The Democrats new, simple promise of A Better Deal seems aimed directly at the places Democrats need to do better: small town and rural America.
The Democrats' new, simple promise of "A Better Deal" seems to be aimed directly at the places where the party needs to do better if it wants to win back the US House: small town and rural America. Spencer Platt / Getty Images

So, yeah, the new slogan for the Democratic Party is "A Better Deal." Chuck Schumer lays it out here. Nancy Pelosi lays it out here. And a good number of coastal elites HATE it.

As some New York / DC journalists are pointing out, and as FOX News is now amplifying, the full slogan—"A Better Deal: Better Jobs, Better Wages, Better Future"—also sounds a lot like a Papa John's pizza ad.

Okay. But the current President of the United States was elected just nine months ago based in large part on his starring role in The Apprentice, and a lot of the same people who are now sneering at this new slogan's overlap with a down-market pizza chain thought President Trump would never happen.

So maybe it's worth considering that a simple slogan that makes some people think of affordable pizza, while at the same time promising to improve their lives, might be a good thing?

It's at least as plausible as a Trump presidency, and it's worth remembering that a lot of the professional sneering class has just as poor a track record as the Democratic Party when it comes to predicting how average Americans will respond to slogans like, oh, "Make America Great Again."

At a time when only 37 percent of American adults know what the Democratic Party stands for, this attempt at a grand promise that fits into a sound-bite isn't a terrible idea. Clearly, a lot of the country bought into The Art of the Deal as proof of Trump's brilliance and believed his promise to negotiate amazing deals on behalf of forgotten Americans.

Maybe, now that he's repeatedly and spectacularly failed to do that, some might be ready to buy the promise of "A Better Deal"?

Yeah, there's a lot to criticize in the specifics of the Democratic plan—which, for example, doesn't promise Medicare for All as part of its Better Deal. But increasing the minimum wage to $15 an hour nationwide, creating jobs by putting $1 trillion behind new infrastructure, backing paid family leave and sick leave, providing tax credits to small businesses to train (and re-train) workers, and taking on large corporations in ways intended to make life more affordable for strapped Americans—that sounds like something people might get behind, especially in the economically distressed, cheap-pizza-loving, Trump-leaning spots that Democrats have to reach in order to win back the House in 2018.