Lakoff - Dems need to start framing post-Katrina now!

[ananda]

Great article by framing analyst George Lakoff. He says that right now Bush is doing all the framing, and that's bad. Dems need to start reframing the message, making it clear that the disastrous disaster response was, indeed, a matter of bad government.

http://alternet.org/katrina/25099/

[Nite Owl]

1. This certainly is 'all politics'

and the dems shouldn't be running away from it when they are accused of it. It's showing just how wrong the politics of the right really is for the people. It's not just this White House it's the whole politics and philosophy of the right wing and if the dems want to win they must bring this out. It's more than replacing their leadership.

[Maat]

2. Wonderful article.

I forwarded it to my husband downstairs - and to a few fundie relatives.

[skids]

3. I think we are too jaded.

We saw the story of Mike Brown being a political appointee, and we said, "Well, what do you expect from Bushco." Then it becomes big news, so THEN we treat it as such.

Now we see more solid stuff coming out about the contracts for rebuilding NO going to Bushco. We expected that. It doesn't surprise us. So we fail to hype it.

Instead we concentrate on the stuff that is truly outrageous but won't get reported -- either because MSM CEOs will suppress it, or because MSM doesn't have enough supporting material, or because it takes too long to explain to joe six-pack.

Now joe six-pack is also jaded, but he is jaded towards politicians in general, and doesn't have specifics. He does like to hear his own jaded opinions verified. So while we could be attacking Bushco for its pattern of cronyism and no-bid payoff contracts, feeding joe six-pack the specifics he needs to get nice and upset at Bushco in particular, we don't. Because we knew it has happened, and would be happenning here, so we don't treat it as "news."

[ProudDad]

11. You're more right than you know

They repukes have made a career the last 30+ years out of convincing people that the government is at best ineffective and at worst their enemy.

As you rightly noticed, the mike brown FEMA debacle is just more fuel for this opinion machine.

This is our great paradox.

We believe in a social contract that is implicit in "government by the people". We believe that government is a potentially effective way to pool part of our resources to help our fellow citizens when they're in need.

But THAT is the part of government that the repukes HATE. They only like the part that subsidizes their economic rampages, protects their deprivations with a bloated military and protects them from the "masses" who are out to get "their" money.

The fact that they've been able to convince the masses to hate and fear...THEMSELVES...by hating and fearing their representatives in government is an amazing feat.

This is going to be a tough one to counter...

[Wordie]

18. Take a look at Edward's proposal for a sort of Civilian Conservation Corps

formed of NO residents (a great idea: let the people who suffered be the ones to repair the city...and keep the profits from going to huge conglomerates like Haliburton) here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2077511

I think we should ALL push for this.

[Clark2008]

26. Clark proposed that during his primary campaign

I like Edwards' proposal - but he wasn't the first.

http://www.isebrand.com/article_Civilian_Reserve_Plan_General_Wesley_Clark.htm

Matching skills with needs. In a time of urgent need, individuals who signed up for the Civilian Reserves would be asked to volunteer, as necessary, to help address a crisis in their communities, nation, or abroad. The President would have the authority to issue a "voluntary call to action" to encourage particular segments of the Civilian Reserves to mobilize to meet the pressing needs of the nation. The President would only ask people to volunteer if they had the relevant skills to address the pressing need.

Calling up the Civilian Reserves if necessary. During a crisis, if sufficient volunteers were not available, the President would have the authority to call-up as many as 5,000 Civilian Reserves, through a lottery of the Reservists with the required skills. The circumstances that would precipitate a mandatory call-up would be exceedingly rare. These Reservists could be called up for up to six months. An appeals process would consider hardship exemptions for family and other circumstances. An Act of Congress would be required to call up additional Civilian Reservists beyond the first 5,000 members. Members of the Civilian Reserves would be limited to one six-month call up in their five-year term of service.

Getting Civilian Reserves where they are needed and when they are needed. The complex crises that can affect the nation demand a much faster system to mobilize Americans who have the critical skills required to respond to a crisis in a matter of hours if needed. Members of the Civilian Reserves would be contacted and mobilized via mail, phone, and e-mail during the voluntary call-up process. The Civilian Reserves program would strongly emphasize the use of the Internet to communicate and mobilize volunteers.

[1932]

There's a difference.

Edwards is talking about a WPA-type thing with well-paying jobs. Clark is talking about a volunteer reserve call-up. Since he calls it "volunteer" he might imagine that they don't get paid (that their employers foot the bill, or that the government reimburses the employer, or something like that).

