Politics & Power Quote by Frank Luntz

“Reasonably well” lands like false modesty: a soft-gloved brag that mirrors Frank Luntz’s entire brand. The line performs the very technique it’s describing, using understatement and novelty to make influence sound like ingenuity rather than power. Luntz isn’t claiming he invented corporate persuasion; he’s claiming he imported the darker arts of political messaging into boardrooms and sold it as innovation.

The subtext is a confession dressed as a case study. “Language and politics” is shorthand for framing: choosing words that pre-load moral conclusions, converting public questions into private advantages. Luntz built a career advising Republicans on how to rename policies so they feel less threatening and more inevitable. When that sensibility migrates to the corporate world, it doesn’t just help sell products; it helps sell narratives about labor, regulation, climate, and responsibility. The line hints at a world where consumer sentiment and voter sentiment are basically the same raw material, and the same toolkit can manage both.

The context matters: the last decade is the era when corporations learned they can’t be “above politics” because the marketplace is politics by other means. Brand purpose, crisis PR, culture-war positioning, ESG backlash - all of it depends on language that sounds natural, not manufactured. Luntz frames this as something “never been done before,” a convenient myth that flatters the client and elevates the consultant. The quiet tell is that he doesn’t mention truth, only strategy. That omission is the point.