It's All About Wal-Mart

    Whew. Today, it's all about the Beast of Bentonville. Hard to decide where to start but...how about today's world premiere of Robert Greenwald's film "Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price." Yours truly will be at the advance screening tonight here in NYC and I'll report back with a movie review tomorrow. But, in the meantime, you can buy your very own copy of the movie right here.

    And what a day for news about the Beast. First, the inspector general of the Labor Department found that there were "serious breakdowns" in the agreement reached in January with Wal-Mart to settle child labor violations. This was really a sweetheart deal between the DOL and the company: After Wal-Mart was found breaking the law on child labor, the government fined the company a measly $135,000 (and change) and signed a deal with Wal-Mart that said "Next time we want to investigate what laws you might be breaking, we’re going to tell you about the investigation before we do it"—just to give you enough time to cover your tracks, shred documents or muddle the trail.

    Rep. George Miller (maybe we should start calling him "Tiger" George because he's one of the few Democrats that consistently sinks his teeth into wrongdoing among corporations and the Republican administration--and doesn't seem to be afraid of his shadow) asked for the investigation after the deal hit the news. You can see Miller's press release here. I swear George isn't paying for all the love he gets on this blog but I just can't help but like a fighter for real people and someone who takes on the corporate machine, rather than kisses up to them to get campaign contributions. Can this guy run for president instead of the pathetic field the Democrats seem to be fielding so far?

    There are a bunch of stories out there on this but I'm going to confine the accounts to the one in The New York Times  (registration required) by Steve Greenhouse, as a tip of the hat to Steve who was the one who really unearthed the crappy deal and forced the investigation. Good journalism can result in good results for people.

    Even more fascinating is the front-page story in the Times today by Michael Barbaro who reports from Bentonville on the "war-room" set up by Wal-Mart to defend itself from the increased criticism of its ways. Here's the nut graf that describes the operation: "Wal-Mart is taking a page from the modern political playbook. Under fire from well-organized opponents who have hammered the retailer with criticisms of its wages, health insurance and treatment of workers, Wal-Mart has quietly recruited former presidential advisers, including Michael K. Deaver, who was Ronald Reagan's image-meister, and Leslie Dach, one of Bill Clinton's media consultants, to set up a rapid-response public relations team in Arkansas."

    Essentially, Wal-Mart is looking at its campaign precisely as a political campaign: it is explicitly trying to appeal to "swing" customers--people who are neither supporters nor critics of the company but haven't made up there minds.

    For those of you who might recoil at the notion that one of Bill Clinton's media consultants (who is described as a Democrat "who is active in environmental and Democratic causes") is working for the Beast, understand that the Clintons have a very tight, historical relationship with Wal-Mart going back many years to the days when Bill Clinton was governor. Hillary Clinton sat on Wal-Mart's board for six years--at a time when the company was deeply engaged in its anti-union activities--and only left the board when her husband was preparing to run for president.

    As much as this is a look at Wal-Mart, the article underscores the tight relationship between the corporate world and the political sphere, no matter what party someone belongs to. It is a subtle look at the close connection between money and politics: no matter what party you belong to, the campaign finance system requires that you belly up to the bar and take corporate cash. Beyond the campaign finance problems, though, it shows the easy crossover for Democrats: someone can be a Democrat and say he's pro-environment yet not see any issue with working for a company like Wal-Mart, which has the biggest negative impact of any single company on the environment, not to mention the life of workers.

Comments

[Tom Owens]

Leslie Dach is not really a "Clinton Guy." It's even worse! He is a former Senior Advisor to Dick Gephardt; and now a Principal (with Michael Deaver) with Edelman public relations in Washington, DC.

A ture whore is there ever was one.

[Tom Owens]

I posted this recently on this blog...but , in my opinion, it is so important that it bears repeating. Especially in light of the damaging influence WalMart is having on our nation and the world.

