Steven Perlstein rightly faults Democrats for their incompetence at not proudly "branding" their party, instead defensively playing into Republican themes. Economy gathering steam? Huh, wha?! Unemployment cut almost in half? Shhh! More people with affordable health insurance? Quick, hide! A twice popularly elected President heading your party? Run for your lives!
Here's what Perlstein would suggest as a "branding" message for Democrats (albeit waaaay too late for the mid-term elections):
“I’m a Democrat. In economic terms, that means I believe we need an active, competent government to ensure that prosperity is broadly shared by protecting ordinary people from the occasional excesses of markets and the undue power of businesses. That’s why Democrats are for raising the minimum wage, closing down corporate tax scams, putting tighter regulation on Wall Street and providing adequate funding for a world-class public education system from pre-K through college. And it’s why we are proud to have passed legislation to ensure that all Americans finally have a basic health insurance plan regardless of income or health or which company they work for. With oil and gas prices falling, it means I’m even willing to raise energy taxes by a few pennies per gallon so we can reinvest in the infrastructure — highways, ports, airports, subway systems, the electric grid, the Internet — on which all of us and the economy depend. Republicans are uninterested in, or unwilling to do, any of these things or in making any of these investments. Are you with them, or are you with us Democrats?”Doesn't that sound remarkably like Sen. Elizabeth Warren's message? As we've said before, if more Democrats had even a fraction of Sen. Warren's clarity, conviction and guts, they wouldn't be shaking in their boots every time an election rolled around.
