Messaging

Simple messaging is a goal in business.  Advertisers strive to plant a clear positive message in your brain with just a few words.  Got Milk?  Just Do It.  Can you hear me now?  Like a Rock.  Short slogans that convey a single, simple idea is the best kind of messaging a business can use to sell their products.  Likewise, short slogans are effective at selling political ideas. I suspect the majority of Americans prefer a short message that won't cause them to think to deep or hard.

The democrats understand this far better than the republicans.  Think about the presidential campaign and the ongoing fiscal battle.  The democratic messaging has been short and simple.  Forward.  Fairness.  Balance.  Fair Share.  These slogans paint a picture that is far larger than the word.  It doesn't matter if the picture is untrue as long as it beneficial to their cause.

The republicans don't message well.  It could be they aren't clever enough, or maybe their ideas are too complex for short messaging.  While Obama repeats the word balance over and over, the republicans try to explain why we have a spending problem.  We also use arguments that don't seem logical to the moron majority, such as cutting taxes increases tax revenue.  So while one side says balance and fairness, the other gets into deep discussions on how economies and tax systems work.  Its no surprise that conservative messaging doesn't play well on Twitter.

While Obama tweets that he only wants everyone to pay their "fair share", conservative counter the tweet with data, such as the top 10% earn 20% of the wages, but pay 40% of the income taxes.  That is fair, and definitely a fair share, but hard to communicate in a simple way.  Also remember that Obama has never defined what a fair share is.  If he did, the republicans could message on that.

Obama insists he wants a "balanced" plan.  The conservative counter is that we have increased spending far faster than the supporting economy has grown.  That taxing the rich at 100% would not balance the budget.  That after spending over a trillion dollars in stimulus and bail outs, Obama has retained those funds in subsequent budget years.  That we have a fair, progressive tax system.  That we have a spending and an economic growth problem, not a tax fairness problem.  That entitlement growth is the most significant threat to future prosperity. 

The democrats won in 2012 largely based on their messaging and usage of social media.  In addition to the mountain of problems conservatives face in regaining the White House and senate, they must also find an effective way to communicate to the moron majority.