Every election cycle we hear endless advertisements, campaign speeches, and rhetoric promising impressive things like “Make America Great Again” (Trump) or “Build Back Better” (Biden), but how many of us really know what this mean and when we will have succeeded? All too often promises appear to be generic, catered to the audience of the moment, and focused on individual stories rather than important details. The principle of “providing a scoreboard” is about changing the expectations we have for political promises.
Obtaining a political scoreboard providing clarity and accountability requires 3 things:
- Transparency: From the Center for Political Accountability to Politifact there are plenty of organizations which spotlight the integrity of individuals and policy. While I can’t speak to the impartiality of quality of either of these sites, I shouldn’t have to… politicians should make their focus and expected outcome so clear and so consistent that there shouldn’t be any doubt as to what they aim to achieve.
- Prioritization: Politicians make hundreds of promises throughout their campaign and tenure; so many, that it is difficult to even keep track of them all. Take a look at Politifact’s “Biden Promise Tracker,” or the equivalent “Trump-O-Meter.” Assuming these lists are accurate, which of these are most important? Without a better framework of objectives and prioritization, it is virtually impossible to understand how things fit into the larger picture or if we achieved the most important initiatives.
- Specifics: Finally, we must get more detail from our politicians. In business there is a saying that every goal should be “SMART;” that is: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Timebound. Take another look at the “Biden Promise Tracker,” or the “Trump-O-Meter,” how many of the promises would pass the “SMART” test? By my count, less than 10%. From the withdrawal of troops in Afghanistan to our economy, politicians and legislature need to consistently provide SMART goals.
We will not hit every objective and we can outright expect to fail at some but fear cannot be justification for the omission of SMART goals. If we want to unite our country, we need to start making sure we are all reading from the same sheet of music so you don’t hear one story from CNN and the opposite from Fox.
So what’s our role? Start demanding more from politicians, legislature, and news networks. Reject the emotionally charged stories and rhetoric and push to get transparency, prioritization, and SMART goals. If those three things aren’t provided directly, establish your own expectations so that we can stop fitting a narrative to a story and we can start objectively measuring progress and effectiveness.
