Bernie, please tell us a story (one DUer's opinion)
To those of us who are progressive political junkies, Bernie's positions are crystal clear and compelling. But for many who are new to Bernie's positions, it can be difficult to understand the common thread that connects them. And that diminishes the impact of his message.
Killer Mike (as repeated by the great Nina Turner) said in response to Clinton campaign innuendo that "Senator Sanders *is* a one-issue candidate, and *you* are the issue - the people of the USA." The deeper truth in that exchange is that voters have limited attention spans, and DO need a single anchoring image that positions a candidate in their minds. That's Marketing 101.
What brought this home for me was Chomsky's comment that Bernie is "an honest New Dealer". Bernie often talks about the New Deal and how New Deal (and Great Society) programs lifted older, disabled, and marginalized Americans out of abject poverty.
But what he doesn't do enough, IMO, is tell a story that connects his positions to New Deal values. "Let me tell you a story about protecting our American values from entitled parties who are trampling and distorting those values so they can return our country to a time when corporations and wealthy individuals acted with impunity, to the detriment of average Americans."
Wording aside, the point I'm trying to make is that Bernie needs to tell us a story so that voters have a single frame for connecting all of Bernie's positions. And then revisit that frame in every debate and campaign ad.
The irony is that young voters already get what's happening. It's the oldest voting bloc, the first to grow up under the New Deal, that has bought into the propaganda that on every front - standard of living, access to affordable education and healthcare, availability to living wage jobs, equality of opportunity, infrastructure quality, etc. - the US is and always has been #1.
Bernie is the only candidate in the race who has the courage to tell the truth about our decline in these and other areas, target real causes, and push for real change. And Bernie is a great story teller. But he needs to choose an anchor, like the American values that birthed the New Deal (or something pithier), that connects the dots and projects a positive vision for those of us who have been exposed for decades to right-wing and third-way brainwashing.
All of this is so fundamental that it might be obvious to many DUers, but sometimes it's paying attention to fundamentals that wins the game.
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