Biden's Jedi Mind Trick
In the SOTU, President Biden moves the "center" to where Democrats are.
In the State of the Union (SOTU) address, President Biden makes muscular government action sound as American as apple pie. With his trademark combination of radical empathy and economic populism, he’s flipping over the tables of Reagan’s legacy of market fundamentalism, yet all people see is moderate. (These are not the Liberals you’re looking for.)
I could write about President Biden’s talent for empathy, his use of details to compel emotion and his skillful evading of Republicans’ traps, but today, I’d like to focus on how President Biden gets the American people to see Democratic positions as mainstream American positions.
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Relocating the “Center”
The trick to “meeting people where they are” is not to convince people that you share their values, but to help them see that they share your values and that they always have.
President Biden framed our positions as bipartisan and patriotic.
In his State of the Union address, President Biden pushed hard on bipartisanship in a way that pressured Republicans to go along with our agenda. It’s easy to frame our priorities as bipartisan American priorities, because the majority of people do actually support what we want to do.
“I signed over 300 bipartisan pieces of legislation since becoming president.”
“We came together to pass the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act”
“We came together and passed the bipartisan infrastructure law”
“I signed a bipartisan bill that cut shipping costs by 90 percent”
“Pass the bipartisan legislation to strengthen antitrust enforcement”
“Let’s also pass the bipartisan Equality Act”
“So tonight, let’s all agree — and we apparently are — let’s stand up for seniors. Stand up and show them we will not cut Social Security. We will not cut Medicare.”
His message to Republicans: “You know that you are actually for all of these things. Put up or shut up.”
What Most Americans Want
Let’s step back for a moment to when President Biden first took office. Republicans immediately started demanding “bipartisanship.” They defined the “center” as half way in between Democrats and Republicans in Congress. Team Biden rejected this framing, instead reframing the term “center” to mean the center of American public opinion.
The political “center” should be defined as “what most Americans want.” When you look at it that way, Democratic policies are positioned right smack in the middle, while Republican policies are far to the right of most Americans. Team Biden even raised the question of why Republican leaders in Congress were so out of step with their own voters.
How do you seize and hold the center?
You ignore what Republicans say and act like everything we want to do is absolutely normal, patriotic, supported by the American public (which it is) and should obviously be bipartisan. This puts Republicans on the defensive: they have to choose between A: agreeing with us or B: explaining why they oppose something totally normal that most American people support.
This is exactly what President Biden does.
This address is full of language that emphasizes doing big things and taking government action, especially in ways that drive economic activity and limit corporate power. This is a radical departure from our decades of apologizing for government and validating Republican economic myths.
Big, Active Government
Much of the SOTU address is about the Infrastructure and CHIPS bills and the many ways in which government investment and action are going to create jobs, especially manufacturing jobs, improve supply chains and prepare us for the future.
“I ran for president to fundamentally change things, to make sure our economy works for everyone so we can all feel that pride in what we do. To build an economy from the bottom up and the middle out, not from the top down.”
“the largest investment in infrastructure since President Eisenhower’s Interstate Highway System. And folks, already, we’ve funded over 20,000 projects, including major airports from Boston to Atlanta to Portland. Projects that are going to put thousands of people to work rebuilding our highways, our bridges, our railroads, our tunnels, ports, airports, clean water, high-speed internet all across America.”
“We’re going to make sure the supply chain for America begins in America.”
“every time someone starts a small business, it’s an act of hope. And Madam Vice President, I want to thank you for leading that effort to ensure that small businesses have access to capital”
President Biden restores our sense of national agency: that we are actually in the drivers’ seat of our own fate.
“the direction we now take is going to decide the course of this nation for decades to come. We’re not bystanders of history. We’re not powerless before the forces that confront us. It’s within our power, of We the People.”
When you listen to all of these strong, positive, words about government action, it seems delusional to think that the best way to grow the economy is to “give tax breaks to the rich and get government out of the way.”
