Sunday Blogging Blues

Image from Despair.com

What do you do when you're a current events/political blogger, and nothing going on at the moment inspires you to write? Well, that is my current prediciment, though it is tempered by the fact that I've already declared myself on semi-blogging-vacation.

But today, I've been trying to catch up with the Sunday morning political shows, and I am not engaged. One quick way to get me to zone out is to put David Axelrod on the screen, dancing around questions for 15 minutes. Another way? Stick Sen. Lindsey Graham and Willard "Mitt" Romney next to each other, doing the same thing. Blecccch.

Part of the problem is the talk on health care. The problem isn't cost. It isn't big business vs. government control. It is that Democrats are apparently incable of using language effectively in their political battles. "Public option" and "single payer" are phrases that on their face mean nothing to me. The Republicans aren't always more clear, but a phrases like "socialized medicine" and "job killer" are certainly more visceral.

Where in the world is the Democratic Frank Luntz? I'm not suggesting that we find a slimy weasel like Luntz, just a person with a little marketing savvy, a little creativity. I'm actually sort of surprised that President Obama isn't better at it. Are David Axelrod and Robert Gibbs really the best that he could do? Oh, and by the way, "cap and trade" is also ridiculous and meaningless. It's very easy to demonize something that nobody understands.