Talking About the American Dream: Drew Westen and Celinda Lake

By Sara Robinson

Created 10/04/2011 - 9:36am

How do we talk about the American Dream? And is this a story Americans are ready to hear?

According to communications experts Drew Westen and Celinda Lake, they're beyond ready to hear it; in fact, they've been waiting for years for progressives to speak to them with the muscular populism that marked earlier progressives like Teddy and Franklin Roosevelt. This is the kind of language that actively challenges old Republican frames, and stands strongly for the interests of the middle class.

Westen and Lake got down to the details of what this kind of language sounds like during their presentation at Take Back the American Dream on Monday afternoon. "Without vision, the people will perish," said Westen, quoting from the Book of Proverbs in the Bible. And right now, he continued, the right wing's vision for America seems limited to death and no taxes.