That’s how framing works. You don’t have a big debate about what’s wrong with Republican free-market antigovernment theories. You ignore them. You get people to see the world in such a fundamentally different way that those Republican theories seem like a distant and irrational memory.
In his call to revive the “cancer moonshot,” President Biden doesn’t apologize for wanting to do big things with government. He just acts like big government action is normal and bipartisan.
“Let this be a truly American moment that rallies the country and the world together and proves that we can still do big things.”
“Twenty years ago, under the leadership of President Bush and countless advocates and champions, he undertook a bipartisan effort through PEPFAR to transform the global fight against H.I.V./AIDS. It’s been a huge success. He thought big, he thought large. He moved. I believe we can do the same thing with cancer. Let’s end cancer as we know it. Cure some cancers once and for all.”
Using a Republican president as an example helped this call for big government action slip by completely under the radar.
According to President Biden, big government action, investing in America, re-regulating industries, anti-trust enforcement, immigration and marriage equality are totally bipartisan issues. That’s President Biden’s Jedi mind trick. He’s flipping over the tables of Reagan’s legacy of antigovernment market fundamentalism and all you see is moderate.
Radical Empathy and Economic Populism
There has been a lot of hand-wringing among Democrats about how to communicate with working class, non-college-educated and small town voters, those whose support we have been losing despite our being on their side on the issues. In his SOTU, President Biden shows us how to make everyone feel seen and heard. He understands how we feel and is fighting for us, even if that means taking a stand against concentrated corporate power.
He spoke to those who feel forgotten and left behind.
“Here’s my message to all of you out there: I have your back.”
“For decades, the middle class has been hollowed out…Too many good-paying manufacturing jobs moved overseas. Factories closed down. Once-thriving cities and towns…became shadows of what they used to be. And along the way, something else we lost. Pride. Our sense of self-worth.”
“We’re going to create hundreds of thousands of new jobs across the country…not just the coast, but through the middle of the country as well.”
“high-speed internet all across America. Urban, rural, tribal.”
“Folks, my economic plan is about investing in places and people that have been forgotten…So many of you felt like you’ve just simply been forgotten…too many people have been left behind and treated like they’re invisible. Maybe that’s you, watching from home.”
“Remember the jobs that went away. You remember them, don’t you? The folks at home remember them. You wonder whether the path even exists anymore for your children to get ahead without having to move away.”
“That’s why we’re building an economy where no one’s left behind.”
He spoke to those without a college education.
“Jobs paying an average of $130,000 a year, and many do not require a college degree.
“Let’s finish the job and connect students to career opportunities starting in high school. Provide access to two years of community college, the best career training in America, in addition to being a pathway to a four-year degree. Let’s offer every American a path to a good career whether they go to college or not.”
He repeatedly emphasized fairness.
“And we pay for these investments in our future by finally making the wealthiest and biggest corporations begin to pay their fair share.
“I’m a capitalist. I’m a capitalist. But pay your fair share.”
“The tax system is not fair. It is not fair.”
“55 of the largest corporations in America made $40 billion in profits and paid zero in federal taxes? Zero? Folks, it’s simply not fair.”
“making sure that the wealthy and big corporations pay their fair share.”
“Reward work, not just wealth.”
He highlighted unions and workers.
“a proud member of the Ironworkers Local 44”
“tens of thousands of IBEW workers.”
“Let’s guarantee all workers have a living wage.”
“companies have to compete for workers and pay them what they’re worth.”
“I’m so sick and tired of companies breaking the law by preventing workers from organizing.”
“Pass the PRO Act because… workers have a right to form a union.”
He stood up to corporations.
“(Big Oil) made $200 billion in the midst of a global energy crisis. I think it’s outrageous. Why? They invested too little of that profit to increase domestic production... instead, they used the record profits to buy back their own stock, rewarding their C.E.O.s and shareholders.”
“Corporations ought to do the right thing.”
