Roll Out The Bully Pulpit

[phantom power]

Good advice. The GOP tends to win these rhetorical wars mostly because they show up, and the Dems frequently don't.

As we watch this legislative sausage slowly crumble, I would hope that President Obama will take his economic agenda to the American people. (And it's not going to be enough for him to ask people who've had house parties in the past to get together and talk about the president's plan.) He's needs to speak to the country directly.

I can't find any news about an impending State of the Union address (aside from this Ambinder note from last November which speculated about doing one in early February) but I think he should schedule one or something like it. The country needs to be instructed about the logic and necessity of this stimulus plan because they clearly don't fully understand it. And because of that, the Republicans are making headway with their rhetoric of "fiscal responsibility," conflating stimulus with bailouts and the rest of their destructive obstructionism.

Despite his huge personal approval, Obama didn't start off with a lot of public support for the plan and support is inching down. He is asking for a huge amount of money and the promise of bipartisanship is not working out. I think it would be helpful if he explained what a stimulus is and why this plan will succeed. People want him to succeed and they will back him if he makes the explicit case and give the plan some time to work if he asks them for it. Not having congressional Republicans on the team won't matter if the American people stay behind him. But if he continues to make bipartisanship the test of the plan's success or failure, it really could fail whether it passes or not. One of the main components of the success of the plan is its ability to inspire confidence and the Republicans, the Blue Dogs and their friend in the media are doing everything they can to ensure that Americans believe it won't work.

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/roll-out-bully-pulpit-by-digby-as-we.html

[JuniperLea]

1. In other words...

The Republicans lie. Especially when they think people don't understand something... like Bush's idiotic 23%.

[phantom power]

2. They could be lying. They could be just stupid. Either way...

the main point is that people are swayed by all that lying and stupid, unless somebody shows up with a competing narrative that makes sense. Hence, the Bully Pulpit.

For the last 8 years, we've basically had Paul Krugman as a lone voice in the wilderness on economic issues. I think the public is more than ready to hear good sense like Krugman's from a higher-profile figurehead, like Obama. I think Obama gets this, and I'm hoping he'll prove me right. He's got the charisma and the momentum to pull it off, but if he waits too long, he may lose the moment.