IT'S THE MESSAGE, STUPID

I agree with Jim Wallis, author of God's Politics, that articulating the actual message of the Democratic Party is more important than creating slogans and buzzwords (though marketers will confirm that you can't just blow them off, either). Wallis in this op-ed offers some concrete advice to Democrats on changing our message. Some of Wallis's suggestions:

(1) First, somebody must lead on the issue of poverty and open the way for a progressive economic agenda. (Amen! Let's start talking LOUDLY about helping the "working poor" achieve a living wage and stop the nonsensical tax relief for the uber-wealthy.)

(2) We need to frame the environmental issue as one of good stewardship and insist that "private interests should never obstruct our country's path to a cleaner and more efficient energy future, let alone hold our foreign policy hostage to the dictates of repressive regimes in the Middle East." (Can we say "an energy bill that will do nothing to preserve energy or decrease our dependence on foreign oil?")

(3) Dems should propose new ideas to reduce the number of abortions. (This is a good one -- better than saying "me too!" to the religious right.)

(4) The party should adopt serious pro-family policies.

(5) We should argue that the safety of the U.S. depends on the credibilit of its international leadership and renounce any claim to oil or future military bases, suggest reforming international institutions so that they are effective in situations succh as Darfur, and exert leadership in reducing global poverty.

Read the whole piece for the detail.