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i'd like to start by asking why you chose the vehicle of famous (and some not so famous) presidential speeches to use to speak about progressive frames. why is that and how did that come about? TODAY is day one. It always is.
Next, I wanted to show people that framing was a set of tools broadly applicable to politics--not just for fighting with the right wing media. So I wanted to take the tools I use everyday in Frameshop, lift them up (gesturing with my hands), and drop them in a remote period in time.
I also wanted a book that would be relevant to the Presidential primary season--relevant right now, as it were.
Lastly (phew!), I wanted the book to be a safe haven where people could go for what I call "breathing room" or "fresh air." A book to read that was about progressive ideas, but far away from the day-to-day of the blogs.
Then, I made sure that the speeches were all accessible enough without deep knowledge of the period--that put me on inaugurals and farewell addresses.
After that it was pretty much trial and error. I think the one speech that took me the longest to pick was Clinton. Believe it or not, none of Clinton's speeches stick out particularly while he was President. I think he was just good on his feet, but he didn't have a particular moment that really hit me in the face as interesting. But by that time, I had the structure of the book in place and just went with the Second Inaugural.
it's great to see someone looking through the past for key stories we can tell again. One of the things that worries me about "progressives" is their often relentless orientation to the present and future.
Of course, I've been mining Ronald Reagan's speeches for a long time. "Trust but verify" seems like a good general rule in politics before they melt down, and it might be fun to go to Albany and shout "Mr. Bruno and Mr. Silver, tear down these walls!"
They'd look at each other and ask which walls, of course.
Also, framing is generally easier to see with some distance. So when people read a classic speech, they get what I'm talking about better.
as much as the concrete benefits of the new deal made a difference in their lives, the rhetoric did as well. my grandmother could still recite to me FDR's words 60 years later, words she heard as a child on a radio that was powered by a milk truck's battery. (the milk truck didn't moe because no one could afford the milk.)
there was something about the words, the iseas, the frames, and, yes, the results of those words that kept my grandmother a solid FDR dem for her entire life. TODAY is day one. It always is.
I believe that finding historic ties for our ideas can be a basis for building consensus in the present. Lakoff, by contrast, looks to what he calls "biconceptuals" as the basis for building a broader consensus.
Your grandmother's continued dedication to FDR's ideas is a good example of how those speeches in the 1930s can be the starting point for building a broad appeal--at both the state and national level.
Just getting them into our heads--reading them, loading them onto our iPods and listening to them--can be the starting point for a building a foundation of ideas.
I think the ruptures of the 1960s and 1970s, as well as multiculturalism in the 1980s and 90s, has made us doubt whether we can have a common heritage as progressives. But I believe we can and the stuff in the book is the starting point.
But Reagan's ability at framing and phrasing seems to have rocked the foundations and after him the waters are muddy.
Clinton was a great framer, but I don't think his speeches bear even a tenth of the progressivism we find in Carter.
Framing is a set of tools for engaging, developing, clarifying and presenting ideas. Johnson's Great Society or FDR's New Deal are classic examples. Their goal was to completely rework how we thought about American life, and then to advance policies that articulated that vision.
Framing is much more long term than spin, which is often a more on-the-fly tactic for short term gains.
Ultimately, this comes from my particular training as an anthropologist, where I was taught to see social dramas as key windows onto big issues.
The structure, then, comes from the recurrent need in most of the examples for the President to talk the country out of a crisis.
how do we get better at not only avoiding the well crafted frames of the right, but excel at deploying our own frames, ones which lay the debate on our terms? do we need to employ linguists or speechwriters or develop our own army of Luntzs?
i know this is addressed in your book, but just for the benefit of those who may not have read it yet, what advice do you have for progressives moving forward? TODAY is day one. It always is.
In political campaigns and offices, progressives need to hire people and make them responsible for the day-to-day work. Not just linguists/anthropologists, but people with the ability to occupy that space in between communications and tactics.
If I had one wish, it would be for every elected Democrat to hire a person specifically to keep track of framing, and to make sure that person was in every meeting.
It's a long term project--so the more we can each get around the country and talk to people about these tools, the more progressive framers will sprout up and change the dynamic.
It took the Republicans about 30 years to dominate the debate. I think it will take progressives 5 years to get it back.
I hope to see all of you at the April 24 book signing (B&N Greenwich Village) featuring TAP's own Brian Keeler and me discussing framing issues and more (link).
if you haven't yet read jeffrey's book, i really can't recommend it highly enough. it's widely available now and you can even get it delivered to Frameshop. It is an amazingly valuable resource. one of the best pieces i've seen so far about the cultural significance of the blacksburg massacre was posted there by jeffrey today.
thanks again, jeffrey and to all those who stopped by to take part. TODAY is day one. It always is.
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