[1932]

32. There's a difference.

Edwards is talking about a WPA-type thing with well-paying jobs. Clark is talking about a volunteer reserve call-up. Since he calls it "volunteer" he might imagine that they don't get paid (that their employers foot the bill, or that the government reimburses the employer, or something like that).

[1932]

52. ...

[1932]

53. ...and that's a BIG difference.

The entire point of Edwards' proposal is to get money to people who need money and to create a tighter labor market that will help everyone who works because it will make employers have to pay more to get workers.

Clark's point is that people should sacrifice for patriotism. It has nothing to do with New Deal/Keynesian-style employment projects that create fuller employment and increase aggregate demand.

[dorktv]

19. You cannot have competent governement if you do not put

competent people in charge of it and you do not get competent appointees unless you elect competent people.

[IndyOp]

24. Of course, we did elect a competent person -

Infuriatingly enough John Kerry was not allowed to take office.

:kick:

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

35. We haven't been...

...allowed to 'elect' the president since 96'.

[1932]

31. But if your response to this is that we need different people in charge

you lose the opportunity to frame this in terms of what Democrats believe.

I don't want to hear that we need new leaders.

i want to hear about what those new leaders believe that will make a difference once they're in charge.

That's the point Lakoff is making.

If you talk about what you believe, that will resonate everywhere, including, as Lakoff says, with the John Roberts nomination.

If you say Bush needs to go, that doesn't resonate with the Roberts nomination or anywhere else.

[iamjoy]

33. I Thought The Roberts Connection Interesting

I actually thought about this last week, that we needed to use the Hurricane Katrina tragedy to point out the flaws with a strict constructionist theory.

Lakoff didn't go into this kind of detail, but it occurred to me that under a true strict constructionist theory, it would not have taken five days for help to arrive in NOLA. Help never would have arrived, because the federal government would not have seen it as is Constitutional duty (or right, for that matter) to intervene. Congress would not have moved any money for disaster aid because such an expenditure would be unconstitutional.

[1932]

38. Roberts is relevant this way:

It's not about whether "strict construction" compels the feds to respond to national emergencies (that's a big stretch, IMO).

It's relevant to the extent that Roberts has used the bench in ways that increase the polarization of wealth that is central underlying cause of this crisis.

[Armstead]

4. Great article and important message

The underlying truths exposed by Katrina should not get lost behind superficial partisan power-plays.

Democrats should emulate Howard Dean and present it for what it really is -- The failure of a destructive political ideology.

[guerrillascholar]

50. Non-self-evident truths

Democrats and liberals in general are bright enough to know when something is true, like "the President waited too long", or "Nobody's found WMDs in Iraq"... they think that facts are self-evident to any sentient being and therefore it is a waste of time to argue what is clearly true.

Problem is, NO truth, no matter how "obvious", can survive in the face of a determined modern propaganda machine unless it is defended with equal tenacity and expertise. These days, "obvious" isn't good enough. And yet after countless defeats in the arena of public opinion, the dem leadership JUST DOESN'T GET IT. They will lose this on, too, if they don't find their spines soon.

I'm glad to see Lakoff on the side of liberals and progressives. I've been an admirer of his work for years. His framing ideas are good and liberals should--must--use them. But he doesn't address the larger problem, which is the shameful lack of media channels that are at least neutral to liberals.

All the framing, all the moveon.org house parties in the world don't mean shit if the RNC can reach a hundred million just by faxing a page of talking points to Faux news.

[paineinthearse]

5. Nominated. "When will they ever learn, when will they ever learn?"

See smililar thoughts by James Kroeger: "The Republican Nemesis" in the EDITORIALS & ARTICLES forum - http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=103&topic_id=155379&mesg_id=155379

Thesis is Dems need to make swing voters fear the rethugs.

[AX10]

49. I agree 110%. We need to use fear against the enemy.

The people must fear the GOP. It's the only way to win.

[Dr Fate]

6. He is right- and they need to go ON TV and do it.

To me Lakoff just says what DUers have said since I've been here- I guess DEMs have to hear it from a fancy-pants Berkeley professor before they realize they need to start talking like normal people.

[Wordie]

20. Dean's been doing this in interviews...so have some others I've seen. n/t

[sendero]

34. I'd be satisfied..

.... if even Lakoff could spur them to action. So far, only a couple of folks are countering the Rep spin machine, which is out in full force.

