Why Joe Biden and the Democrats Should Talk About Teeth

By David Corn  October 25, 2022

President Joe Biden speaks about deficit reduction at the White House on October 21, 2022. J. Scott Applewhite/AP

As the midterm elections approach—and the pundits continue to say the Republicans have a good shot of claiming the House—I cannot stop thinking about Democratic messaging. This past weekend, I was at the Chicago Humanities Festival for an event during which I interviewed Anand Giridharadas about his thought-provoking new book, The Persuaders: At the Front Lines of the Fight for Hearts. Minds, and Democracy. In a way, his volume and my American Psychosis: A Historical Investigation of How the Republican Party Went Crazy are bookends. I chronicle how the GOP for seven decades has encouraged and exploited far-right extremism, and he reports on the efforts of various on-the-ground progressives to develop methods and strategies for conversing with voters and citizens and persuading them to support assorted policies. There’s much consideration in Giridharadas’ book about messaging, and one of its most enlightening chapters highlights the work of Anat Shenker-Osorio, a savvy strategic communications consultant. She has spent years trying to aid progressives and Democrats craft effective messaging. That’s one tough job.

As Giridharadas points out, Shenker-Osorio has derived several key principles for this task. Don’t focus on negatives, such as abolish ICE, end homelessness, or stop climate change. Instead, forge messages that highlight positives: Let’s create a fair, effective, and humane immigration system, or we need a productive and fair economy that protects our climate. I’m citing simple examples here. But the aim is to set attractive and concrete goals that inspire people. Do not, she advises, dwell on downers, process matters, or abstractions. One of her mantras is, show people the brownie, not the recipe. “Paint the beautiful tomorrow,” she says. Don’t get bogged down talking about budget reconciliation or wonky-sounding legislation. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill? Voters don’t care if it’s bipartisan. Maybe call it the More Bridges and Safe Drinking Water Act. The Inflation Reduction Act? That, too, may be abstract for the many voters who don’t track the ins and outs of policy fights. Tell them the bill will provide more affordable prescription drugs. Progressives and Democrats, Shenker-Osorio contends, need to throw “blue meat” to their supporters.

There are a lot more components to her approach. Don’t fight on your opponent’s terrain. For example, if Republicans are zapping out ads blasting Democrats on crime—as they are right now—it’s likely not effective for Democrats to spend much time and money asserting that the GOP is exaggerating or mischaracterizing the crime stats and that they are indeed tough on crime. That will only reinforce the foundational impression that Republicans are pushing: Crime is a problem for Democrats.

She also advises that progressives should not dilute their messages to appeal to voters and citizens in the middle, contending that those folks are not ideological moderates but most likely holders of conflicting and perhaps confusing views. Being a moderate, she says, is “a situation, not an identity.” That means these people, on many issues, can be reached by either side—with the right messaging and organizing They can, as she puts it, “toggle between competing views.” They might be pissed off about undocumented immigrants, but they might also know one or more undocumented immigrants who are hard workers. Consequently, they could be persuaded by Trumpian fearmongering or be amenable to arguments in favor of DACA. In her view, the left doesn’t have to water-down its messages to reach these people. It can find ways to excite the base with bold messaging that also appeals to these middle-of-the-roaders. And there’s this: repeat, repeat, repeat. If the Dems score big with a piece of legislation, they need to hail how it will directly help people—and state this over and over and over…and over. Nike never stops saying, “Just Do It.” And Donald Trump never stops bragging about his nonexistent accomplishments.

There’s plenty more to her gameplan. Read Giridharadas’ book to get the full picture. After I finished the book, I became even more highly attuned to the Democratic messages I’m spotting in the final stretch before the midterm elections. Of course, Giridharadas is, as well. As we spent time together before the festival—which included a wonderful outing to Rosa’s Lounge, a notable blues club, to see legendary bluesman John Primer—we developed a bit of a parlor game: Does this message work…or suck? I presented to him various Democratic pitches I received or saw on Twitter, and we evaluated them. Most fell into the latter category.

Here's one message we looked at:

This message, sent out by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, shows Barack Obama, who has not done a lot of campaigning for the Ds in this campaign season, shaming the recipient. There is nothing inspiring about it. This scolding message doesn’t motivate by presenting a positive goal. It engenders no communal sentiment. Obama doesn’t say, “Join me in working for a better and fairer America by helping Democratic candidates.” No reward is detailed. And perhaps some people who receive it believe they already have done—or donated—enough. Thumbs down.

Then we saw this one, which, coincidentally, also featured Obama:

In this short video, Obama tells people that Charlie Crist, the Democrat running against GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis in Florida, is a decent and fearless fellow, not a bully, who will fight for voting rights and reproductive rights. “We have a lot of work to do,” Obama says, “and it starts with making Charlie Crist your next governor.” This is a conventional approach—a well-known, popular politician endorses a less-known politician—and it would have seemed fine to me prior to thinking about Shenker-Osorio’s work. But now I see it missing the mark by making Crist the central issue not the voter and his or her needs and desires.

