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Stimulus plan hocus pocus
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I find myself incredibly torn with this news from President-Elect Obama. On one hand, as a leader in the field of market research, I find it very refreshing that a world leader is actually asking the people for their opinion.
On the other hand, when the research is used to change words and meaning of the situation, this is not making people feel optimistic, but bamboozled.
David Axelrod, Obama’s chief political adviser, along with campaign media adviser Jim Margolis, are encouraging lawmakers to use the word “recovery” instead of recession, and “investment” instead of “infrastructure.” Those recommendations came from focus-group research indicating that such framing would make the package more appealing to voters.
Shouldn't the goal be to give people hope? It seems to me that misleading people with creative language does nothing to help citizens in the long-run.
The Democratic senators, including Dick Durbin of Illinois and Tom Carper of Delaware, were given data showing that about half the poll’s respondents favored making huge investments that would expand government during a recession even if such measures result in a $1 trillion deficit.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, said she was satisfied with the conclusions of Axelrod’s polls, which she called “very, very positive.”
‘Like the Brand’
“People don’t know the details but they like the brand,” she said.
I mean how can this possibly be a good thing to do? Taking a line from the recent election, ultimately what they are doing here is putting lipstick on a pig!
Focus groups have many valid roles in politics, especially as it relates to calculating the public's confidence. Using them for trickery is bad practice and just plain wrong.
Perhaps the incoming Obama administration should listen to the polls that my firm has conducted of small businesses. These enterprises don't want "bail-outs", "rescue plans" or "hand-outs." What they do want is access to working capital, fair payment terms, and some respect of their importance to the American economy.
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