First of all, let me say it's a great speech—optimistic and inspiring.
It has the rhetorical fingerprints of @EvergreenAction (which is to say the climate staff of @JayInslee and @ewarren) all over it.
2/n
It has the rhetorical fingerprints of @EvergreenAction (which is to say the climate staff of @JayInslee and @ewarren) all over it.
2/n
It is also super exciting that now that @JoeBiden has come out with his own vision for the future, rather than holding back and letting Trump hang himself, he has centered his vision on stopping #ClimateChange.
This is historic and incredibly encouraging.
4/n
This is historic and incredibly encouraging.
4/n
Biden must have seen @amprog & @DataProgress polling that climate change is a winning issue.
Not only do persuadable voters overwhelmingly disapprove of the GOP position on climate change, most Americans actually LIKE climate policy.
👇👇
5/n
Not only do persuadable voters overwhelmingly disapprove of the GOP position on climate change, most Americans actually LIKE climate policy.
👇👇
5/n
The speech represents #ClimateChange as an economic opportunity for America. It casts climate action as a robust job creator and a spur to economic growth.
This is the discourse on which American elections are won or lost, and the speech deploys that discourse beautifully.
6/n
This is the discourse on which American elections are won or lost, and the speech deploys that discourse beautifully.
6/n
This is the best line of the speech, which encapsulates its argument and sticks in your head like a song:
"When Donald Trump thinks about climate change — all he can muster is one word: 'hoax.'
When I think about climate change — I think of a word as well: 'jobs.'"
7/n
"When Donald Trump thinks about climate change — all he can muster is one word: 'hoax.'
When I think about climate change — I think of a word as well: 'jobs.'"
7/n
That bit is so good it should be a mantra.
@JoeBiden and his surrogates like @johnpodesta should repeat it any time anyone on the right accuses Biden of enacting a "radical left" agenda (more on this in a moment).
8/n
@JoeBiden and his surrogates like @johnpodesta should repeat it any time anyone on the right accuses Biden of enacting a "radical left" agenda (more on this in a moment).
8/n
The other bit to be repeated often is the alliterative slogan "Build Back Better."
In poetry the rhythm of this slogan is called a "spondee triplet": three stressed syllabus, BUM BUM BUM, that project strength & a feeling of resolution (in both senses of that word).
9/n
In poetry the rhythm of this slogan is called a "spondee triplet": three stressed syllabus, BUM BUM BUM, that project strength & a feeling of resolution (in both senses of that word).
9/n
"Build Back Better" provides anxious Americans with the answer to their fears, as they look around at the wreckage of the economy and their lives.
"What are we going to do? How are we going to get out of this mess? We're going to BUILD BACK BETTER." 💥👏
10/n
"What are we going to do? How are we going to get out of this mess? We're going to BUILD BACK BETTER." 💥👏
10/n
The vision that Biden conjures—of how to "build back better—brings a revitalized manufacturing, "blue-collar" sector into focus.
This is a strong appeal to persuadable voters in swing states.
11/n
This is a strong appeal to persuadable voters in swing states.
11/n
Biden also offers Black voters some #climatejustice, by acknowledging how industrial development has damaged "Black, Brown, & Native American communities," and by promising these communities will "receive 40 percent of the benefits from the investments we’re making."
12/n
12/n
This promise is not only justified morally and historically, it's absolutely essential to a winning climate-change presidential campaign.
No Democrat can win the Presidency without the enthusiastic support of the Black community, white "swing voters" or not.
13/n
No Democrat can win the Presidency without the enthusiastic support of the Black community, white "swing voters" or not.
13/n
Finally, Biden also targets college students and recent graduates by highlighting the creation of a Civilian Climate Corps (great post-uni jobs) and by promising to hold fossil-fuel executives accountable for their malfeasance, a deeply resonant cause esp with young people.
14/n
14/n
So that's all good. You love to see it!
Now for some notes on what Biden might consider revising moving forward.
15/n
Now for some notes on what Biden might consider revising moving forward.
15/n
These notes are based on my research, forthcoming in this👇collection one of these years (hey, it's academia). I take an interdisciplinary approach, using sociology, literary theory, and psychology, to outline the lineaments of effective climate communication.
16/n
16/n
My research shows that the most effective climate communication (arguably political communication at large) produces 3 emotions in voters:
*fear of danger
*outrage over opponents' fostering that danger
*desire for a new world which the policy or candidate can deliver.
17/n
*fear of danger
*outrage over opponents' fostering that danger
*desire for a new world which the policy or candidate can deliver.
17/n
@JoeBiden's speech promises new jobs and economic recovery, and begins to sketch out an optimistic vision of what his rebuilt, better America will look like.
This is wonderful. More of this please! Show us more of the America that we want to live in.
18/n
This is wonderful. More of this please! Show us more of the America that we want to live in.
18/n
Biden also contrasts himself to Trump, but I think he needs to tap deeper into the outrage most Americans feel about Trump's handling of the pandemic, specifically by drawing clearer parallels between Trump's dismissal of medical science & his disdain for climate science.
19/n
19/n
Constantly connecting Trump's handling of the pandemic with his handling of #ClimateChange will help neutralize the GOP strategy of calling Biden's climate policy "driven by the radical left."
20/n
eenews.net/climatewire/20…
20/n
eenews.net/climatewire/20…
As @katieglueck @LFFriedman point out in their piece on Biden's speech, some argue that Americans are not worried about radical change right now because due to the effects of the pandemic they actually *want* their lives to change radically.
nytimes.com/2020/07/15/cli…
21/n
nytimes.com/2020/07/15/cli…
21/n
In any event, the Americans' trust in Trump is at an all-time low—exactly because Trump and his GOP are dismissing scientific experts, and all around us Americans are dying from their denial. Biden doesn't even have to "message" this; he just has to keep pointing it out.
22/n
22/n
Finally, speaking of death, @JoeBiden needs to make it clearer how scary #ClimateBreakdown really is.
I know this is tricky—you don't want to alienate even one voter—but, I promise you, you need scare tactics that will counter the scare tactics of the GOP.
23/n
I know this is tricky—you don't want to alienate even one voter—but, I promise you, you need scare tactics that will counter the scare tactics of the GOP.
23/n
So renounce euphemism! Please don't call climate change "an existential threat." Nobody really knows what that means. Is Sartre going to jump out holding a knife, or what?
Just say it straight: "Left unchecked, climate change threatens our very survival."
24/n
Just say it straight: "Left unchecked, climate change threatens our very survival."
24/n
And please get the science exactly right. This statement is incorrect.
25/n
25/n
If I may, @JoeBiden, I think what you meant to say is: "Science tells us we have to act now. In nine years we must be half-way through rebuilding to run on clean energy, or else the planet will heat up so much that climate change will become catastrophic and irreversible."
26/n
26/n
People need to hear this. People need to know that Trump's and the GOP's climate denial is threatening their lives, just as their Covid denial is killing Americans today.
27/n
27/n
And yes the truth is terrifying. But climate change is also the defining challenge that we are fully capable of facing and transforming together—with all the unique American ingenuity and creativity and hope that makes us who we are.
28/n
28/n
So thank you, @JoeBiden! And thank you Biden's speechwriters! I offer you all my full support, and I can't wait for the day that we celebrate President Biden and get started on creating our new future.🇺🇸🌎💚✨
/fin
/fin