I don’t mean to pick on the 44th president. These are just examples that popped up. What I don’t understand is why Democrats don’t devote more resources to highly specific issues, such as teeth. Yes, teeth. During the fight for the poorly named Build Back Better bill, the Democrats tried to expand Medicare to cover dental benefits. Of course, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) said no. But so, too, did every Republican senator. Teeth are damn important. In Manchin’s state, one-quarter of all residents over the age of 65 have no natural teeth. Why then don’t Democrats say, “vote for us and we will give you teeth”? Or insulin. Or hearing aids. Or eyeglasses. Or paid family leave. Or universal pre-K. Such a pitch could include the accurate point that Republicans are the reason that American families who need this assistance don’t receive it.

Of course, Democrats do mention these things from time to time. But they could be much more forceful on this front—and far more repetitive. It’s simple, elect Democrats, and you, your parents, or your grandparents can have teeth. It’s Republicans who are saying no to teeth. Such messaging would best come from the top—that is, the presidential bully pulpit. For their part, progressives could do better and focus on such specific benefits rather than issue calls for Medicare for All, which might be too abstract a notion for some voters, especially those in the muddled middle. (More government? Is that what we want?)

Many Democratic and progressive pitches these days are justifiably driven by the desire to protect democracy in the face of the real and frightening threat posed to the republic by Trump and his cultish GOP. Yet, as of now, according to the polls, this line of attack does not seem to be galvanizing the electorate. A New York Times poll recently found that 71 percent of the country believes democracy is at risk, but only 7 percent consider it the top problem facing the nation. (That 71 percent probably includes Republicans who accept Trump’s false claim the 2020 election was stolen from him.) For months, I have believed Biden and the Democrats needed to call out this threat passionately and constantly. In the absence of such a sustained effort, messaging on this front may not be effective at this point. Sad to say, defending democracy might be too abstract or distant a political issue for many voters.

Reading the chapter on Shenker-Osorio in Giridharadas’ book will not make you an expert on how to shape public opinion. But for me, it did expand how I view and judge political messaging. Certainly, her principles will not work in all circumstances. Local races will have their own logic. But the essence of her pitch is a candidate or movement must develop a connection with a voter or citizen that places that person and his or her deepest concerns at the center of the messaging. That will create the best chance of motivating that citizen to act. I’m not sure in the final weeks of the midterm campaigns there’s much the Democrats can do to improve their odds. But perhaps a speech or two—or three—about teeth could help.

Got a comment on this item? Anything else to say? A tip or a lead? Email me at ourland@motherjones.com.

Michael Flynn’s Greatest Hits

Michael Flynn has often appeared in this newsletter for his batcrap crazy pronouncements about Covid and the 2020 elections and his embrace of various loony conspiracy theories. It is quite alarming that a man with such a broken brain was once head of the Defense Intelligence Agency and national security adviser to the president (even if only for 22 days). Makes you wonder. Of late, he has become a leader of far-right Christian nationalism, preaching paranoia and extremism and waging what the AP and Frontline call a “holy war.” Ron Filipkowski, a former Marine and ex-Republican who spends a lot of his day capturing right-wing nuttiness on video and sharing it on Twitter, has put together a highlight—or lowlight—reel for Flynn. It’s a troubling reminder of how cracked Flynn and the Trump right are.

The Watch, Read, and Listen List

Peaky Blinders. Every family has its dysfunctions; crime families perhaps have more. Which is why they can be so entertaining. The Corleones. The Sopranos. And, more recently, the Shelby clan of Peaky Blinders, the BBC-produced series streamed by Netflix that recently concluded after six seasons. The award-wining show follows the exploits of a post-World War I Birmingham street gang from which it takes its name. The series’ epic sweep covers the trauma of the post-war years, the Roaring ’20s, the Great Depression, and the rise of British fascism that echoed German Nazism. The chaotic societal change of the era is as much a subject as the show’s heroic and villainous protagonist, Thomas Shelby, the head of the Peaky Blinders, which at the start of this story is running an illegal betting operation and other low-level operations in a down-and-out neighborhood of gritty and sooty Birmingham.

A veteran of tunnel warfare in France, Thomas struggles, as does his brother Arthur, with what we now call PTSD. Charismatic and calculating, he leads the gang with a ruthless efficiency, as he plots big plans for the family. Cillian Murphy dazzles in the role. And the acting throughout the series is exceptional, with Paul Anderson as the tortured and hyper-violent Arthur and the late Helen McCrory as Aunt Polly, the matriarch of this mob. Thomas Hardy, playing Alfie Solomons, the chieftain of a Jewish gang in London, is phenomenal (and deserves his own spin-off). The set design, the costumes, the cinematography—it’s all exquisite. The intrigues are intricate, as the Peaky Blinders, striving to become a legitimate business under Thomas’ tutelage, contend with rival gangs, the IRA, communist radicals, Protestant extremists, British intelligence, the American mafia, Irish bootleggers in Boston, and others. England, racked by political, societal, cultural, and industrial change, is a swirling vortex of revolutionary and reactionary forces. Alliances are formed; partnerships are torn apart, violently, of course.

