Non-Interview with Jaime Harrison

By FRANK LINGO

Is The Progressive Populist too lowly and inconsequential a publication to get an interview with Democratic National Committee Chairman Jaime Harrison?

In several calls to Harrison’s office over a week, no one answered the phone and no one returned messages. In several emails and calls to the DNC press office, again no one responded.

Now, if the New York Times had called, waddya bet there would have been responses? That leaves me to wallow in an inferiority complex that perhaps The Progressive Populist is not as important as the Times.

Still, I wonder if the Democratic Party can afford to ignore a non-elite journal in an era when they are trying to attract more voters and are moving steadily toward more progressive values.

A big part of my non-interview with Jaime Harrison would be about what needs to change in Democrats’ messaging. Over the last 20 years the Democrats’ messaging to voters has mostly, well … stunk.

Thru the magic of mendacity and the Constitutional calamity of the Electoral College, Republicans in this century have elected the two worst presidents in American history. Despite Democrats outnumbering Republicans by millions, George W. Bush and Donald Trump got elected because Republicans lie more effectively than Democrats tell the truth.

Barack Obama told the truth convincingly but let’s be honest - Obama won because the economy was a disaster. America had not suddenly stopped being racist. People voted to rescue their jobs, homes and pensions. He did a good enough job with economic recovery to earn re-election, but then in 2016 we would be reminded how short voters’ memories are, and how deep misogyny and racism remained.

Meanwhile in 2010, just two years after Obama’s historic win, Republicans kicked the crap out of Democrats and regained control of both the Senate and House of Representatives. That handcuffed Obama for the last six years of his presidency, while hogging the narrative about Obamacare with lies that way too many people believed.

In four straight cycles, 2010, 2012, 2014 and 2016, Republicans won full control of Congress. The Democrats’ messaging wasn’t working and they kept sending the same message anyway.

Finally in 2018, after two years of the tyranny of Trump, Democrats fought back and won control of the House again. They did it with kitchen table issues of health care and jobs, and highlighting the repulsiveness of Trump’s blatant racism.

Then 2020 was a backslide for Democrats. It should have been a landslide after Trump’s deadly debacle with the Coronavirus. Sure, Joe Biden won the presidency but forget the seven million more popular votes he got. Biden actually won the Electoral College by less than 80,000 votes in four states, a razor-thin edge.

By the miracle of getting two Democrats in Georgia, the party regained control of the Senate, but Dems lost 13 seats of their majority in the House and overall, they got hurt in many state legislatures across the nation. The hard truth is that Democrats blew a golden opportunity to get a clear majority in the US Senate and to make gains in more state houses.

So what should Democrats do differently, Chairman Harrison?

Fantasy is free when the man won’t return our call, but for starters, I imagine the Democrats’ new messaging would include exposing Republicans’ lies about the 2020 election being stolen by voter fraud.

But that is so obvious, right. Not really. Millions of people swallowed Trump’s and many Republican politicians’ poison Kool-Aid. It has endangered our democracy. It is absolutely essential to put out a campaign of the truth to counter the lies that prevail in Republican areas.

Also, some perspective would be nice. Let’s put Republicans’ reprehensible behavior in context of the party’s respectable past. What has become of the party of Abe Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt and Ike Eisenhower? Those guys freed the slaves, stood up to bankers’ domination and tried to de-segregate schools.

In short, Democrats just need to tell the truth and do it all along, not just during campaign season. Call the Repubs on their misdeeds, like voter suppression, like governors and legislatures refusing to accept free federal money for health care in their states, then tell the story in real time every step of the way.

Mr. Harrison, these messages to voters don’t need to be on NPR, MSNBC or in the Washington Post. They need to reach regular folks who are not news junkies. Put the ads on during football games and on hit shows like NCIS and American Idol.

For Democrats to get elected to the majorities in politics they represent in the population, they should pass bills that improve people’s lives. Then make sure the people know what party really provides helpful government services.

Frank Lingo, based in Lawrence, Kansas, is a former columnist for the Kansas City Star and author of the novel “Earth Vote.” Email lingofrank@gmail.com.

From The Progressive Populist, May 1, 2021

Populist.com