Since the beginning of this year, I have been opining on the need for Democrats and Progressives to smarten up and discard the conventional model of strategic communications to which they obsessively adhere, and to realize how a new model that utilizes successful brand management techniques, innovative research methodologies, and an understanding of the relationship between national ideology and cultural contradictions can afford the Party a significant strategic advantage. In all of my writings, I have always searched for a way to vividly articulate this approach so that it is more easily understood in a practical sense; and in most cases have come up short. Now, I have a little help.

And isn’t it ironic that it would come from a Republican – former Reagan and Bush I speechwriter, Peggy Noonan. For my money, Ms. Noonan has offered up one of the most powerful pieces of insightful punditry I have ever read. Democrats and Progressives need to not only read this piece…they should cut it out and laminate it and carry it with them at all times between now and November, 2008.

In her October 27, 2005 column in the Wall Street Journal (A Separate Peace; America is in Trouble – And Our Elites Are Merely Resigned), Peggy Noonan gives us a perfect sense of the immense cultural contradictions and anxieties that are percolating throughout our society. Among Ms. Noonan’s observations are:

1. “A lot of people are carrying around in their head, unarticulated and even in some cases unnoticed, a sense that the wheels are coming off the trolley and the trolley is off the tracks…that, in some deep and fundamental way, things have broken down and can’t be fixed, or won’t be fixed any time soon.”

2. “There is a general and amorphous sense that things are broken and tough history is coming.”

3. “…the fear of parents that their children will wind up disturbed, and their souls actually imperiled, by the popular culture in which we are raising them.”

4. “…the fear parents have that we’re at the end of something, and they want their kids to have good memories. They’re buying them good memories…”

5. “Our elites…are the ones who are supposed to dig us out and lead us…specifically the elites of journalism and politics, the elites of the Hill and Foggy Bottom and the agencies, the elites of state capitals, the rich and accomplished and successful of Washington, and elsewhere.

6. “…many of these people have made a separate peace. That they’re living their lives and taking their pleasures and pursuing their agendas; that they’re going forward each day with the knowledge, which they hold more securely, and with greater reason than non-elites, that the wheels are off the trolley and the trolley’s off the tracks, and with a conviction, a certainty, that there is nothing they can do about it.”

7. “…many of our elites simply decided to enjoy their lives while they waited for the next chapter of trouble. And that they consciously, or unconsciously, took grim comfort in this thought: I got mine. Which is what a separate peace comes down to: “I got mine; you get yours.”

I urge you to read those quotes again and again. I defy anyone to admit that have NOT felt that way. Granted, Ms. Noonan’s observations amount to nothing more than a simple hunch developed through her own personal experiences and observations and those of her social circle. But, I know that I have found myself more and more contemplating these same issues. And if a person of Ms. Noonan’s political leanings and comfortable status in life is experiencing anxieties and cultural contradictions in relation to our current conservative national ideology (summed up rather succinctly in her definition of the separate peace: “I got mine; you get yours”), then what must be weighing on the minds of the vast majority of Americans living from paycheck to paycheck; one catastrophic health condition away from poverty; and with a son or daughter forced into the military (and off to a war zone) because there were no viable job/career opportunities in his/her hometown after graduation from high school.

So much is happening within our collective national psyche that it is leading to the creation of substantial cultural disruptions in America today. And this is a strategic opportunity that the Democratic Party can ill afford to ignore.

Democrats and Progressives ought to be exploring the deep, unconscious feelings of Americans that are being manifested as anxieties and how the Democratic brand belief can be best articulated to address these anxieties. But it won’t (because it can’t) be accomplished through polls and focus groups. As Noonan states, “I think that a lot of people are carrying around in their heads, unarticulated and even in some cases unnoticed, a sense that the wheels are coming of the trolley and the trolley is off the tracks (emphasis added). This is the exact reason that I have been preaching to Democratic leaders and strategists for a rejection of the conventional communications approaches and research methodologies historically deployed by Democrats, progressives and labor unions in favor of innovative cognitive research approaches and communications strategies that are effective in understanding and addressing such “unarticulated” thoughts and feelings.

