The Problem With "Perceptions"

From New Donkey:

I think there's a growing consensus among Democrats today that (a) mobilization of partisans and ideologues is not enough; we need a persuasion strategy as well; (b) we're the out-party now, and no longer have any excuse for behaving as the Party of Government; (c) you just cannot win a presidential election without a clear, overarching message, defined as a theme or two that explain what you propose to do to organize public resources to address the needs and interests of the American people at home and abroad; and (d) that message must, for the foreseeable future, address the perceived weakness and incoherence of Democrats on national security issues; the perceived elitism and relativism of Democrats in terms of their understanding of the direction of American society and culture; and the perceived obsession of Democrats with a program-heavy, values-lite approach to economic and other domestic issues.

See, maybe I'm a pessimist (okay, yes, I'm definitely a pessimist, I took a test and everything, and it showed that only 14% of the population is more pessimistic than I am. It's a wonder I even bother to get up in the morning. Oh wait, it's not a wonder, it's the miracle of modern science.) -- anyway, getting back to the point, I keep reading about how there's this perception or that perception of Democrats, and we need to change the perception. So Dems are perceived to be weak, incoherent, elitist, relativistic, obsessive, and values-lite. Yeah, clearly that perception needs to change.

But it's my understanding that we simply do not have the propaganda machine in place to change it. Such a propaganda machine takes years to build; they have it, we don't. Have Dems sometimes left themselves open to one charge or another? Of course, in the same way that someone walking on the sidewalk has left themselves open to being run down by a Hummer that deliberately jumps the curb to hit them, Grand Theft Auto-style. Is there much that Dems can do about this? We don't have a Hummer. We can't get one quickly. Sure, we should start saving up for one, but whatever we do in the meantime shouldn't rely too much on changing how Dems are 'perceived'. Because honestly, I don't think we have a lot of control over that.