“capitalism without competition is not capitalism. It’s extortion. It’s exploitation.”
“I know how unfair it feels when a company overcharges you and gets away with it.”
“we’re taking on powerful interests to bring health care costs down”
“Last year I cracked down…on foreign shipping companies”
“bipartisan legislation to strengthen antitrust enforcement.”
He showed some fight.
“Airlines can’t treat your child like a piece of baggage.”
“Americans are tired of being…played for suckers.”
“Pass the Junk Fee Prevention Act so companies stop ripping us off.”
“For too long, workers have been getting stiffed, but not anymore.”
President for All Americans
Politics and power are about numbers. The goal is to have the most people on your side. When you do it right, you measure your success by how many people you win over, not by compromising your positions, but by making more people feel like we see the world the same way.
President Biden was completely positive. He didn’t say a word that would make a Republican voter feel defensive, insulted or condescended to. He never mentioned MAGA. And in every case, especially on the rare occasion that he actually criticized what Republicans were doing, he referred to them as “my Republican friends.”
At the same time, he did not validate any Republican framing: at no point did he describe anything from the Republican point of view, not even to refute it. He never spoke defensively about any Democratic position. He didn’t try to justify using government to solve problems or taking an active role in shaping the economy. He just talked about our positions as though they were the most natural and obviously right positions to have.
Here are some of the words and themes President Biden used in his speech:
Fairness. Freedom. Equality. Democracy.
Resilience. Capacity. Moving Forward. Hope. Optimism. Possibility.
Bipartisanship. Consensus. Unity. Work Together. Connecting.
Cooperation. Responsibility. Obligation.
Strength. Safety. Security. Stability.
Building. Rebuilding. Investing. Helping. Protecting.
President Biden’s language made listeners feel heard, cared for, hopeful and safe. He spoke in terms of bipartisanship without compromising. He evoked patriotism without a hint of jingoism. He just talked about doing things together as Americans.
The lesson we take away from this speech is that we set the agenda of the public debate and get people to see things our way, not by compromising with or arguing against Republican positions, but by ignoring them. Instead, we paint a compelling picture of the world and our country as we all see it.
Right now, that includes recognizing and articulating two things that voters already know: that many people are struggling in an increasingly unfair economic system, and that muscular government action is needed to drive the economy forward and stand up to concentrated economic power.
Thanks, as always, for reading and subscribing. I hope you are able to use this in your work and your activism!
Understanding how framing works is critical to Democrats turning around our disadvantage on messaging. Please help me spread the word by sharing this and other issues of Reframing America with friends, colleagues and all those who understand just how much is at stake in electing Democrats to office.
Thank you for your help!
In solidarity,
Antonia
Thank you for reading Reframing America! This is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts by email please consider becoming a subscriber. All content is free, but some people choose to become paying subscribers to support this important mission!
Great piece, thank you! I'm constantly amazed at how many "liberals" complain that Biden is "too moderate." I'm like, um, have you actually LOOKED at his policies? The things he's doing? He's the most radically progressive president we've maybe ever had. People are so easily snowed by surface presentation. In some ways that's super helpful to Dems, but their own base miss the point a lot of the time, sadly (at least the members of that base who don't look at policy but just want someone who gives good speeches they like).
Wonderful as always. I have cross-posted. I hope you're getting some new subscribers from cross-posting. I wished that diagram you had at the beginning, which had left on the left and right on the right, had been a vertical bar with cruelty - empathy deficit at the bottom and empathy surplus at the top. And then what got moved to would be moved to above the center. I cringed at BIG, ACTIVE GOVERNMENT. Would have liked Active Effective Government or Muscular Caring Government better. Keep up the great work.
I hope progressive candidates will consider focusing on GOVERNING VERSUS WINNING. Invite pro-empathy voters to consider joining the candidate's SHOE SQUAD to wear candidate badges and attend voter public meetings, i.e., city council, school board, etc. SHOE - Show up. Help govern your community. Organize. Empathize.