Thomas’ journey is the spine of the series. He aims to use his hoodlum ways to turn his family legit. But…it’s complicated. He’s a murderous crime boss who seems to have left his soul in a collapsed tunnel beneath a scorched French battlefield. He will cold-bloodily execute a snitch or a foe, but he is more than a thug. A better nature, perhaps even a touch of nobility, may be buried beneath the rubble, and—spoiler alert—that explains why Grace Burgess (Annabelle Wallis), an undercover agent from Ireland working for the British authorities searching for a cache of stolen weapons that wound up with Shelby’s outfit, falls for him. (A government official named Winston Churchill is keen to find the machine guns and ammo before they end up with the IRA or the Reds, and a cold-blooded Belfast inspector played by Sam Neill has been put on the case.) The weapons caper brings Shelby into contact with the British Deep State and helps him expand his criminal enterprise into legal gambling. But as the series continues, we see that for all his efforts to move the family into proper businesses,Thomas can never let go of the dark-and-dirty operations.

As Thomas, ever-playing three-dimensional chess, rises in rank, becoming the proprietor of manufacturing firms and export companies, he is more intertwined with the power structure of England. He joins the landed gentry. He is elected a Labour MP and thrives as one of the party’s most articulate and fiery advocates of the working men and women of England. He is courted by Oswald Mosley to sign up with Mosley’s British Union of Fascists. Thomas accepts the invitation—yet only to gain the opportunity to spy on the fascists. Yes, he might indeed still possess a soul. But Thomas never gives up on crime and diversifies into the opium trade.

The show is thrilling. Thomas’ non-stop scheming is constantly daring and full of twists, as he escapes and trades one dangerous situation after another. Creator Stephen Knight deftly employs Thomas’ tale to illuminate a perilous and tumultuous time for England and Western civilization and delivers one of the all-time best television crime series. He nails the most important task: casting the crime boss as a compelling character who prompts if not sympathy than plenty of fascination. You want to know what makes Thomas Shelby tick. For most of the series, the answer is never clear. But that question poses a tight grip.

I do have three complaints. First, the show accompanies dramatic moments with modern indie rock music—PJ Harvey, Arctic Monkeys, The White Stripes, and others—and this can be distracting. Such a move is supposed to convey an edginess to the production, but these interjections from the present break the mood. When the Peaky Blinders are in a shoot-out with another mob, I don’t need to think about Joy Division. Number Two: At the start of the show, Grace is one of the best-drawn characters—a woman leading a double life and full of conflicts. She is later brought back in the exceedingly dull role of Thomas’ wife before being dispatched in all-too predictable fashion. Third, the series does push the plausibility envelope. Imagine Tony Soprano becoming a member of the US House of Representatives and demanding passage of low-income housing legislation while overseeing a multimillion-dollar drug deal. The show gives Thomas an all-too-convenient Zelig-like quality. But Thomas’ blood-drenched and ill-gotten trek into the upper echelon of British society does afford this brilliant series one of its best features: a historical reach unmatched by the usual shoot-‘em-up fare.

Read Recent Issues of Our Land

October 22, 2022: Attack ads—why they work (then and now); Tulsi Gabbard’s short, strange trip; Dumbass Comment of the Week (Marjorie Taylor Greene); the Mailbag; MoxieCam™; and more.

October 18, 2022: John Durham confirms Donald Turmp is a liar; the big takeaway from the Cuban missile crisis; a new Bruce Springsteen tune; Bill Berry return to rock ‘n’ roll; and more.

October 15, 2022: The Mailbag: should you worry about the midterms; the final January 6 committee hearing; Dumbass Comment of the Week (Charlie Kirk); MoxieCam™; and more.

October 12, 2022: Time to push the panic button on the midterms?; Servants of the Damned and the law firm that’s Trump’s modern-day Roy Cohn; and more.

October 8, 2022: Can the centrists hold in the era of Donald Trump?; American Psychosis in the news; Dumbass Comment of the Week (Special Herschel Walker edition); the Mailbag; MoxieCam™; and more.

October 4, 2022: American Psychosis, Facebook, and a dog; a denizen of the economic establishment admits the elite’s big mistakes; Topdog/Underdog’s brilliance hits Broadway; and more.

October 1, 2022: How Giorgia Meloni’s win in Italy helps us understand a US Senate race; American Psychosis in the news; Dumbass Comment of the Week (Ben Stein); the Mailbag; MoxieCam™; and more.

September 27, 2022: Stormy Daniels, AOC, and the long arc of Donald Trump’s possible downfall; American Psychosis in the news; Skullduggery and the Havana Syndrome; the New York Times agrees about Mark Finchem; and more.

September 24, 2022: The craziest GOP candidate in the nation; American Psychosis becomes a bestseller; Dumbass Comment of the Week (FPOTUS); the Mailbag; MoxieCam™; and more.

Got suggestions, comments, complaints, tips related to any of the above, or anything else? Email me at ourland@motherjones.com.