Fallen tree in a forest at the outskirts of Jyvaskyla, Finland. Photo by Tiia Monto (CC BY-SA 3.0)
A friend in tech remarked the other day on how smart engineers have no clue about marketing. They are so wrapped up in their design-bubbles that they think they are done once the product is. The left (and Democrats) have the same problem.
Like those engineers, lefties in general think their bright ideas and beneficial policies sell themselves. They don’t, and they are painfully slow to recognize that. It’s why one of my shticks is to poke a finger at someone and loudly say, “Oh, yeah? Well, I’m not as smart as I think I am.”
But it is also the problem that what Democrats conceive of as marketing is not particularly catchy or innovative, like having cabinet secretaries do the selling (on the cheap) instead of hiring a serious marketing firm.
“Climate resilience”? “Build out the clean energy sector”? Um, how does that make my clothes cleaner or my breath fresher or put more money in my pocket at the end of the month? Speak like ordinary people to their everyday needs. Sell the brownie, not the recipe. And sell it where people will hear it.
Greg Sargent on Monday cites Democrats’ ham-fisted attempts to counter the right’s crtical race theory messaging. He spoke with Rep. Sean Maloney (D-N.Y.), the chair of the House Democrats’ campaign arm:
“We have learned from the lies and distortions of the last election,” Maloney told me, noting that Democrats will “say what we stand for,” which is “building a society where everyone is treated equally and fairly, and learning from our past.”
Democrats will argue that “children need to learn their history — all of it — without censorship or politics limiting what they can learn,” Maloney said.
“We shouldn’t talk like eggheads,” Maloney continued. “But I’m not going to accept the false choice that because people can exploit a concern for racial justice and twist it into something they call ‘wokeness,’ that we should stop fighting for it.
Slow learners for such smart people. Not to mention that they are too busy responding to the Republicans’ narrative to sell their own accomplishments. And not just accomplishments, but their brand.
Seeing their story told (on the cheap) on Twitter or through the filter of the NY Times “does not mean people in Oklahoma are hearing about it,” as my friend said. Democrats have an “a tree falls in the forest” problem. No matter what their message is and no matter how impressed they are with it (even if it’s lame), it matters little if no one hears it.