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Attention Span Limited, Wanted #1 Issue for America
There are many fronts Democrats can and will focus on in the General Election, but they would do well to keep one of them at the top.
McCain's top priority is clear, Winning in Iraq. It allows him to remain "positive", while highlighting his secondary arguments that Democrats want us to lose and Republicans will keep us safe.
Do we follow along and make our #1 Issue, Getting out of Iraq? I don't think so, as it requires a much more nuanced argument about how we do it and the public doesn't handle nuance well. If we do, I expect "Reversible" will be a key word.
Fixing our Economy? Seems like a good idea considering the growing impact (housing, debt, jobs, etc..) on more and more Americans. It is an area where McCain is weak. It can be tied back to spending in Iraq. The myth that capitalism is inherently good and regulation bad is breaking down, but I worry that hitting on this point will move the argument back to big government, spending, and socialism. We should continue to fight for transparency and let the public shouts for protection grow.
Energy Independence could be a smart way to go. Everytime we fill up the gas tank we get a reminder. It can be tied to Iraq (Middle East), the Economy (inflation / innovation), and Global Warming.
Taming the Healthcare Beast should be on the list, but I doubt it gets many votes. The attention in the primary has been on universal coverage, but in my opinion this would be a mistake in the general election. It needs to be about controlling costs, removing ineffiiciencies, coverage for children to reach a majority. It leads too much into nuance.
Is it enough to just run on a theme of Change that touches on all these areas? What do you think the message should be?
Comments (6)
You're absolutely right about Iraq. It can't be the #1 issue.
The #1 issue needs to be the economy. Framed in a way that fits the "change" message. Get Axelrod to think up the exact words -- "Prosperity We Can Believe In" or whatever. The central theme needs to be about voters' everyday lives, not about a country they barely know how to find on a map.
Reducing Iraq *spending* is a subtopic. John McCain wants to continue the failed policies of the Bush era and mortgage your childrens' future in order to fight a civil war in Iraq.
Energy independence and "environmental security" (like that phrase?) are subtopics.
April 8, 2008 11:04 AM | Reply | Permalink
I do like "environmental security" especially when you look at what's happening with grain and world food supply. I don't think they have hit enough on energy independence. Thanks for the comments!
April 8, 2008 11:59 AM | Reply | Permalink
I think that if it's Obama, he's pretty much going to have to stick with the "Change" message and maybe highlight a few vetted programs. I realize that saying this will get me hate mail, but when you delve into some of his specifics, he'd really only look good beside McCain and some of his stuff would be easy to rip apart.
Of course the platform hasn't been written and there's still time for some fine-tuning, but if it were me, I'd pick some things to hammer, then stick with the "hope" and "change".
April 8, 2008 11:38 AM | Reply | Permalink
No hate mail, but you are obviously trying to provoke with your general statement about Obama. I'm quite happy to have a discussion about his specifics and compare them against Hillary. If you do it in context with what should be our #1 priority please reply here, otherwise do your own blog post and I'll comment there.
April 8, 2008 12:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm honestly not trying to provoke and I'm about as neutral as you can be in the Democratic race because I really don't care which candidate wins, I think they both have strengths and weaknesses.
I've also never contrasted either candidate's specific planks (outside of maybe a headline story) because I don't want to give any fodder or ideas to the Republicans. It's for this reason that I won't predict what the Chamber of Commerce or the Club for Growth will say about specific proposals, though I'm sure they already know where they're going to begin.
With all that said, I will make the generalized statement (because Huckabee has already made the same charge) that there's a lot of spending in the Obama plan and there's not really a way to pay for all of it. Which, if you combine that perception with his advocacy of "pay-as-you-go" and his vocal support of rolling back the Bush tax cuts, it could be fairly easy for them to try and paste a "tax & spend" label on the guy.
Generalizations, "we should really do something about", hope and change have gotten him this far and there are things that he could trumpet with wide appeal (fair trade, worker's rights, health care), but if it ain't broke, why fix it?
April 8, 2008 12:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
...and where no one would think I'm full of gunk, here's an article that I grabbed from a quick google, which would give you a key phrase (with or without hyphens) to show that the Republicans are already headed down that road.
April 8, 2008 1:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
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