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Obama needs inspiring vision of inclusiveness
By Robert J. Shiller |
January 15, 2013, Tuesday
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AS US President Barack Obama begins his second term, he needs a simple way to express his vision and policies for the economy - a metaphor around which support for his policies might crystallize, thereby boosting his administration's political effectiveness. So, what makes a successful metaphor work?
The 2008 Obama campaign used the slogan "Change we can believe in." But "change" is not a metaphor for a new government: it does not stand for any policies. Nor does "Hope" or "Yes we can!"
The 2012 Obama campaign used the one-word slogan "Forward!" Once again, it signifies nothing about policies or their underlying philosophy. Every politician, whether liberal or conservative, wants to move forward, not backward.
Obama's slogans are examples of "dead metaphors": they are not part of an overall conceptual scheme.
By contrast, in the 1930s, President Franklin Roosevelt used a metaphor that remains very much alive today. The idea of a "new deal" was conceived during his first presidential election campaign in 1932, though at the time he was still vague about what the term stood for.
Apparently, Roosevelt, or his speechwriters, borrowed it from "A New Deal," a book by Stuart Chase published in 1932. Chase described his new deal in general terms as "the drastic and progressive revision of the economic structure, avoiding an utter break with the past."
And, while the book's specific policy proposals bear little resemblance to Roosevelt's subsequent actions, the title had an intrinsic appeal that he must have recognized.
The New Deal created an image of a commercial transaction, like the buyout of a company or an incentive package for executives - something that contracting parties bargain over and agree to. It is not imposed. By calling it a "deal," Roosevelt made clear that the plan was not anti-business: it sounded like an offer to work, to participate, to seize an opportunity. And, because deals can be good or bad, fair or exploitative, the word "new" provided metaphoric depth, suggesting that Roosevelt's deal was better, fairer, and more attractive.
Formulating a good metaphor for Obama's second term is itself a task for intuitive creative thought that entails rethinking what he will propose in his second term.
A good metaphor might embody the idea of an "inclusive economy." The word "inclusive" resonates strongly: Americans do not want more government per se; rather, they want the government to get more people involved in the market economy. Opinion polls show that, above all, what Americans want are jobs - the beginning of inclusion.
Why nations fail
The parallel to Chase's book today is the 2012 bestseller "Why Nations Fail" (2012) by the economist Daron Acemoglu and the political scientist James Robinson. Acemoglu and Robinson argue that in the broad sweep of history, political orders that include everyone in the economic process are more likely to succeed in the long term.
The time seems ripe for that idea, and it fits with the triumph of inclusiveness symbolized by Obama himself. But another step in metaphor-building is needed to encapsulate the idea of economic inclusion.
The biggest successes of Obama's first term concerned economic inclusion. The Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare") is providing more people with access to health care than ever before in the United States. The Dodd-Frank financial reforms created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, so that privately issued financial products would serve the public better, and created incentives for derivatives to be traded on public markets. And Obama signed the JOBS Act, proposed by his Republican opponents, which aims to create crowd-funding websites that allow small investors to participate in startup ventures.
We have not reached the pinnacle of economic inclusion. There are hundreds of other possibilities, including improved investor education and financial advice, more flexible mortgages, better kinds of securitization, more insurance for a broader array of life's risks, and better management of career risks.
On January 29, Obama will give the State of the Union address of his new term. He should be thinking about how to express - vividly and compellingly - the principles that have guided his choices so far, and that set a path for America's future.
Robert J. Shiller is professor of economics at Yale University. Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2013.www.project-syndicate.org. Shanghai Daily condensed the article.
The 2008 Obama campaign used the slogan "Change we can believe in." But "change" is not a metaphor for a new government: it does not stand for any policies. Nor does "Hope" or "Yes we can!"
The 2012 Obama campaign used the one-word slogan "Forward!" Once again, it signifies nothing about policies or their underlying philosophy. Every politician, whether liberal or conservative, wants to move forward, not backward.
Obama's slogans are examples of "dead metaphors": they are not part of an overall conceptual scheme.
By contrast, in the 1930s, President Franklin Roosevelt used a metaphor that remains very much alive today. The idea of a "new deal" was conceived during his first presidential election campaign in 1932, though at the time he was still vague about what the term stood for.
Apparently, Roosevelt, or his speechwriters, borrowed it from "A New Deal," a book by Stuart Chase published in 1932. Chase described his new deal in general terms as "the drastic and progressive revision of the economic structure, avoiding an utter break with the past."
And, while the book's specific policy proposals bear little resemblance to Roosevelt's subsequent actions, the title had an intrinsic appeal that he must have recognized.
The New Deal created an image of a commercial transaction, like the buyout of a company or an incentive package for executives - something that contracting parties bargain over and agree to. It is not imposed. By calling it a "deal," Roosevelt made clear that the plan was not anti-business: it sounded like an offer to work, to participate, to seize an opportunity. And, because deals can be good or bad, fair or exploitative, the word "new" provided metaphoric depth, suggesting that Roosevelt's deal was better, fairer, and more attractive.
Formulating a good metaphor for Obama's second term is itself a task for intuitive creative thought that entails rethinking what he will propose in his second term.
A good metaphor might embody the idea of an "inclusive economy." The word "inclusive" resonates strongly: Americans do not want more government per se; rather, they want the government to get more people involved in the market economy. Opinion polls show that, above all, what Americans want are jobs - the beginning of inclusion.
Why nations fail
The parallel to Chase's book today is the 2012 bestseller "Why Nations Fail" (2012) by the economist Daron Acemoglu and the political scientist James Robinson. Acemoglu and Robinson argue that in the broad sweep of history, political orders that include everyone in the economic process are more likely to succeed in the long term.
The time seems ripe for that idea, and it fits with the triumph of inclusiveness symbolized by Obama himself. But another step in metaphor-building is needed to encapsulate the idea of economic inclusion.
The biggest successes of Obama's first term concerned economic inclusion. The Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare") is providing more people with access to health care than ever before in the United States. The Dodd-Frank financial reforms created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, so that privately issued financial products would serve the public better, and created incentives for derivatives to be traded on public markets. And Obama signed the JOBS Act, proposed by his Republican opponents, which aims to create crowd-funding websites that allow small investors to participate in startup ventures.
We have not reached the pinnacle of economic inclusion. There are hundreds of other possibilities, including improved investor education and financial advice, more flexible mortgages, better kinds of securitization, more insurance for a broader array of life's risks, and better management of career risks.
On January 29, Obama will give the State of the Union address of his new term. He should be thinking about how to express - vividly and compellingly - the principles that have guided his choices so far, and that set a path for America's future.
Robert J. Shiller is professor of economics at Yale University. Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2013.www.project-syndicate.org. Shanghai Daily condensed the article.
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