I seem to remember this being one thing people said in favor of Obama: that even if he didn't do anything, at least he was changing the discursive conditions of what could be said. Maybe, but it also seems that this is the thing that spawned all this reaction--and the reinforcement of the right wing frame. The right was leery of the left frame gaining ground--even if the policy effect of that particular framing was fairly minimal, it's risky if people start thinking as lefties. All of this is before anything really leftist was done in any aspect of actual policy decisions. In this case, I can't help but think that it was less a problem of framing and more a problem of, on the one hand, there being a general tendency to prefer this right framing to the left and, on the other, the fact that, all framing aside, the policy decisions are basically neo-liberal in orientation, even if they are framed as liberal or just necessary in terms of economic theory, etc. Isn't there a chance that a massive jobs program that put people back to work would have generated a bit more mainstream support for the left frame (making, in other words, the "changing of the world" more important than the "changing of the phrases?")
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