2010 Dems mid-term election slogan - Change - again
Written by VASS
In 2006 Democrats thought up a great campaign slogan, Change. The theme was to change from the policies of the unpopular Bush Administration. It lead to Democrats taking the House and Nancy Pelosi becoming Speaker of the House, and Harry Reid becoming the Majority Leader of the Senate.
In 2008 Democrats picked up the slogan with a few more words added, Change you can believe in. The theme was to change from the policies of the unpopular Bush Administration. That lead to the election of President Obama, and a supermajority for Democrats.
In 2010, Democrats are going to be innovative and use a slogan of … wait for it… Change. The theme will be to change from the unpopular policies of the Bush Administration and Republicans.
Do you see a pattern? Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) sure seems to. Van Hollen, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, believes that Change is still the key top victory. His concept is that America needs to be reminded that Republicans are the Party of the staus quo
Van Hollen may not see it but there might be a flaw with this strategy.
Perhaps the biggest issue that might be noticed is that former President Bush has been out of office for more than a year. The DCCC might not have noticed but Democrats control the White House, and both Houses of Congress. The policies affecting the nation are those of Democrat and President Barack Obama.
Another potential bump in the road is the economy. Given that Presidents Clinton and Bush spent money wildly, President Obama has spent more in a year than either President in their full terms. And President Obama is still spending. Yet the economy has become stagnant in the opposite direction of every campaign and post-election promise made.
Given that President Obama walked into an economy in a tail-spin. Just as President Bush did from the Clinton Administration (of did we forget that the Internet Bubble was created and burst under Clinton?). Plus President Bush had to deal with 9/11. But the Bush Administration did turn things around, if for a relatively short period of time. As was expected at the end of the Internet Bubble - not that most recall the forecasts and warnings of the time.
But President Obama took hold of the nation almost immediately after the election. He was planning the Obama Stimulus with Speaker Nancy Pelosi (which she created at a cost of $50 billion) so he would be prepared to resolve the recession immediately. He promised the nation that jobs would be the priority of the Administration. He passed the Obama Stimulus, because we needed to change from the policies of the Bush Administration, and virtually guaranteed that the unemployment rate would not exceed 8%, and would be 7.5% (at worst) in 2010. He then proceeded to work on Health Care Reform and setting a timetable for retreat from Iraq and Afghanistan. Next up is immigration reform, jobs are in the backfeild.
So Van Hollen wants to change. He wants to continue to stay away from the policies of President Bush. In favor of what? More of the current? There’s no way to know.
Van Hollen wants to help America avoid the status quo of the Republican Party. But Republicans are not in charge. Democrats are the policymakers for a year now. They are dictating, against the wishes of a majority of Americans in the case of Health Care Reform, the policies of America. The status quo is what Democrats want, not Republicans that couldn’t stop ANY Bill or law for over a year.
The biggest issue that appears to be glaring in the “new” strategy for Democrats in the upcoming mid-term elections is the same one that was in the 2006 mid-term election, and 2008 Presidential election. What is change exactly?
Rep. Van Hollen is using the same old strategy, spouting polispeak that sounds great and hopeful, without making a substantive explaination of what he is talking about. Change is like saying weather. The weather changes every day. Sometimes you get sunshine, sometimes you get a hurricane, or a blizzard, or a drought. Change in and of itself is neither good nor bad, nor an indication of anything. But it is a great way to let the listener envision unspoken, and possibly unintended, positives and to profit off that miscommunication.
Recently the New York State GOP head Cox stated that Republicans will ride the was of disapproval of Democrats into office. That statement was confronted in this blog as unsatifactory, because it provided voters in New York no benefit. Rep. Van Hollen is equally as vaccuous in promoting an empty slogan that gives voters nothing to gain. It is perhaps worse because the DCCC plan is national, which potentially abuses everyone instead of just New York State.
Perhaps both Parties should stop and realize that voters aren’t that stupid nor are they that sheepish. This blog and it’s readers certainly aren’t.
