Democratic Plan, part 2

Yesterday Nancy Pelosi unveiled the second policy statement of the year for the Democratic Party. (For the first, look here for my entry.) "A New Direction" focuses on domestic policy issues (foreign policy will be tackled in an upcoming statement), covering such topics as universal health care and a raise in the minimum wage. The most interesting item in "A New Direction", however, is an innovative call to eliminate the longstanding federal subsidies for the oil business, which represents the first time (to my knowledge, at any rate) that either of the major parties has even mentioned that little known budget-buster on a party platform. (For a pretty good online discussion of the extent and costs of those subsidies, see this.) The best part of "A New Direction", though, is the flip side of the document, a broadside blast at the Republican Party entitled "The Wrong Direction".
Each item listed is headed by using the word "rising", making it obvious to anyone what the Republicans have done to the costs of their programs for the average citizen. Rising college costs, healthcare costs, insecurity (both "Social" and "economic"); all of the Republican policies have been framed using the same linguistic trope--a marketing first for the Dems! Not only that, but "The Wrong Direction" also utilizes the Democrats' favorite weapon--facts and numbers. While apparently, most people are all too willing to assume (incorrectly) that the Republicans and the rightwing-controlled media are telling the truth to them with regard to how beneficial their systematic stripping of rights and money from them is, the Democrats are trying to educate the populace to the realities of our domestic ruin under Republican rule.
Most Dems have always been willing to try and use facts to bolster their appeal, unlike the Republicans who consistently use fear and fiction to stir up irrational voting behavior, but only rarely have they also been able to combine those facts and sensible analysis with clever marketing, or even comprehensible delivery. The first Clinton campaign, most notably, did so by declaiming loudly and often, "It's the economy, stupid!", but that was virtually stolen from Ross Perot, and besides, Bush the Elder was a pretty easy target to hit, given his complete lack of touch with anything close to the average citizen. Smirky, on the other hand, has cloaked his elitist policies and attitudes in his wholly disingenuous persona of "a regular guy". Why anyone has ever bought into that, I'll never know, since a relatively casual look at his background would quickly dispel that illusion.
But I digress; Smirky's not running for office anymore, and Democrats have to realize that no matter how low his approval ratings get, he's going to be around for awhile yet, and the rest of his Party shows few (if any) signs of either letting up or abandoning his rotting political corpse. This platform shows real promise as a means of giving people the true picture of what's going on in this country by focusing on issues that really matter to everybody--almost everyone drives and has seen gas prices rise precipitously, everyone knows health care is ridiculously expensive if you can even get it, anyone with children understands the costs of educating them. Everyone in this country is personally affected by at least one of the items in "A New Direction", so this platform should have universal appeal. Now let's see how successful we can be in staving off the inevitable lying and mudslinging about it from the ruling junta.