Ira Glass gave an interview to the New York Times Book Review (Sunday, August 19, 2012; page 6). (All links have been added here.)
Ira Glass of This American Life
What’s the one book you wish someone else would write?
Could someone please write a book explaining why the Democratic party and its allies are so much less effective at crafting a message and having a vision than their Republican counterparts? What a bunch of incompetents the Dems seem lie. Most people don’t even understand the health care policy they passed, much less like it. Ditto the financial reform. Or the stimulus. Some of the basic tasks of politics — like choosing and crafting a message — they just seem uninterested in it.
I remember reading in The Times that as soon as Obama won, the Republicans were scheming about how they’d turn it around for the next election, and came up with the plan that won them the House, and wondered, did the House Dems even hold a similar meeting? Kurt Eichenwald! Mark Bowden! John Heilemann and Mark Halperin! I’ll pre-order today.
Deucedly good question. When I got to Washington in a permanent position, the question among conservatives was why couldn’t they tell a good story? In 30 years, the tables have turned. Who will tell the Democrat’s story cogently, as good as it really is?
More:
- Kurt Eichenwald on His Book “500 Days: Secrets and Lies in the Terror Wars” (5min.com)
- Schemers vs. Ineffective Message Crafters (commentarymagazine.com)
- The Caucus: For Democrats, Convention Challenge Is to Repeat 2008 (nytimes.com)
- Inside The Democrats’ Convention Media Plan (buzzfeed.com)
- Tom Friedman, “Still Half-Time in America” (New York Times)
Posted by Ed Darrell 
Millard Fillmore's Bathtub 