Failure To Communicate

By Zamboni

We cats have sifted through the headlines and had a couple of naps, so we're ready to talk about the midterms again.

And because we are superior beings who refuse to live in a Romneyesque bubble, we realize we have to send some HISSES and SNARLS the Democrats' way. (Like that infuriating embarrassment, Alison Lundergan Grimes, whose speech last night was awful. How in the world do you let Mitch McConnell outdo you in the graciousness department?)

But the real objects of our disdain are the folks over at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Amazingly, the vaunted 2008/2012 election machine — and its most famous practitioner — have forgotten how to communicate. It's the only explanation we can think of for what's happened to them (and by extension, the rest of us) these last six years.

We cats have pointed out before the many ways that the Obama Administration has helped the country pick itself up and dust itself off after the debacle of the Bush/Cheney regime. We won't repeat them all again, except to wonder why it seems to be against Democratic rules to take a page from St. Ronnie Reagan's book and celebrate your success.

The glaring-est example? The Affordable Care Act. The most significant social legislation since Medicare was signed into law in March of 2010, but Team Obama never sold it to the American people, before — or, especially, after — it passed. Sure, it was going to take three years to set up and implement. But what good is the bully pulpit if you don't use it to ceaselessly remind the country about all the Obamacare benefits that were A) coming on line, and B) still in store?

Believe us cats: If the Republicans had passed the ACA, they wouldn't have shut up for a second about how wonderful it was going to be. But since the White House walked away from the sales job, Americans had no grounding in the law and why it was so fabulous. Which meant that when Republicans in the House endlessly tried to repeal it, or screamed about the website screwing up, voters had no frame of reference that allowed them to say, "Hey, shut up. This is a good thing."

This drives us mad.

Somewhere in the White House, a light bulb needs to go on that you can't keep doing the same stuff and expect better results. That goes for messaging more than anything else. But it also goes for Congressional relations, for delivering stump speeches that always sound the same, and for giving 10-minute answers at press conference when a simple "Yes, we fucked up" will suffice. And it also goes for thinking that at some point, the campaign is over and you can relax. Sorry, Mr. President: The campaign never ends.