I'm starting to think that as a party, we've already given up.

[applegrove]

7. The problem is that Dems get nailed for anything they do. Repukes

spin machine and refusal to acknowledge any responsibility or errors with a wall of lies means that they never, or rarely pay for their political plays.

Dems don't have it in them to form a wall of lies.

Karen Hughes said it yesterday - the American Ambassadors around the world have not been aloud to say anything these last weeks. Now she has issued "talking points" and the Ambassadors can say only the things on the talking points.

If you are not a liar, you are at a distinct dis-advantage. Sometimes better to keep your mouth shut.

"Talking Points" should be replaced with the term "Wall of Lies".

[Armstead]

8. Wall of Truth

He's talking about telling the plain truth. Drmocrats can counter the lies if they build a wall of truth.

Excerpts:

"The moral of Katrina is mostly being missed. It is not just a failure of execution (William Kristol), or that bad things just happen (Laura Bush). It was not just indifference by the President, or a lack of accountability, or a failure of federal-state communication, or corrupt appointments in FEMA, or the cutting of budgets for fixing levees, or the inexcusable absence of the National Guard off in Iraq. It was all of these and more, but they are the effects, not the cause.

The cause was political through and through -- a matter of values and principles. The progressive-liberal values are America's values, and we need to go back to them. The heart of progressive-liberal values is simple: empathy (caring about and for people) and responsibility (acting responsibly on that empathy). These values translate into a simple principle: Use the common wealth for the common good to better all our lives. In short, promoting the common good is the central role of government.

The right-wing conservatives now in power have the opposite values and principles. Their main value is Rely on individual discipline and initiative. The central principle: Government has no useful role. The only common good is the sum of individual goods. It's the difference between We're all in this together and You're on your own, buddy. It's the difference between Every citizen is entitled to protection and You're only entitled to what you can afford. It's the difference between connection and separation. It is this difference in moral and political philosophy that lies behind the tragedy of Katrina....

....This was not just incompetence (though there was plenty of it), not just a natural disaster (though nature played its part), not just Bush (though he is accountable). This is a failure of moral and political philosophy -- a deadly failure. That is the deep truth behind this human tragedy, humanly caused.

It is a truth that needs to be told, starting now -- over and over. There can be no delay. The Bush administration is busy framing it in its own way: bad things just happen, it's no one's fault; the federal government did the best it could -- the problem was at the state and local level; we'll rebuild and everything will be okay; the people being shipped out will have better lives elsewhere, and jobs in Wal-Mart!

Unless the real truth is told starting now, the American people will accept it for lack of an alternative. The Democratic response so far is playing right into Bush's framing. By delaying a response for fear it will be called "partisan," the Democratic leadership is allowing Bush to frame the tragedy. And once it is framed, it is hard to reframe! It is time to start now....."

[applegrove]

9. Oh no. Corporations are getting much in the way of welfare these days.

The stock market is being artificially pumped up with tax cuts, war spending, and selling off programs like SS. Plus the American Government is in cahoots with Capital Corporations and dumping money into the stock market to keep it going. The gold market is being interfered with to keep the American dollar over-valued.

It isn't as if the corporations are against government intervention.. of billions & billions & trillions. It is just that they want those subsidies & interventions to help them.

[Armstead]

10. But that's not part of the right-wing "message"

You're right that the neo-CONS want an activist government, as long as it benefits the corporate elite.

But that isn't part of their "message." It's simply the dirty little truth that they sweep under the carpet.

Unfortunately, too many Democratic politicians have also bought into that mantra too. That's why it's so hard to get some of them to acknowledge the truth.

[applegrove]

15. Hillary & Gore both spoke about Big Oil this week.

[Armstead]

27. Should have been doing that years ago

The Democrats have become so paralyzed in past years that they have not come out and acknoweldged that sometimews the "free market" has to be balanced by intervention to protect the public.

[GoreDean2008]

46. Gore's Been Critical of Bush and Even the Media for Some Time

Many times he did not get the coverage he deserved.

[Armstead]

47. Gore didn;t take the fateful step until after 2000

He was a centrist Democrat in the 2000 election, except for his nomination speech.

He got a more liberal religion after 9-11, but not many Democrats followed his lead.

And to be really liberal takes more than bashing Bush. Bush is merely a symptom of something much larger and more ingrained, in the form of corporate power.

