US Elections

We do size XL things

By Jonathan Bradley in Seattle, WA

1 February 2011

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I wasn't particularly impressed with Barack Obama's State of the Union address last week. It seemed unfocused, content free, and did little to establish a concrete direction for the country. I was pleased to hear talk of investment in infrastructure, but not so thrilled to discover the plan was little more than three words: Win the Future. That's not policy; it's a t-shirt slogan.

Literally. A week later, the memorable parts of the speech have become clear, and the Democratic-affiliated Organizing for America group has fit them on to t-shirts. (My favourite is the blue "WE DO BIG THINGS" number.)

Strangely enough, this points to what the speech did right. Where the 2010 address was far more concrete in its proposals, Obama in 2011 focused on something he has a great talent for: reminding Americans why they like America. And while some of his Reaganesque bromides from the night sounded overblown¹, simple declarative statements like "win the future" are already showing they can reframe debates around spending and infrastructure. Solid plans are useful things, but the 2011 address was principally about creating a new discussion and the language in which to discuss it. "We do big things" and "Win the future" have already entered the American vernacular. If the aim is to focus America on a new goal, t-shirt slogans are a pretty effective starting point.

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1. For instance, this sounded like it should have been delivered while someone unfurled a flag behind the President and a band started playing "America the Beautiful": "What we can do – what America does better than anyone – is spark the creativity and imagination of our people. We are the nation that put cars in driveways and computers in offices; the nation of Edison and the Wright brothers; of Google and Facebook. In America, innovation doesn’t just change our lives. It’s how we make a living."

Tags: Fashion, Infrastructure, State Of The Union 2011, We Do Big Things, Win The Future

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