Practical Politics for Dummies

Matthew Yglesias:

Results, Not Words: “[B]lame Republicans for failing to pass plan to fix the economy” is [not] a close substitute for “fix the economy.”... [T]he evidence that fixing the economy would help Democrats politically is overwhelming... he evidence that the plan/block/blame strategy would work is non-existent. People like me and Atrios would feel better about President Obama and his team if they made public statements that indicated that he roughly agrees with our take... [but] our emotional state has very little political relevance.... The things you would do to outline a bold progressive approach to fixing the economy are very different from the things you would do to try to get the GOP votes you need to pass economy-fixing legislation.