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The Democratic Party should do what all successful organizations do [1]
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Date: 2025-02-02
Good old advice
A couple weeks ago, I posted a well-received diary (thank you for your recommendations and comments!) in which I didn’t offer post-election advice to Democrats but I did suggest that it’s a good rule of thumb to offer such advice humbly, since none of us can say with certainty that whatever we wish the Party or ticket had done differently would necessarily have changed the outcome.
I noted that, in the wake of our electoral defeat, folks offering advice are apt to focus on their long held views about Democratic shortcomings, and I pointed out that advice can still be good advice even it’s not new advice.
Below is my not-new advice regarding how I think the Party could improve its electoral prospects.
Note: my advice and everyone else’s of course rests on the hopeful premise that our Constitutional republic will survive — we will continue to hold real elections and the Oval occupant will obey the 22nd Amendment’s two-term limit.
The essentials
What I’ve stressed once or twice or a hundred times in previous diaries is that if you look at any successful organization — whether it’s a huge for-profit like Apple or your local YMCA — the way that they gain customers/members, and maintain their loyalty, is by continually 1) improving their products/services and 2) promoting their brand.
Press release by Rep. Terri Sewell (D-AL) on Oct 9, 2024 about new action to replace lead pipes in Alabama drinking water systems
As public servants, Democrats have done admirably at the first part: ever since FDR’s presidency, the Democratic Party has had a solid and continuous track record of progressive leadership (here’s a list I’ve compiled, certainly not exhaustive, of initiatives Democrats had a leading role in) and the American economy has fared substantially better for people at all levels under Democratic administrations compared to GOP administrations. In short, when Democrats are in charge, they try and they succeed in making improvements which positively impact the lives of everyday people — Democrats make our country more prosperous and our communities more livable.
As I mentioned in my previous diary, some of the policy proposals which the Harris/Walz ticket advocated, such as in housing and health care, are the same policy proposals that are currently on the to-do list that Sen. Bernie Sanders, in his election post-mortem, is advising his colleagues in the Democratic caucus to push for.
Since Democrats do have a solid track record when it comes to leadership on progressive initiatives, I can well imagine Kamala Harris signing her housing and health care initiatives into law in some parallel universe where she won the election and victorious Democrats control both houses of a Congress unobstructed by the recently retired Ms. Sinema and Mr. Manchin.
However, when it comes to promoting their achievements and values — promoting the Democratic brand — I’m afraid that the Party falls badly short.
In our universe, anyway. Perhaps this essential effort isn’t neglected in some other universe.
Brand awareness
Every American glued to their I-Phone knows it’s an Apple product, and every kiddo who looks forward to their Happy Meal knows it’s a McDonald’s treat. But do folks who count on — or whose close relatives/friends count on — crucial programs like Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid tend to think of them as invented by Democrats?
Sometime in 2024, I recall reading that Steven Spielberg was going to contribute his creative talents to the production of the Democratic National Convention. I would have preferred it if creatives like Spielberg — whose superpower is stirring people’s emotions in a positive way — had promoted Democratic achievements with a PR campaign throughout the Biden/Harris administration. There was plenty of contemporary material to work with; in his election post-mortem, Sanders writes:
As an Independent member of the US Senate, I caucus with the Democrats. In that capacity I have been proud to work with President Biden on one of the most ambitious pro-worker agendas in modern history. We passed the American Rescue Plan to pull us out of the COVID-19 economic downturn; made historic investments in rebuilding our infrastructure and in transforming our energy system; began the process of rebuilding our manufacturing base; lowered the cost of prescription drugs and forgave student debt for five million Americans. Biden promised to be the most progressive president since FDR and, on domestic issues, he kept his word.
So, mightn’t it have been helpful to have had a significant pro-Democratic PR campaign, starting back in March, 2021 — when the American Rescue Plan passed?
Moreover, mightn’t it have been helpful for Democrats to have had a continuous promotional campaign, for the past 80-plus years, touting their accomplishments?
Promoting the brand is fundamental for any organization that wants to gain market share, and right now there is no organization in the world for whom the stakes of gaining market share are higher than they are for the Democratic Party.
I’ll wager that if you’re a TV-watcher, you have no trouble remembering great ads (like for Coke) even it’s been decades since you saw them. But do you remember one — even one — ad extolling a Democratic Party achievement?
x YouTube Video
Self-promote or suffer the consequences
The Democratic Party establishment has not prioritized promoting the Democratic brand, as opposed to promoting individual candidacies every couple years. Meanwhile, our fellow citizens are fed a steady stream of criticism toward the Democratic Party (some of it fair, most of it false or specious) all across the media spectrum.
If an organization doesn't promote itself, the public is apt to be unaware of its accomplishments and receptive to however the organization is cast by the media or by its competitors.
Even if the mainstream media were biased toward Democrats — and of course that’s hardly their tendency — it’s not their job to cast the Democratic Party in a positive light. We shouldn’t expect it. And we can hardly expect Republicans, Greens, and other rivals of the Democratic Party to assiduously present only fair-minded, honest, constructive criticism. Of course they won't!
Why not both?
Now, I’ve read commenters on this website who make essentially the opposite argument that I’m making, that Democrats actually have been too proud, too boastful — for example, regarding America’s economic recovery compared to the rest of the world after the pandemic subsided. According to this view, it was terrible politics to laud America’s economic recovery when so many Americans are hurting.
I don’t actually recall Harris carrying on much about the economic recovery, but in any event, my response to that argument is: Why not both?
I don’t find it difficult to imagine a universe where a party promotes its accomplishments and also exhibits empathy for people who are hurting.
We all know of a party of one which does exactly that: Donald Trump. Of course, he’s a sociopath and a serial liar, so the empathy is a con, and every “beautiful” accomplishment he boasts about is bullshit.
Democrats — the party with a record of genuine accomplishments — have now been beaten twice by the world’s biggest braggard.
So I think we’d better reject the notion that self-promotion can’t be good politics.
Opportunity’s knocking
If it seems like your local Y puts more effort into PR than the DNC does, well, we could just view that as a depressing reality.
But it’s smarter to view it as a tremendous opportunity for the Party to do better and reap the benefits.
Our party has a long history of leadership and genuine accomplishments for everyday Americans. The Party could be, should be, continuously promoting its history, its stories.
An example I’ve mentioned before: one of my relatives says they owe their life to the Affordable Care Act, which is among the reasons they vote Democratic. When Republicans were close to repealing the ACA in 2017, many people shared their stories emphatically, like at this memorable town hall (the GOP Representative in that video lost his seat in the 2018 blue wave).
The Party could continually air narratives about the real-life, positive impact of Democratic legislation and leadership. Whether the subject is health care, jobs, education, infrastructure, the environment, retirement benefits — there are compelling stories to tell!
Those of you who are familiar with my diary history know that I initiated and for many years have run a Community project here on Daily Kos to distribute free pro-Democratic bumper stickers to DK readers. I started this project because I figured if we think pro-Dem messaging is important, we should do it.
But this little grassroots project is of course a drop in the ocean compared to the sort of promotional effort that the Party and its philanthropic and very talented supporters (like Spielberg) could and sure ought to be doing.
In my humble opinion.
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