These thoughts, located and contained in the unconscious realm of the human mind, are the most important drivers of conscious human behavior…including voting preferences, as well as decisions to join or support the efforts of the American labor movement or other progressive causes.

What Ms. Noonan’s article also implicitly points to is that people in America – regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, income, geographic residence, etc. – are all seeking the same things in life! Security. Comfort. Stability. The Ability to Dream. But we aren’t feeling all that comfortable that we will achieve any of this! Because, like it or not, to a larger extent our system of government assumes a large responsibility for helping us achieve those things that Maslow described in his hierarchy of needs: food, clothing, shelter, yearning to belong, needing to feel connected, hoping to transcend, and a desire to feel joy and fulfillment. And it is our national ideology that sets the tone for how individuals are to satisfy these psychological needs.

But when our national ideology does not fit with our everyday reality, intense cultural disruptions, contradictions and anxieties arise. These have historically been the driving fuel for our political or social movements in America (such as the labor movement from the 1930s through the 1960s; the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s; and the conservative GOP movement of the 1970s to 2000s).

Gaining an explicit understanding of these cultural contradictions and anxieties and then crafting emotionally resonant communications approaches that illuminate – through powerful stories, imagery and mythology – the Democratic brand belief as a salve for such anxieties is critically important not only for short-term gain in the 2006 election cycle, but for the beginnings of a long-term Democratic renaissance.

As Albert Einstein once said, “We have to change our current patterns of thought if we are to solve the problems created by current thinking.”

would add, “We have to understand the unconscious origins of people’s thoughts and anxieties and inspire them to believe in the solutions and leadership we propose to the problems created by current thinking.”

[Buffy]

also....check out this ad by WakeUpWalMart.com

http://www.wakeupwalmart.com/video/ad1.html

[John A. Joslin]

Tom, I think you're right that Ms. Noonan is a smart cooky & has some good insights on our predicament,...BUT why do you insist on thinking that the nub of the thing has something to do with our UNCONSCIOUS thoughts ? Noonan only says we're carrying around "unarticulated " or " unnoticed " thoughts , the kind that we otherwise know as... conscious ! ( might be news to many of us bloggers who thought we were toting a few ARTICULATED thoughts around as well... )
Now , the Democrats have a lot wrong w/ their shtick & a faulty data base may well be part of it... for example , I , for one , may be thinking of something & they ( the Dems ) may not know OR care about it...BUT I'd hate to watch them muddle through a data-mining expedition that hinges on the discovery & classification of my UNCONSCIOUS thinking ! For one, how would they OR I know if they got it right , since by definition ....well, you get the picture.
I'd rather be the one to divulge my thoughts (as best I can) to whichever old-fashioned pollster cares to collect them rather than be the 2nd hand recipient of some consultant's hare- brained declaration about my "non-sentient psychological interiority" ....( or whatever the hell ....)

In other words, back to Ms. Noonan, ..I think she's warning folks that the potlid might blow off while the ownership is not paying attention... I don't think she has any difficulty in figuring out why , or coming up w/ suggestions to keep it firmly in place, for that matter. Most of the reasons why & people's thoughts about same are out there for everybody , as well as the Dems, to ponder. - J.J. ( another non-Walmart shopper somewhere in the Midwest )

[jacob]

I generally agree with you, JT, about George Miller. But I was surprised to see that his PAC (Solidarity PAC) gave $2,000 Melissa Bean! (See http://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/pacgot.asp?strID=C00360388&Cycle=2006) What's up with that?

[steven jones]

great blog...you hit it on the head...by the way, checked out the ad on wakeupwalmart.com - it is great!

thanks

SJ

[D. Marchant]

I'll bet you are a liberal democrat, Yes? All of those poor people who are working for the "slave driver" Walmart would be digging ditches or hoeing corn if they didn't work for Walmart. What is wrong with a company charging less for their merchandise and allowing people to buy their groceries at a reasonable price? Competition is bad? Where have you been all your life. Gee, get real.