Being Right Is Not Enough: What Progressives Can Learn from Conservative Success

by Paul Waldman

Book Overview

""Waldman's book is terrific-good sense mustered with evidence, well argued, and sharply written to boot. I agree fervently with almost everything he writes. This is the indispensable book for the 2006 elections.""
--Todd Gitlin, author of The Sixties and The Twilight of Common Dreams
""A well-sourced, partisan blueprint for undoing Republican control of the nation.""
--Publishers Weekly
""Here's the ticket for Democrats to get back...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0471789607
• ISBN13: 9780471789604
• Release Date: April 2006
• Publisher: Trade Paper Press
• Length: 266 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.5" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

This book is genius--great fun to read and filled with aha! moments

Ever wonder how Republicans manage to capture middle and working class votes while serving the interests of the wealthy? How they've managed to win the presidency and both houses of Congress despite disastrous economic, environmental and international policies? What it is about their communication style that makes it so convincing and effective? Wonder no more. Paul Waldman has studied the masters and returned with a brilliant and entertaining analysis of their technique, along with a strategic plan for beating them at their own game. This book is genius--great fun to read and filled with aha! moments. If you'd like a manual in the martial arts of political communication so that you can help progressives become winners, then this is a must-read.

Thoughtful, with Good Ideas!

In 2004 a President who lied to justify an unpopular war and had the worst jobs record since the Depression still managed to win. The Republicans control all three branches of government and a majority of governorships and state legislatures. The national debate has shifted from real problems to distractions like gay marriage, partial-birth abortion, and flag-burning. Waldman believes this all adds up to a need for progressives to change. Waldman believes progressives should create a single movement (not remain a collection of interest groups) devoted to fighting conservatism and advancing a progressive view. Ask an ordinary person what conservatives stand for and he'll likely respond with four powerful, easily understood ideas - low taxes, small government, strong defense, and traditional values. Ask him what liberals stand for and chances are he'll give you the obverse. Conservatives focus on emotions and the character of the speaker; liberals on logic and facts. (A good point - look at most advertising in the U.S.!) A majority of Americans favor legal abortion, gun control universal healthcare, strong environmental protections, generous Social Security and Medicare benefits. Yet, they are stymied. Part of conservatives' secret is their institutions (eg. American Enterprise Institute, Heritage Foundation, Hoover Institute) are multi-issue and make political use of their products easy (eg. recording studios are available for interviews). Liberals, on the other hand, have single-issue organizations, poorly marketed publications, and poorly paid core staff. Waldman points out that the South (heavy evangelical concentration) is a major problem for progressives; the problem is acerbated by Republicans use of racism (Reagan - welfare queens, Bush I - Willie Horton, Bush II - going to Bob Jones University with its ban on inter-racial dating, and avoiding a position on the Confederate Flag). Suggests progressives point out Dobson et al don't follow their own teaching regarding the poor, the GOP is guardian of widely unpopular status quo on healthcare (would help business as well), refocusing the abortion debate to "How can we reduce it?" and pointing out it went down under Clinton and up under Bush, support doing away with the Electoral College in the interest of fairness, and attack the notion of "liberal elite" via the GOP's tax cuts for the rich and its healthcare positions. Also suggests not letting Republican attacks go unanswered - eg. Kerry vs. Swift boat ads. Defining Progressives: "We're all in this together," vs. Conservatives' "We're all on our own and out for ourselves." Good material.

Useful High-End Book on Strategy for the Center-Left

I bought this book together with "The Good Fight" by Peter Beinart. While both books have their utility, neither is as good as Joe Klein in "Politics Lost." Waldman gets five stars to Beinart's four mostly because he is much more readable, has many useful tables including an analysis of the states where extremist Republicans as well as extremist Democrats are weak, and his book is generally focused on the left of center middle and the caring citizen as opposed to policy wonks that Beinart addresses in his book. Page 111 is a very fine diagram of the issue columns that the Democratic Party simply does not address responsibly nor--a theme throughout the book--courageously. Over-all the book does a very fine job of defining the distinctions between conservatives and progressives, as well as the distinctions between what conservatives stand for and what they say, and what progressives stand for and do not say. The author spends most of his time comparing conservatives to progressives (code for left of center liberals) which is something of a pity because he appears to have a very well developed sense of the issues and what the center and left-center can and should stand for. There are two bottom lines in this book, and both of them make eminent sense to me: 1) Don't bring a knife to a gun-fight. The author points out in detail how inept and weak and unfocused the Democrats are at every stage of the political game beginning with high school and collage political clubs. 2) Stand for the public, for the individual taxpayer, for the blue-collar worker, the working poor, the lower middle class. The author stresses that this is a fight between those who respresent special interests and believe the government role is to liberate the marketplace (code for allow the looting of the Commonwealth) and those who should be representing the masses of individual workers and taxpayers. The author takes a long view and believes that it will take a great deal of time to recover from the total abdication to the extremist Republicans. While this nice in principle, the book does not focus as well on what it will take to win over-whelmingly; for that we recommend Joe Klein's "Politics Lost." On the issues, Matthew Miller's "The Two-Percent Solution." On a personal note, I would add that the author's focus on "Being Right is Not Enough" is perfectly consistent with my own view that "Vote Democratic Is Not Enough." Rove and Cheney have demonstrated, twice, that they can steal Presidential elections that are close--through Florida in 2000, through Ohio is 2004. Even if every liberal-progressive adopted the ideas in this book, they would not be enough. We need a multi-party focus on electoral reform and crushing the extremist Republican thieves (I am a moderate Republican), crushing the special interests, and restoring the Republic to the public---a Republic of, by, and for the People, not Corporations.

A Progressive Manifesto

If 10 stars were available, that's what I would rate this book. The history of how we got into our current mess and what Progressives can do NOW to turn it around is communicated clearly, rationally, and passionately while remaining a highly interesting read. Having read dozens and dozens of related books over the past 3 or 4 years, this one may well be the most effective call to action of all. I was so motivated and inspired by it that I bought 12 more copies to send to friends and relatives. Don't even consider skipping this one...it's a Must Read treasure!

Finally some help

A great read that explains so well why the left is far behind, even though so many people agree with the basic tenets of liberalism. A must read before the next election!