James Carville to Obama: repackage your economic plan
| Washington
The Obama White House needs to do a better job communicating a coherent economic plan as it heads into the 2010 election season, according to James Carville and Stanley Greenberg 鈥� two top Democratic strategists who spoke at a Monitor-sponsored breakfast on Wednesday.
New unemployment figures coming out Friday are expected to show the economy finally gained jobs in March after months of job losses. Though that news would be welcome, the recession is still being keenly felt by voters.
鈥淭he recession has actually accelerated for people who are living in this economy,鈥� said Mr. Greenberg, chairman of Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research.
For the population segments that helped sweep President Obama into office 鈥� unmarried women, Latinos, young voters 鈥� the recession 鈥渉as gotten much worse for them and they have gotten more pessimistic,鈥� Greenberg said.
In this difficult climate, the Obama White House needs to improve its communications, according to Mr. Carville, a political science professor at Tulane University who ran Bill Clinton鈥檚 presidential campaign.
At the breakfast, Carville said he has told Obama White House officials, 鈥淚 wish you would be more about conveying there is a strategy. You don鈥檛 have to change anything, just repackage it as a plan that is in place, that we are starting to show some progress as opposed to a set of policies which, depending on your political ideology or your political leanings, you may agree or disagree with.鈥�
Carville, who's also a CNN commentator, was quick to note that neither he nor any other strategist 鈥渉as the holy grail of how to do this.鈥�
鈥淭he hardest thing to do in all of political communication is 鈥� deal with a bad, but somewhat improving, economy." he said.
Mr. Obama鈥檚 State of the Union speech in January was 鈥渁 very successful speech鈥� Greenberg said. But he noted that the section of the address where Obama talked about bringing the US economy 鈥渂ack from oblivion鈥� was very unpopular with a group of swing voters that Greenberg had assembled to listen to the speech.
鈥淭he dial meters went through the floor,鈥� he said. 鈥淧eople hate it. They think it is arrogant. It means you are not in touch with their experience.鈥�
The president鈥檚 communication challenge will be especially keen with white males who have blue collar jobs, Greenberg noted.
鈥淲hite blue collar voters, particularly males, took a big hit in this deep recession. Everything we measure in our survey shows they are 鈥� worse off in terms of how much they have been impacted by this,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd as we go into this so-called jobs recovery, they won鈥檛 be feeling this. So as the elites try to make the case that this thing is coming back and the economic policies work, they are going to be angrier and angrier about the elites not getting what is happening to them.鈥�
