Wednesday, October 1, 2008
[Photo: Wall Street by deNNis gErbECkx : : on Flickr used with permission under Creative Commons Copyright.]
My favorite way to gain perspective on the upcoming election is to read answers to the common prompt: “If you had one question to ask the Presidential Candidates what would it be?”
Well, I've got a good one for the candidates this week:
Who came up with the idea to call this plan a “bailout?”
Honestly, bailout!? You couldn’t pick a more negative word to scare off impressionable voters in an election year. It practically screams “rescue Wall Street with my hard earned tax dollars”.
My immediate, and I admit, incorrect assumption for the blunder was the Bush Administration. But with infamous slogans such as “weapons of mass destruction” and “the war on terror”, surely President Bush knows how to use political spin to his advantage and couldn't have been the culprit in the "bailout" coining.
President Bush has actually avoided using the “b” word. On last Wednesday’s prime-time address, he called on Congress to support his administration’s “rescue effort.” On Saturday, in his weekly radio address, he called it a “bipartisan rescue package”.
Government officials have similarly avoided using the term “bailout”. During the presidential candidates’ debate on Friday, the moderator Jim Lehrer of PBS called the plan both a financial rescue plan and a bailout. Both presidential candidates avoided “bailout” in their answers.
I am usually one to side with the first amendment, but in this case the media is to blame. I am baffled, and convinced, that their word choice has had much to do with the outcome of Congress' decisions over the last few days.
Well, I've got a good one for the candidates this week:
Who came up with the idea to call this plan a “bailout?”
Honestly, bailout!? You couldn’t pick a more negative word to scare off impressionable voters in an election year. It practically screams “rescue Wall Street with my hard earned tax dollars”.
My immediate, and I admit, incorrect assumption for the blunder was the Bush Administration. But with infamous slogans such as “weapons of mass destruction” and “the war on terror”, surely President Bush knows how to use political spin to his advantage and couldn't have been the culprit in the "bailout" coining.
President Bush has actually avoided using the “b” word. On last Wednesday’s prime-time address, he called on Congress to support his administration’s “rescue effort.” On Saturday, in his weekly radio address, he called it a “bipartisan rescue package”.
Government officials have similarly avoided using the term “bailout”. During the presidential candidates’ debate on Friday, the moderator Jim Lehrer of PBS called the plan both a financial rescue plan and a bailout. Both presidential candidates avoided “bailout” in their answers.
I am usually one to side with the first amendment, but in this case the media is to blame. I am baffled, and convinced, that their word choice has had much to do with the outcome of Congress' decisions over the last few days.
I question the media’s intentions in choosing such a loaded word to plaster the headlines of newspapers, the internet and TV and radio programs across the world. I have one measly summer at a PR firm under my belt and even I know that "bailout" is not a term that you throw around (especially on the front page of the Wall Street Journal or the NY Times).
At a time when even Wall Street execs can’t predict the future, it is unfortunately very difficult to find an unbiased opinion. I’ve realized the power of rhetoric as a public relations tactic and have been inspired to read beyond the headlines. I hope you are too.
At a time when even Wall Street execs can’t predict the future, it is unfortunately very difficult to find an unbiased opinion. I’ve realized the power of rhetoric as a public relations tactic and have been inspired to read beyond the headlines. I hope you are too.
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