The "Enronomics" offensive

Spinsanity ^ | 1/15/02 | Brendan Nyhan

[Croooow]

1/15 Brendan: The "Enronomics" offensive

Just as Republicans and conservative pundits have drummed the phrase "Daschle Democrats" into our heads in recent weeks, Democrats are pushing a new catchphrase that attempts to non-rationally link the Bush administration with Enron in the minds of the public.

As first predicted by George Stephanopoulos on ABC's "This Week", Democrats are planning to employ the phrase "Enronomics" to delegitimize President Bush's economic policies by comparing them to the bankrupt energy trading company:

Jennifer Palmieri, the Democratic National Committee press secretary, said a nationwide party offensive beginning Jan. 21, which was to focus on the consequences of the return of deficits, now will also seek to popularize the term "Enronomics" as a critique of Bush's tax and budget policies.

"He cooks the books, uses rosy economic scenarios and doesn't worry enough about the human side of the ledger," Palmieri said. "It was so hard to explain before. Now you can explain it."

Of course, ease of explanation is no justification for tricky PR tactics. Note the inherent problems with directly analogizing from the possibly illegal actions of corporate executives (under securities law) to the political realm, where deception - however egregious - is protected by the First Amendment (with the exception of libel and slander). While the Bush administration has been repeatedly deceptive on tax and budget issues, it is not fair to analogize between such political tactics and the possibly illegal maneuvering of Enron management. Further, vague comparisons between the plight of laid-off Enron workers who lost much of their retirement savings and Bush's concern for "the human side of the ledger" fall far short of rational argument.

The term "Enronomics" appears to been coined in a December 14 article on the Democratic Underground website. It then appeared in a New Year's Eve Online Journal article and a January 3 Seattle Weekly story before Stephanopoulos made his prediction on January 6. The term subsequently popped up in an op-ed in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on January 11 and an article in the British newspaper The Observer on January 13. Since Palmieri's quote, it has appeared in a Christian Science Monitor editorial and on the Democratic site Buzzflash.com.

Over time, the meaning of the term has varied somewhat in usage, but the essential purpose is the same as "Clintonization" - to embed meaning into a term so that it can be invoked to trigger negative perceptions of a public figure. This blatant attempt to shape the non-rational mental associations of the public represents our politics at its most debased.

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Related links:
-Scandalous Rhetoric Before the Scandal: The Growing Enron Debate (Ben Fritz, 1/14/02)
-Spin works its way into liberal harping on Enron (Ben Fritz, 12/13/01)
-The Evolving Jargon of Clintonization (Brendan Nyhan, 9/4/01)

[Croooow]

However I think there is a difference... Daschle and Clinton are the two biggest leaders of the Democrats, Enron isn't the leader of the Bush administration nor is there any proof they have any connection to economic policy.

[thucydides]

Ever notice how the democrats political strategy is always to try to spread some fantastic negative association about republicans? Church burnings, draggings, business failures, etc.

They know that their real agenda is a complete non-starter with the public, so they try to gin up fear and paranoia about their opponents. I believe this is the "politics of personal destruction" that they so bemoan. In the long run, it is a loser against a positive agenda.

[Armando Guerra]

I actually think it is the Republicans who can best capitalize on the Enron by tying it together with the dot-com crash. They need to drive into people's minds the notion that the "Clinton economic miracle" was built on a speculative bubble and not real substance. It has crashed and burned like the Holland Tulip craze. If people tie Enron and the dot-bombs to Clinton, what do Clinton and the Democrats have left? Polls show people believe that Clinton was a slimeball, but at least the economy did well. If they end up thinking Clinton was a slimeball and the economy was smoke and mirrors, then they have nothing to go on. Right now Daschle is pushing tax increases because so many people have been convinced that higher taxes stimulated the economy in the '90's. If they can be convinced that productivity and not "irrational exuberance" leads to long term economic growth, and that high taxes and heavy regulations slowed down productivity, then the Daschlecrats are in trouble. Unfortunately, the Republicans aren’t as good at getting on message as the Democrats, and don’t have a lap dog press in their corner pushing the issue.