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Don't Blame The President...
Tim Kaine MUST GO !
By Greg Jones
Blacks4Barack
National Director
As the question has arisen as to whether Nancy Pelosi should become Minority Leader or not ( I say absolutely, yes), one name has not been mentioned at all. Let me start out by saying that although I've never met him, Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine seems to be a nice guy and a strong supporter of President Obama. But as a chairman for the Democratic Party...he is incredibly terrible. It is the DNC chairman's job/responsibility to come up with the strategy for Dem candidates to be successful. As election day's results showed, not only was the Dem Party far from successful, but the results showed they had absolutely no strategy whatsoever, which lead to the biggest beat-down of a political party in U.S. history.
Strategy...a game plan-a method of getting out the message in a manner that will energize, inform and get winning results. Strategy is what the GOP has shown extremely superior in. It was absolutely appalling that none of the Dem candidates ran on the accomplishments of The President and the Dems. Instead, they ignorantly ran AWAY from the accomplishments ! How stupid is THAT ? It was Tim Kaine's job to put together a list of at least the top 10 accomplishments (should have been easily comprised from the list of The 244 Accomplishments of President Barack Obama) in concise, 30-second sound bite form, for ALL Dem candidates to rattle off in unison at every appearance of every kind, rallies, interviews, TV, etc..
They should have driven home the facts regarding great accomplishments like their passing of the Lilly Ledbetter Act, which made it against the law for women to be paid less than men for doing the exact same job. They should have driven home the FACT that 95% of all Americans actually received a tax cut thanks to The President and Dems. They should have highlighted, repeatedly, the true benefits of health care reform-how, for the first time ever- millions will now have access to quality, life-sustaining health care and not be forced to stand in long lines while sick at traveling free clinics just to be seen by a doctor like a third-world country. There's the financial reform bill which now makes it more difficult for the banksters to literally rip-off Americans through fine print con games, again another accomplishment of The President and the Dems. The list goes on.
The list should have been compiled, in simple, dumbed-down form, and repeated literally like a broken record by all Dem candidates. Problem was, due to the incompetency of Tim Kaine, again, I'm sure he's a nice guy and meant well, but there never WAS a list. Instead, each candidate was out there like a chicken with their heads cut off just rambling a bunch of "vote for me cause we're not done" weak rhetoric, instead of highlighting the multitude of accomplishments they achieved in less than 2 years.
Now, let's look at the Right, because they not only get it, but they have mastered it. They know that Americans only retain 30-second, simple, sound bites broken down to an almost third grade level. So they present their talking points in phrases like "they want to kill grandma" or " they're going to have death panels". "He's not one of us"..."we have to take our country back "...and the list goes on. Short, simple, third-gradish talking points repeated so often that Righties can rattle them off with ease regardless of intelligence level or the lack thereof. Glenn Beck breaks it down more third-gradishly simplistic through his very strategic use of A BLACKBOARD ! Like the viewers are literally in class ! Then the GOP candidates hit the trail repeating exactly these simple worded talking points in absolute unison from coast to coast. It's so effective that it doesn't matter whether it's even true or not, through their strategy, righties across the country come out in mass repeating like well trained parrots.
One of the ways that Dems were able to dispel lies with truth during the historic campaign of '08 was through social media/the internet. We were always able to find videos or articles that broke down the truth which was then sent out everywhere and reached the masses, overcoming MSM's blackout of truth. But leading up to this midterm, since none of the Dem candidates ever ran through a list of the accomplishments/talking points, we never had any truth at hand to fight with. Just a bunch of " vote for me ". The passing of the Lilly Ledbetter Act should have become a household phrase seeing how it helped ALL women, Dems, Repubs, Indies even non-voters. The tax cuts helped ALL hard working Americans...95%, including Dems, Indies and yes Repubs.
Tim Kaine totally disregarded the young voters in contrast to David Plouffe who got the young fired up on campuses everywhere in '08. Not only was there no presence of significance for GOTV campaigns at campuses, but the accomplishments that benefit the young voter was never emphasized in the proper, 30-second sound bite form. Nor that college kids will now receive additional grants and college loans making higher education more affordable, thanks to the Dems and President. Or that young people up to age 26 can now remain on their parent's health care coverage, another great accomplishment not presented effectively.
Then there is the Black voter who says " The President hasn't done anything for us !" That's one of the dumbest statements repeated during the past number of months but it's not the Black voter's fault-it's Tim Kaine's. There should have been a list put together that emphasized the "Top 10 Accomplishments that Help Black Americans". The list should have included the millions of dollars allocated to HBCU's, thanks to The President and Dems (that's pretty Black). Again, the Lilly Ledbetter Law definitely benefits Black women who are historically paid less than their male counterpart. The passing of health care reform will help millions of Black Americans and other minorities, evident by the fact that that's mainly who you see in the lines at the pitiful traveling free clinics.
This " Black list " should have been sent to Cathy Hughes, President of Radio One which owns Black format radio stations across the country, with the request that EVERY personality on Black radio would repeat these top 10 Accomplishments that help Black Americans in such rotation that even the hip-hoppers could recite them in a rap. But no, thanks to Tim Kaine, this list never materialized either, and Black voter turnout was weak in most areas, aiding in monumental defeat.
So, in lieu of a true game plan, a true strategy, a true list of ammunition in the form of well constructed GOP-style talking points, instead, they just ran The President from city to city in hopes that he could single handedly get folks excited about each weak, 'messageless' candidate. Despite his valiant, tireless efforts, the problem was the fact that The President is so articulate and smooth that many (make that most) minds are incapable of truly grasping exactly what he's saying. They love the speeches-they love the tone and the good feeling they have at the end...but since the message wasn't broken down into simple, soundbite, third grade form...it ends up being unrepeatable to no fault of his own. Half the time following a great speech like his 38 minute State of the Union speech, folks actually have said " he didn't say anything " which actually translates into " wish I understood what he was talking about ". He is what he is, and that's a smart, articulate man who doesn't talk in a dumbed-down manner.
It was Tim Kaines job to package the message in the manner that would get the most adherence...not The President's. Heck, The President's job is to run the country, not every Dem's campaign. The Right has the counterpart to Tim Kaine in the form of Michael Steele, who is the head of the RNC. Fact is, Steele is weak too. But the difference is that the Right has the masterminds of strategy on their side and that is lead by Karl Rove. I know, when you hear that name the first thought that comes to mind is 'evil', and you're correct. But he's also a political genius in that he knows exactly how to construct the GOP message/talking points in the manner that will stick to the minds of the American people. Heck, even Dems know the Republican talking points, lies and all, even if we don't know our own.
So, following this historic smack down it is now time to re access heading toward the future, which is certain to be shadowed by a battleground mentality and approach. Some have already stated their desire to see Dr. Howard Dean return as the head of the DNC which could be an excellent idea seeing as to how he has proven his abilities to strategize. There's talk that David Plouffe will be getting more involved which would definitely be beneficial strategically. Heck, I'D be a better choice than Tim Kaine and considering I'm not a professional politician, that's pretty sad (but true).
The bottom line, as 2012 approaches and we know the Right will come out swinging like never before, the Time is Now to to get soldiered up, put on the armor of truth and strategy to fight the good fight so that we can once again shout that chant of victory...Yes We DID....For America !
Yes We WILL...
With The Right People !
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