Messaging or Ideas?

This Atlantic Monthly piece by Joshua Green is a good read, and quite interesting. My take is that Democrats need both: new messaging AND new ideas/positions. The two aren't mutually exclusive, as some Democrats seem to believe. The party can't just tweak its language here and there, and expect that to build them a governing majority. Voters will see right through that. Then again, they can't go super populist and present new ideas if they don't learn how to speak more effectively.

The one problem I see with all this talk about "messaging" is that Washington insiders think that is the MOST important thing. It is important, sure, but it really is secondary to more strongly defining the ideas that the party stands for (see my "Democrats' Da Vinci Code" for some proposals along those lines). As Green correctly notes, "Buzzwords are not going to rescue a failing party. That so many Democrats have achieved the Olympian state of denial necessary to believe otherwise suggests that the tempting abstractions of language and messaging have diverted them..."

Again, unlike Green, I do think messaging is important, and efforts to improve the language are well worth it. But I do agree with Green that defining the core principles and ideas of the party are the most pressing and immediate challenge right now - that's where most of the energy should be focused.