In HBO's "The Sopranos," mob boss Tony's uncle, Corrado Soprano, Jr. feels increasingly disrespected and demeaned by his nephew. When a ruthless captain, Richie Aprile, who also feels aggrieved by Tony approaches Junior with a plan to whack Tony and replace him as boss, Junior sees his chance to regain what he believes is his. That is until Richie reports back to Junior with the news that a bunch of guys he was relying on to be a part of the plot bailed out.
When Richie leaves their meeting, Junior bitterly delivers one of the most memorable lines in the series: "He couldn't [effing] sell it."
Junior continues to explain that Richie couldn't gain the respect of others. He never proved to them why they should feel compelled to stick their necks out for him, rather than just live under Tony. Junior then similarly says, "I'm better off with Tony," and makes his plan to rat Richie out.
I thought of that line today, reading Reid Epstein's piece in The New York Times, "Why Robert Kennedy, Jr's 2024 Bid is a Headache for Biden."
While the idea of a conspiracy theorist, anti-vax, Russian propaganda tool like Kennedy being a real "headache" for Biden is an overstatement, the article does contain some truth in it. The story notes that Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. Austin Davis believes Biden has done "some tremendous things" but especially in Democratic base communities, "They've done a pretty bad job of telling the American people and Pennsylvanians what they have done."
In some barbershops in black communities, Davis reported that some felt they were better off under Donald Trump, simply because they were not aware of what the Biden administration has accomplished.
This is hardly a new issue. And it isn't for the White House's lack of trying.
In August of last year, when the White House was touting that they did over 1,000 events to highlight their work, I lamented polling that showed voters still weren't aware of the administration's accomplishments. I also worried about the lack of creative salesmanship coming from the administration.
Writing on another (now shuttered) news site, I wrote, "The old conventional wisdom is that carefully manufactured White House events carry a memorable air of prestige, and events on the road are often made up of a speech in a warehouse with a manicured, sparkling backdrop. But perhaps because they are so standard fare, people don't even notice them now.... Donald Trump proved one thing: Dramatic imagery and showmanship are enduring, for better or worse. While I would argue that Trump used it for the worse, there is no reason that Biden and the Democrats cannot use it for the better."
The Times piece notes that the White House is planning a tour this summer that they're branding as "investing in America." The president, vice president, their spouses and cabinet members are all expected to do events around the country to highlight projects that were developed under the Biden administration.
When roads and bridges get repaired because of the Biden infrastructure plan, the president and his Transportation Secretary, Pete Buttigieg, should be on hand for a ribbon cutting and lead a caravan of vehicles over them. That visual is an absolute must when the recently fallen portion of I-95 in Philadelphia has a temporary repair in place in the coming weeks.
When union labor begins work on other projects, the president and his acting labor secretary, Julie Su, should be there at the crack of dawn with coffee, to welcome workers to their jobs. The pair also should appear across West Coast ports, to welcome dock workers and see goods off for delivery, as the administration played a key role in ending a labor dispute and averting terrible, new supply chain issues.
The president and his health and human services secretary, Xavier Becerra, should visit pharmacies and help sell hearing aids to those who need them, to highlight that it was the Biden administration that made them available over-the-counter. While they are there, they can highlight the savings coming on prescription drugs for seniors.
The possibilities are endless when it comes to staging creative and compelling events that get noticed—and remembered.
Right now, millions of voters are sizing up the options for president or deciding whether to vote at all. If they're not aware of the ways the Biden administration has made their own lives better and the country's outlook brighter, Biden can't count on them to support him only because the GOP alternative is terrible.
In the words of Uncle Junior, Biden needs to "[effing] sell it."
Eric Schmeltzer is a Los Angeles-based political consultant who served as press secretary to Rep. Jerry Nadler and former-Gov. Howard Dean.
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
