If You're Not Winning, You're Losing

And the Dems are losing badly on the Wall Street front.  It should be a no brainer that the Dems want tougher financial reform on the banks.  But GOP operative Frank Luntz has shown his cards and is daring Obama to beat his hand.

In a 17-page memo titled, "The Language of Financial Reform," Luntz urged opponents of reform to frame the final product as filled with bank bailouts, lobbyist loopholes, and additional layers of complicated government bureaucracy.


"If there is one thing we can all agree on, it's that the bad decisions and harmful policies by Washington bureaucrats that in many ways led to the economic crash must never be repeated," Luntz wrote. "This is your critical advantage. Washington's incompetence is the common ground on which you can build support."

Luntz continued: "Ordinarily, calling for a new government program 'to protect consumers' would be extraordinary popular. But these are not ordinary times. The American people are not just saying 'no.' They are saying 'hell no' to more government agencies, more bureaucrats, and more legislation crafted by special interests."

There's a simple lie here at the heart of Luntz's plan:  the bailout and stimulus didn't save the economy, it caused the recession. Anything the government does is bad.  The only answer is deregulation and cutting taxes, which is what actually did cause the recession. Eight years of Bush has made it impossible for the country to trust government itself.

And the Dems are losing this battle.  They are losing it by reaching out to the Republicans who are killing them and treating them like rational actors.  The Republicans in turn block any effort to remedy the problem and then blame the Dems.  They will continue to blame Obama for time immemorial.

Unless Obama beats them at their own game.