Governance, poetry & prose

The Washington Post’s Ezra Klein mused about the end of the 'do-something' Congress and hit upon public perceptions of it:

"If you see the point of politics as actually getting things done, the last two years, for Democrats, have been a stunning, historic success. Whatever else you can say about the 111th Congress, it got things done. ..."

"That this has been the most "do-something" Congress we've seen in 40 years hasn't made much of an impression on the public. Multiple polls have found that only a minority of voters know that the 111th Congress got more done than most congresses. That's true even among Democrats. Nor has their productivity made the 111th Congress popular."

"But if they failed as politicians, they succeeded as legislators. And legislating is, at least in theory, what they came to Washington to do."

The Democratic Congress and Team Obama have a lot to be proud of and history will validate it. Understanding public perceptions about those accomplishments is more complicated.

Did the Democratic politicians fail as “politicians” because they failed to adequately communicate their successes to the public? Or should the public shoulder most of the blame (if that’s the right word) for being too jittery, too easily distracted, too gullible (to disinformation) or just plain too lazy pay attention?

Answer: The politicians blew it. That means you, too, Team Obama. (More on this shortly)

Having been thoroughly frightened by the media’s nightly chant that “The End Is Near,” and by the economic wreckage what they see in their daily lives, the public can largely be forgiven. Since the media are now largely hamsters on a wheel, it’s pointless to judge them too harshly. Yet they have routinely eschewed congressional reporting or obscured legislative successes. For them, Tea Party crazies, presidential emoting, candidate views on masturbation and clowns shouting “You lie!” make for better TV. Reporting on historic legislation (or domestic infrastructure or Afghanistan or foreign policy) is too often viewed as a killjoy to ratings.

That said, the blame still rests mainly with the elected politicians. Effective communicating is an essential part of their jobs. They’ve done it poorly, and are paying the price. Congressional Democrats and Obama (especially Obama) should be more mindful of what Nixon once said of JFK speechwriter Ted Sorensen: He had a rare knack for “finding phrases that penetrated the American psyche” and thereby helped shape public perception of that White House.

During his campaign, Obama also had that knack. “Yes we can” was one, and it worked brilliantly. In the White House, the poetry of the campaign was fortified with the prose of governance by necessity. But prose – checklists of accomplishments, setbacks or plans – has gotten the upper hand. Yet the public yearns to hear policy expressed in a simpler cadence, one that instills inspiration in troubled times.

Democrats deserve to take a bow for their work. To win public applause, Obama needs to better blend poetry & prose in governance, with the accent on the verse. As Sorensen so elegantly proved, the two are not mutually exclusive.