Is #DemsDeliver an Effective Strategy? asks Dan Pfeiffer, citing Democratic Majority Leader Steny Hoyer who said recently,
I want every Democrat to run as ‘Democrats who deliver.’ Point to the record. Point to what was done.”
This from the congressman who a dozen years ago pitched the oh-so-memorable “Make It In America”? No doubt from the same hot-shot messaging shop as “Build Back Better.”
Pfeiffer likely remembers:
This is a sentiment you hear from a lot of Democrats. It’s why Democratic activists work so hard to make hashtags like #DemsDeliver trend on Twitter. It is a very understandable impulse. President Biden and Congressional Democrats accomplished more legislatively and turned the economy around faster than most expected just a year ago. Polling also shows that voters either don’t know or are unpersuaded by what Democrats have delivered.
Getting insufficient credit for significant accomplishments is the perennial frustration for Democratic politicians. In response, there is a tendency to double down and try to retroactively re-educate the electorate about what happened. But is that a good strategy? Is it possible to run as “Democrats who deliver?”
The Democrat who was still pitching “Make It In America” ahead of the disatrous 2014 mid-terms is probably not the one to ask. And retroactive re-education as a strategy does not exactly soothe my anxieties.
The American Rescue Plan remains popular, yet Democrats are not getting the credit. It may be that as the pandemic wears on (and the culture war it spawned) Americans’ lives are still too disrupted by work, school, and inflation worries to ponder who gets credit for the normal they are not experiencing.
People don’t vote based on polls or slogans. They vote (if at all) based on how they feel. Even if policies from Washington Democrats are popular on paper, with all the social upheaval right now and Russian troops massing against Ukraine, how do any of us feel?
Pfeiffer wonders:
Yet, these popular legislative accomplishments are not translating into political support. There is a 20-point gap between support for what Biden has done or wants to do and the President’s approval rating. The question is why aren’t Democrats getting more credit (and what can they do about it)?
People’s unease cannot be messaged away with a slogan. They cannot be convinced to feel differently than they do. Barack Obama ran on hope at a time people needed some. He delivered too little in the end, but his unique ability to inspire worked for him in 2008. Post-Trump, I have no idea what can inspire Democrats ahead of November 2022. People don’t need their minds changed. They need their moods changed.
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