[ProudDad]

14. It's worse than that.

They've "framed" the situation so that anytime either a Dem or a repuke gets "nailed", the repuke propaganda machine that has convinced the majority of Americans that their government is the enemy is reinforced yet again.

So any politician or bureaucrat who is found to be crooked or incompetent helps the re-pukes. And, of course, those are the only ones we hear about on the news.

Tough nut to crack.

The only way is one person at a time -- the way it happened in the Progressive Era.

[Lorien]

28. A wall of truth is all we need

to bring BushCo down.

On edit; Armstead beat me to it! Well said.

[Clarkie1]

12. "It's the difference between connection and separation."

That's a great line.

It is, indeed, a failure of moral and political philosophy.

They would have us separate from the rest of the world, as well as each other. This is what a cancer does. It acts independently of the rest of the living whole.

[Humor_In_Cuneiform]

13. Talking to people about Katrina "refugees"

I was able to donate clothes for the Katrina survivors who are here at CVS Pharmacy, and then I also bought 3 new bottles of body lotion and donated those, since I heard that would be something the people would need in our relatively dry climate.

The cashier was nice. We were talking and then this other employee got into the conversation. I didn’t want to hear what she wanted to say. Talking about the things that happened in the Astrodome, "unspeakable things you can’t imagine."

I said something about leaving people without water, without food, without help…and the cashier finished it that they get irritable.

I brought up that the FEMA director had zero emergency management experience. The icky person started talking about yuk things again.

She also started talking about how the people from the flood area were going all over the nation and would spread the disease from that toxic water in New Orleans.

I just said that I think we have a pretty good system here and do pretty well.

Thank goodness she gave up and said that she prays so.

That is as close as I want to get, closer actually, to those who don’t want the hurricane survivors coming into their community.

The above story shows the impact of the Repub talking points and how they frame it and how again they use fear. Their audience is pre conditioned to accept a very not compassionate perspective, to hate and fear those who are different, to blame the "victim."

Another reason we should call them Hurricane Survivors (not Hurricane victims)

[Wordie]

16. Great article...I think there are those already re-framing...for instance

the reporter who countered with "asking for accountablility" when bombarded with the "blame game" nonsense from the press secretary. John Edwards petition to create a way for NO residents to be part of the rebuilding a la the Depressions WPA is another good way to start encouraging people to think outside of the narrow-minded Bushisms that we keep hearing on tv.

The article was posted on the 6th of September. Maybe a lot of people already heard the call...or the mis-information game that Bush has played for so long has finally reached critical mass and has imploded all on it's own. (I hope.)

Edited to add:
Nominated...this is a great thread and it's an important article by Lakoff. Thanks for posting it.

[bee]

17. "The progressive-liberal values are America's values,

and we need to go back to them".

perfect.

[quiet.american]

21. President Bush is dangerous for America

The simple truth, uttered in essence by Nancy Pelosi, really should be worked into every sentence uttered by Dems, backed up by rapid-fire examples of why.

"...and, really, at this point, it cannot be denied President Bush is dangerous for America -- the 9/11 security failures of his administration, fixing facts to take us to war in Iraq, gutting our environment, creating massive national debt, and of course, the President's too little, too late response to Katrina's victims which has resulted in huge numbers of our citizens dying -- this is the most dangerous president this country has ever had."

[jillan]

22. This is a failure of moral and political philosophy.

Say it over and over again.

Till it sticks!
I'm emailing this to Reid.
Pelosi.

Since the dems leaders aren't doing this themselves, we need to do it for them. Please forward to whoever you think needs to hear this and say it!

[jillan]

23. I also sent it to Kerry and Boxer.

If anyone of them uses it, I will be happy.

[many a good man]

25. "Its the IDEOLOGY, stupid"

Movement Conservatism has become a victim of its success.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

29. Bush's Appointed Cronies Kill

Bush's Appionted Cronies Kill

[Douglas Carpenter]

30. very important article---recommended

[bostonbabs]

37. great article....n/t

[bluedawg12]

36. The frame and have an ideology.

Think tanks and 30 years of planning- they have a global world view for everything- from military, foreign policy, to economics.

Check out Anarcho terrorism on Wikipedia
and
PNAC

[bluedawg12]

51. We must show the masses a useful government n/t

[stevietheman]

39. The beautiful thing about this mess is that Bush can't reframe...

every aspect of it. Everyone knows about his failure to realize the gravity of this disaster until days after the flooding started, and everyone knows FEMA dragged its feet until the Friday after, coincidentally the same day Bush stepped foot on the ground in the disaster area.

