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July 19, 2005
The Framing Wars
Catching up on a little reading this morning, and took the time to go through this Matt Bai piece from Sunday's NY Times Magazine -- it's long but worth the time spent.
"Framing" of issues has become a topic du jour on the political left, and framing's "pere" is Berkeley linguist George Lakoff. His recent book, "Don't Think Like An Elephant!", is often seen these days in the hands and book bags of lberal activists across America.
Framing basically focuses on the specific use of language to define the terms of debate, and on fitting individual issues into a broader political narrative -- a-la Frank Luntz on the right, who successfully renamed the estate tax the "death tax", as part of conservatives' overall storyline against taxes.
Lakoff, a former protege of America's best-known leftist linguist, Noam Chomsky, toiled for years in obscurity, following a falling out with his former prof. But his star has risen meterorically, since being discovered by Congressional Democrats desperate to reverse their rapidly declining political fortunes.
Bai chronicles Lakoff's recent influence in Democratic circles, and his possible contribution to two recent minority party success stories -- saving the Senate filibuster and derailing President Bush's Social Security privatization scheme.
The piece also mentions Lakoff's detractors, who think just changing the words won't cover up stale ideas -- the lipstick on a pig line, and has a few priceless quotes from Luntz, who is amusing in his simultaneous self-confidence and self-pity.
Lakoff is definitely on to something, namely that narrative and message discipline are crucial to political success. But we also agree that framing, by itself, is not enough to save Democrats and progressives. It is but a small piece of what's needed.
Democrats' modest successes on Social Security and the Senate filibuster are hardly grounds for celebration, but we're hopeful that they represent first steps on the path out of the political wilderness.
Posted by houtopia at July 19, 2005 02:52 PM