Somewhere there is a soldier in a foxhole fighting off the Arab hordes. He reaches for another clip but finds his ammo box empty! As he goes down under a sea of turbans his last words are: "Damn that Democrat Congress!"
Cartoonish? Yes. Powerful? Equally so. And the GOP is counting on the power of that mental cartoon to lay the "loss" of Iraq on our doorstep, just as they rewrote the history of our withdrawal from Vietnam.
So this is why repeating the phrase "Cutting off funding for the troops in the field", either for or against, is not a good idea. Thank you Obama for falling head-first into a GOP frame trap. Its nonsense, yes, but powerful nonsense.
The reality, of course, is totally different. Funding will be curtailed for long-term strategic investment. All consideration will be made for an organized withdrawal. All this we know. But bureaucratic planning does not compel the "story reflex" the way this simple video does.
A good frame to defeat the "cut off funding" cartoon described above is establishing that we are going to "fund the pullout". George Bush, in opposition, is seeking to block this daring rescue mission. We can borrow, in a sense, the Jessica Lynch "saving" narrative, but on a large scale, in order to SAVE the troops, not just support them.
If I was Reid or Pelosi, I would actually amp up the "saving" frame by using this word RESCUE as much as possible. Because at the rate our soldiers are dying in the middle of this civil war, its appropriate, and accurate. And an effective way to help voters overcome their internal cognitive obstacles and get what they voted for.
So.. just a few framing thoughts for the day. Apologies to Jeff Feldman.