All the framing our side has to do is to keep bringing up the basic fact of "days of delay" and the photo of Bush looking out the window of his plane (and photos and quotes demonstrating his insensitivity). And of course, keep listing the many specific failures of FEMA in all this, and talk about Michael Brown and who hired (and refused to fire) this unqualified guy.

And the Bush side wants to make hay of "federalizing the NG" when FEMA already had coordinating power, but failed to use it. You see, how can this canard even be a real issue, since on the Friday after the storm the relief effort was "magically" working all of a sudden? It's a non-issue, and they just want to cause political damage for a governor they want replaced.

[yellowjacket7]

41. You are dead wrong

If there is anything that can be easily but slowly framed, it is blame. Listen to Republicans already framing Katrina by saying it was a failure of all levels of government, and pinning most of the blame onto Michael Brown. Dems already are fearful of criticizing Bush for fear of them being caught in the "blame game".

[stevietheman]

43. I'm not dead wrong at all... you're underestimating the...

intelligence of the American people. The polls prove me RIGHT. If Republicans reframed it their way, Bush would be getting a bounce... he's NOT.

Besides, pinning most of the blame on Brown ultimately points back to the guy who hired him. And talking about a failure of all levels of government doesn't erase the feds' delay and Bush's behavior that week.

[yellowjacket7]

45. sorry to burst your bubble

Polls go up and down. If democrats fail to frame Katrina as a failure of moral and political philosophy as Lakoff has said, Bush will survive this very easily.

[yellowjacket7]

40. Why hasn't the Democratic Party hired Lakoff?

He should be advising Dean and other Democratic leaders day in and day out. It boggles my mind he's not on the Dem team.

[wiggs]

42. It's no secret

What Lakoff writes about is no secret, his ideas would be common sense for a party that is unhappy with the way things are and that wants to regain control with different agenda.

I am a Lakoff fan. Anyone who reads what he is saying could apply the principles to a campaign or a PR opportunity.

Problem: too many dem leaders are happy with the way things are.

[rman]

56. Lakoff IS advising Dean -

google "howard dean" "george lakoff"

[drone]

44. Let them by

I think the conservative right wingers are destroying themselves. Stand back and laugh as they go down.

[AX10]

48. We must convince the masses that Government is useful.

The Right Wing hate machine is in full spin.

[correlator]

54. isn't there something cynical about Lakoff's whole framing project?

Lakoff's analysis of the right's framing is accurate, but does that mean that the democrats should try to be just as manipulative with their communications as the repukes? Instead of adopting the tactic of framing, why not work to educate citizens so that they can see through attempts to spin - whether those attempts come from the right or the left? One of the main reasons the right-wing-framing-machine is effective is that everyone plays off the same page of white house talking points. I think it contradicts basic values of the left to try to limit debate to one structure/frame.

Does the framing thing make anyone else out there nervous?

[1932]

57. It's not cynical to try to present your message in a way that people will

recieve it in a way with meaning attached to it.

Lakoff is a congnitive scientist. He's applying theories about how people think and understand to the ways political messages are delivered. He's telling democrats how tell people what the believe and how do it so that people understand the message.

If you're argument is that Democrats don't have overarching themes -- that they're idea anarchists -- then I think we'd be conceding that Democrats won't win elections because "Democrat" doesn't mean anything.

I think the Demcorats do have important common themes and it's very important to make sure people know what those thmes are.

[Nothing Without Hope]

55. He's right. A few days ago Howard Dean fumbled badly on Blitzer when

The Beard put up that over-familiar photo of the school busses in New Orleans - "proof" that Nagin, not Bush, was repsonsible for all the deaths in New Orleans! Howard SHOULD HAVE BEEN PREPARED FOR THAT QUESTION - the facts are known and he let Blitzer convince the audience that the photo proved it all. Just one example.

The Dem spokespeople need to be far more fiery and focussed and prepared than they have been. Yes, there are some exceptions (Conyers and McKinney for example), but in the main I completely agree with Lakoff on this.

This is life and death. Not just for the suffering people in the hurricane aftermath, but for the country and the world. Have you, amid all the storm coverage, noticed that a new policy of PRE-EMPTIVE NUCLEAR ATTACKS is nearing approval? (Link, along with some others, in this post:)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4752689#4753193

WHERE ARE THE DEMOCRATS????

[McCamy Taylor]

58. Dems need to help the people of the Gulf Coast. Actions speak louder....