Peggy Noonan on symbols

Peggy Noonan, who is always worth reading, has a column about symbols up. Her final bit is an encouragement for the Democratic Party to renounce the anti-Christmas and anti-Religion people. The more interesting bit to me is this part though:

It seemed to me that the Democrats in the last cycle really did think there is some high magic in the creation of political rhetoric, and that Republicans do some voodoo that they, being ingenuous and honest, haven't quite gotten a handle on yet. As long as Democrats think that, Republicans will win. But just for the record, it's a kind of crazy and paranoid way to look at rhetoric--secret codes and secret code receivers. Here's a real secret. The most successful phrases are not imposed top-down from the candidate to the people; they bubble up and emerge and are used by the candidate. That's how 'It's the economy, stupid' came about. The American people let the Clinton campaign know the biggest issue for them in 1992 was the economy. Bill Clinton received the message--it was all over his polls--and used it. Another way of saying this is that Reagan didn't magically ride out from the West with a new political philosophy that he talked the American people into backing. A particular kind of conservatism was a rising tide in the 1970s and '80s and he was part of it. He believed in it; in time he became its most persuasive explainer and exhorter, and its natural leader. The meaning of Reaganism bubbled up around him and within him. Nothing had to be imposed from the top down. No symbols had to be manipulated, whatever that means.

To boil this down: You can only be so successful at selling things people don't want to buy and sincerity matters.