There is probably no political operative more fun to watch than James Carville, talking in his twang, using normal-people words, and saying things that others lack the guts to say. The baseball cap and sweatshirt don’t hurt either. No fancy-pants outfit for Jimbo to lend him credibility. Nosirreebob. But as fun and likeable as he may be, does that make him right?
I’ve been going over this in my head for the past two months, all the variables, all the what-ifs, all the questions about Joe Biden’s re-election decisions and what kind of Democrat or message might have worked against Donald Trump. I keep coming back to the same thing. We lost for one very simple reason: It was, it is and it always will be the economy, stupid.
To give credit where credit is due, Carville came up with “It’s the economy, stupid,” as Bill Clinton’s winning slogan back when he turned Pappy Bush into a one-termer. Of course, times were different then, and the impudence of the Ragin’ Cajun was quite the novelty. But Carville is now an oldster of 80 years, an elder statesman of politics, and entitled to quip as he pleases.
Democrats have flat-out lost the economic narrative. The only path to electoral salvation is to take it back. Perception is everything in politics, and a lot of Americans perceive us as out to lunch on the economy — not feeling their pain, or else caring too much about other things instead.
To win back the economic narrative, we must focus on revving up a transformed messaging machine for the new political paradigm we now find ourselves living in. It’s about finding ways to talk to Americans about the economy that are persuasive. Repetitive. Memorable. And entirely focused on the issues that affect Americans’ everyday lives.
This is where you see the political operative coming out in Old Man Carville. He’s focused on the messaging machine, the one that wins the economic narrative. But what of the message? What of the narrative? Is this about pretending to care about the economy or caring about the economy? Is this about spinning the same old agenda or changing the agenda?
While Democrats have next to no chance of passing a bold, progressive economic agenda in the next four years, what we can do is force Republicans to oppose us. We must be on the offensive with a wildly popular and populist economic agenda they cannot be for.
Is that what Americans want, a “bold, progressive economic agenda”? Will the Democrats be able to trick Americans into wanting it if they dress it in economic sheep’s clothing? Will American’s be put off if the Democrats try to force their agenda, the one just rejected by the election of the man you wouldn’t let near your daughter, and the Republicans knee-jerk refuse to go along?
Let’s start by forcing them to oppose a raise in the minimum wage to $15 an hour. Let’s make Roe v. Wade an economic messaging issue — and force them to block our attempts to codify it into law. And let’s take back the immigration issue by making it an economic issue — and force the G.O.P. to deny bipartisan reform that expedites entry for high-performing talent and for those who will bring business into our nation. This year, the Democratic Party leadership must convene and publish a creative, popular and bold economic agenda and proactively take back our economic turf. Go big, go populist, stick to economic progress — and force them to oppose what they cannot be for. In unison.
So do the same as before, but with a new spin? I like Carville, and generally enjoy hearing him piss all over the political establishment’s cornflakes. But like Joe Biden and Donald Trump, he too has gotten old. While he may be right about the economy being the foremost concern of most Americans, the problem isn’t the messaging, but the message.
We have to begin 2025 with that truth as our political north star and not get distracted by anything else.
Too late, Jim. It’s not the messaging, but the message.