraction from the War in Iraq, providing instead an issue that arises from a new kind of fear. But it's also an issue that hasn't been damaged past the point of salvation yet, so people almost feel relieved jumping OFF of the Iraq topic to discuss it. And too many of the Democrats, I think, are already seeing Social Security Privatization as a desperate fight that, like any other of this administration, they will just barely be able to lose in style.

The trick is to frame the debate and choose the words. Choose them wisely. Choose them to be catchy enough that empty heads with perfect hair will talk about them in front of cameras between 6 and 7 PM. Choose them to be simple enough that even people with a rudimentary grasp of mathematics can understand them. What's more, the Democrats need to stop seeing Social Security as a defensive fight. They need to see it as a new way to knock the Bush Administration down a few notches.

Bush's Social Security plan is the next Enron.

Say it. Say it often. Say it with vigor and vitriol if you like. But it's not a numbers game. It's a word game. A cultural reference game. And it puts the Bush Administration on TWO defensive fronts at once. First, by trying to counteract the bad feelings that people have about Enron (and thus, because they are in the same sentence, about Bush's plan), and also by trying to disassociate themselves with the Enron scandal, which can only serve to make them look connected to it.

Bush's Social Security plan is the next Enron.

Make it your fucking mantra. Call it Enron-esque. Enron-like. Enron Part II. But start calling it what it is. Just another massive attempt for the rich to grow richer by exploiting the needs of those less affluent than them.

Bush's Social Security plan is the next Enron.