CPA News Releases, Advisories, and Editorials

Tale of Two Sermons

Featured at TomPaine.com on June 26, 2007
by Bernie Horn, Senior Director, Policy & Communications

It was the best of times; it is the worst of times.

With apologies to Dickens, that just about sums up the speeches given by Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama at the Take Back America conference on June 19-20. America has had its bright, shining moments, when national policy has lived up to our nation’s ideals, they both said.  But the last six and-a-half years have been, simply, the worst of times.

At a conference of progressive activists, this is truly preaching to the choir. In fact, both their substantive attacks on George W. Bush, and their promises to bring progressive thinking back to the White House, were quite similar (as were the attacks and promises of the other candidates who spoke with eloquence at Take Back America—Sen. John Edwards, Gov. Bill Richardson, Rep. Dennis Kucinich, and Sen. Mike Gravel).

The difference between Clinton’s speech and Obama’s was in the message framing. You may be familiar with Barack Obama’s stump speech. The key refrain is, “It’s time to turn the page.” For example, “I’m running for President because the time for the can’t-do, won’t-do, won’t-even-try style of politics is over. It’s time to turn the page.” And, “It’s time to turn the page on health care— to bring together unions and businesses, Democrats and Republicans, and to let the insurance and drug companies know that while they get a seat at the table, they don’t get to buy every chair.” And, “It’s time to turn the page on education—to move past the slow decay of indifference that says some schools can’t be fixed and some kids just can’t learn.” Get the idea?

Senator Obama is framing the election as a choice between the current mean-spirited, materialistic, corrupt administration and a new direction. He’s running as an outsider to the inside-the-Beltway culture, as someone who brings new “hope” that our federal government can become, once again, an instrument of justice. Ironically, this frame is very similar to the one employed by Bill Clinton in 1992—what James Carville called, “change versus more of the same.”

Now the interesting thing about this message frame is that, while Obama is explicitly referring to the Bush Administration, he is implicitly distinguishing himself from Hillary Clinton. If Americans are looking to “turn the page”—to move on and make a fresh start—then Obama fits the description, while Clinton does not. Senator Obama, or perhaps his consultant David Axelrod, deserves either enthusiastic or grudging respect (depending on your point of view) for this very clever linguistic device.

I cannot report that Senator Clinton had a message frame of her own. There is no question that she is a terrific speaker, but the content of this speech did not particularly distinguish her from any of the other Democratic candidates. I can only assume that was her strategy for the day.

Yet, she did hint at a possible future message frame. At the end of her presentation, Senator Clinton told a story about former Secretary of State Madeline Albright. When Albright visited nations formerly dominated by the Soviets, people in the crowds waved American flags—with 48 stars. Curious, Albright asked why 48 stars? She learned that these flags had been handed out by American GIs liberating Europe, and families had kept the flags—often at great personal risk—because they loved what America stood for.

At this point, Clinton said with obvious conviction, “I want to be the president who restores that feeling about our country around the world and (after applause) equally importantly, I want to restore that feeling here at home.” She concluded by declaring that “Together we can renew the promise of America at home, and restore respect for America around the world.”

Restoring America is a frame that could work for Hillary Clinton. But only if Americans want to restore the best of the Bill Clinton presidency. What I mean is that Senator Clinton can’t ignore those eight years. If she wants to highlight the very real accomplishments of those years—a strong economy, a budget surplus, progress towards peace and justice around the world—then “restoring America” distinguishes her from both the Republicans and the rest of the Democratic contenders.

But here’s the amazing thing. In her 29-minute speech, Senator Clinton did not once say the words “Bill Clinton” or “Clinton Administration.” She did not once call attention to the accomplishments of the last Democratic administration, for which she herself deserves so much credit. Why? Perhaps Clinton’s polling shows that Americans remember the bad side of the Bill Clinton presidency more than the good. Maybe it shows that people don’t want to “turn the page” back to those days. If that’s the case, she has a framing problem to solve.

Let’s hope that whoever the nominee is, she or he uses message framing well. Because, for progressives, 2008 “is a far, far” more important election than we have ever seen.

This article can be found on the web at:

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2007/06/26/tale_of_two_sermons.php