HE CAN'T EVEN SOUND LIBERAL:

Buzzwords: Rephrasing Obama's lexicon: Scratch 'cap and trade' and 'global warming,' some Democratic pollsters tell Obama. They're ineffective. Republicans are also rethinking how to use words to their advantage. (Peter Nicholas and Jim Tankersley, May 11, 2009, LA Times)

In the debate over his top environmental goals, President Obama is backing away from "cap and trade."

Not the policy. It's the phrase itself, deemed confusing by Democratic pollsters, that has all but disappeared from the president's vocabulary of late.

Now when Obama talks about forcing companies to bid at auction for the right to emit greenhouse gases, he is more apt to mention "market-based" proposals and "clean energy jobs," hinting at a rich new employment source. [...]

Words that have been vetted in focus groups and polls are seeping into the White House lexicon, while others considered too scary or confounding are falling away.
[...]

"There is value in trying to get the messaging right," said a senior White House environmental aide, who was not authorized to speak on the record.

Not right, Right.

Posted by Orrin Judd at May 11, 2009 6:29 AM