Strother Martin Update

You remember him right? People on the two different sides of the political fence, RCP boss Richard Edelman and long-time RCP friend and smart thinker Bruce Haynes point out some of the key failures of communicating the Wall Street package's early failures.

Both make similar, if distinct, points. Branding, as Haynes points out, was a major early beginning failure. Communicating with real people, using their voices and countering voices, seemed to also have taken a back seat as Edelman points out.

No buy in, and little explaining the real problem before the solution was presented, led to this. To some extent, solving the communications problems had to have been the last thing on policymakers minds. But maybe it should have been. These aren't easy problems, or easy solutions. I hope they get it closer to right the next time -- and I have a feeling we have a long way to go.