You really have to give Hilary Clinton credit. Taking a cue from the right wing spin machine, she inserted the phrase "smart power" into the national foreign policy conversation.
In the past progressives have often referred to diplomacy and all that goes with it as "soft power", drawing snickers and derision from the denizens of Right Wingnutia. How wimpy and effete a choice of words; "soft power"! How ... how ... unpowerful!
The psychology in the words "smart power" is devastating. It implies "dump power", drawing a sharp contrast between the past and the future. In the past, we've used "dumb power"; in the future we will use "smart power".
The Right may not be able to govern but they're well versed in word games. They've mastered the sound bite and it's the sound bite that sells ideas to the "low information" voter ... not the idea's merit. The "Party of Ideas" has traditionally been short on long term thinking but long on turns of phrase. "Pro-life!" Who could reasonably be "Anti-life"? "Free Market!" Who could possibly be against freedom for the market? "Clean Air Act", "No Child Left Behind", "Patriot Act" - the examples from the last eight years are the culmination of the tactic, demonstrating a blatant disregard for the meanings of words - and allowing for the promotion of policy that does the complete opposite of the real meanings of the words used to sell it. George Orwell would be proud! (Actually, he's probably cringing in his grave. He was vehemently opposed to the tactic - using his classic 1984 to illustrate how devastating the results of its use can be.)
It's been the choice of words, not the soundness of the ideas that has been the hallmark of the Right.
Bravo, Hilary! I think you've preempted the Right Wing word games. It's going to be hard to attack "smart power" and, in this case, the words and the meanings are in alignment!
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