Why We are “Shrill.”
Some say that we here at Delaware Liberal need to be reminded that we won the election. For it seems that since the election, we have been nothing but “shrill” and angry, almost as if we lost.
Well, first, we didn’t win the election. Barack Obama and Joe Biden won the election. We played our very small part, but we didn’t win. Our candidates did. And second, having our candidates win is not the end of the fight. We just won the right to control the White House for the next four years and Congress for the next two.
But we did not win the right to control the narrative. That fight never ends. And we liberals and Democrats are at a disadvantage in that fight. Even now. Our friends on the right will simply laugh at this thought, for they will simply say that the media is liberal. First, that is lie. The media is not liberal or conservative generally, with the exception for Fox News, which is uniformly conservative to the point of being a literal propaganda station for the airing of the RNC’s talking points, and two shows on MSNBC, which can be described as liberal. If you want to define our national media with adjectives, then use “adversarial” and “lazy.” Especially our 24 hour cable news channels. All these channels do is discuss what the DC Chattering class is chattering about, without any independent analysis or challenge. That is where “narrative” is generated. In that bubble. And the competition to control that narrative is where we liberals are at a disadvantage.
The right wing machine is called that for a reason. It is very efficient and effective. A false story starts on talk radio or on the righty blogs, it is pushed with screaming sirens on Drudge, and then before you know it, the story is being discussed in the traditional media, or as our righties call it, the MSM. One needs to look no further than Alan Keye’s latest rant that Pandora discussed. That made the Los Angeles Times.
So the fight to control the narrative is the key. And when faced with an adversary that has no problem lying with a straight face and no qualms, then you can see how we may sound “shrill” or angry, even though we won the election. For the controlling the narrative is the key to having the President who won the election actually implement his policies he campaigned on. Look at 1993 and 1994 if you want proof of that. President Clinton campaigned on universal healthcare, but lost control of the narrative in the effort to pass a bill, largely because the GOP, with an assist by insurance lobbyists with their “Harry and Louise” commercials fought for it, while Clinton and the liberals did not. I remember reading Clinton advisor Sidney Blumenthal’s autobiography where he discussed shooting a parody of the Harry and Louise ads, but instead starring Bill and Hillary Clinton, to be shown at the White House Correspondent’s Dinner. The ad was so good he was convinced if it had aired during the fight for universal healthcare, we would won the narrative, or at least neutralized the effectiveness of the right’s efforts. But they didn’t, and they lost that fight.
Here and now, we will continue the fight. There is no resting on our laurels just because we won an election. That would be easy to do. But if we do that, we lose control of the political narrative as Republican lies fill the air unchallenged. So I do apologize if we sound angry and shrill while we combat those lies and falsehoods. But someone’s got to do it, because the battle never ends.
I think we are called “shrill” because we are pissed off and refuse to be polite about it.
DD,
100% spot on. That was the perfect locker room speech for me right now.
I’m ready to roll.
Great post, Del Dem!
As Mahatma Gandhi said:
“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”
I think they’ve just finished laughing at us. Now, the real fight for the liberal agenda is beginning.
Seems to me you just made Alan Keyes’ point for him:
“With Obama, we have crossed the line that separates civil politics from civil war disguised as politics.”
(That was the civil war quote cited previously, right? I didn’t see a link, so I Googled it.)
Here’s another quote:
“They bring a knife, you bring a gun. They put one of yours in the hospital, you put one of theirs in the morgue! That’s the Chicago way!”
And the competition to control that narrative is where we liberals are at a disadvantage.
Not so much control the narrative, but to make sure that Democratic thinking gets into the narrative. The media is still quite tilted to Republican thinking and it is taking its time to re-orient. Plus, we really need to get the media to stop the He Say She Say reporting that allows the stuff that the right makes up finds its way into serious conversation. Facts are real and there should be some privileging of that in the conversation.
And resisting the non-stop bullying that the right does instead of countering the facts is Job 1.
Listen to the chattering class’s debate for the last two weeks. All of it was doom and gloom about the Obama Presidency and the stimulus bill. And yet, polls kept showing that the American people approved of Obama and how he was handling the economic crisis.
And on these shows and in the news Republican pov severely outnumbered the Dem pov.
Seems to me the real story was despite overwhelming Republican airtime the people weren’t swayed by their arguments. Funny, I don’t remember that story being covered.
Nice post, DD.
I have yet to here a Dem congressman or senator express his or her self on TV that hit the most powerful points of our plan. And as far as the questioner goes he just allows them to ramble with out any follow up. And when it comes to the repuk’s they just continue to make wild and false charges for they know that the ass asking the questions won’t dare call them on it.
I wouldn’t call you all “shrill” – if you were, I wouldn’t come and read here.
I wonder if those that call you shrill are those that are members of a certain party often identified by a certain very large, very heavy animal and they just don’t know what the word “liberal” in DL stands for. However, even though their convictions are totally different from yours, somehow they feel drawn to DL day after day again and again. . . Maybe they wish they had voices in their own community as loud and “shrill” as yours?
For you DD, a rare virtually complete agreement–referenced with a link so dv doesn’t have to go slumming if he doesn’t want to
http://delawarelibertarian.blogspot.com/2009/02/on-insanity-of-narrative-in-american.html
ah yes, “Control the narrative”, meaning don’t let the oppostition speak.
The opposition can certainly speak.
Just don’t expect us to give you a pass when you make shit up.
disagree with the Great Leader = make shit up
Which pretty much just demonstrates that you wouldn’t know facts or information it it walked up to you and smacked you.
You aren’t being victimized here — you are being asked to stop lying.