Framing the Debate

I wanted to highlight a few new additions to the growing literature on framing progressive values and policies.

Real Clear Politics is running an interesting article that analyzes the work of George Lakoff and Michael Tomasky.  Lakoff, of course, if famous for his framing book "Don't Think of an Elephant," and Tomasky, editor of the American Prospect, has pitched his own progressive frame around the idea of the Common Good.

The failure of Tomasky is that, like Lakoff, he seems to believe that
the problems facing Democrats can be fixed with only a rhetorical
shift. "If only we progressive had a Frank Luntz to wordsmith for us,"
they would seem to say. But the Democrats' problem is far deeper; it is
not that they fumble for words, but rather that they have lost their
voice.

Also check out this new book by Jeffrey Feldmen of Frameshop: Framing the Debate.