Mark Mardell, BBC North America editor, looks at the problems the Democrats are having in the USA in explaining their policies to an inceasingly unhappy electorate.

He’s not taking sides. No sirree!

But read this awesome passage (emphasis added):

There is little doubt that the Obama administration is widely perceived as extending the role of federal government, while it seems that a majority of Americans dislike and distrust big government. The Democrats don’t seem to know how to cope with this.

They could argue that it is a misperception; they could maintain that all government is big government these days; they could argue that big government protects little people. It really doesn’t matter too much what their rationale is, as long as they have one. The Democrats have a great communicator as president, but at the moment, they don’t seem to have a story to tell.

Excellent.

Liberals – if you don’t have a story, make one up! Say whatever it takes to stay afloat, regardless of the truth!

Now we know the BBC’s guiding philosophy, a lot of things are much clearer.