There's been a lot of talk around here lately and in regards to Frank Rich's column this weekend about policy versus ideas. May I suggest that we need to focus on one simple to understand brand and message.
It's about the American People, Stupid
It's not about:
Lawmakers
Corporations
Lobbyists
Pharmaceuticals
Big Oil
The Defense Industry
The Iraq people
The Mexican people
It's about THE AMERICAN PEOPLE.
It's about (more below):
It's about the working class family where the parents are working so many hours that there's no time for the kids.
It's about those ready for retirement who aren't able to save any money to retire.
It's about those men and women who's jobs are being outsourced overseas.
It's about the parents who can't afford to put aside money for their children's college education.
It's about the mom and dad who are afraid for their kids safety while they're at school.
It's about all those who can't get emergency medical services because of budget cuts and the strain placed on those systems by illegal immigrants.
It's about the US soldiers, asked to fight a war based on lies, and asked to fight without the proper equipment to do their jobs.
It's about those US soldiers who have served their country and their contracts, but who are not allowed to go home.
It's about the US veterans whose benefits keep getting cut.
It's about those National Guard service men and women who were forced to leave their families and good solid jobs for months at a time with no promise of when they might return and to what kind of life and career.
It's about those legally registered voters around this country whose voting rights are taken away.
It's about our senior citizens who can't pay for their prescription medicine because the Pharmaceutical companies write the Medicaid laws.
It's about every uninsured American who stresses everyday, worrying that they might get sick or injured and be forced into bankruptcy.
It's about those law abiding American citizens who are not treated equally just because of their gender preference.
It's about the US citizens and legal immigrants who worked hard to become citizens losing jobs to illegal immigrants because corporations care more about paying the cheapest wages possible.
It's about standing up for those Americans who can't stand up for themselves.
It's about our children and grand children and not leaving them an environment that's so polluted and strained, that their health will be forever compromised.
It's about our children and grand children and not leaving them a debt so appalling, that they will never be able to pay it off.
And it's about every single law abiding American citizen seeing their rights and liberties stripped away by an administration and a Republican party more concerned about spying on us that protecting us.
So for all those Dennis Hastert's trying to pad their bank books, for all those Jerry Lewis's trying to get jobs for their wives and daughters, for all those Joe Lieberman's who care more about his position than the people they serve, for all those Tom Delay's who care more about power than respecting the American people, and for all those Dick Chaney's and George Bush's who care more about empire building and pilfering the public treasury than protecting the US constitution and the US people, I say:
It's about the American People, Stupid
The Democrats need to focus their brand and message on how the Democrats are for the 99% of us who worry about all of those items listed above. The Republicans are all about making money for themselves, their families, and their friends - and that's it. The Democrats are the party of the American people. The American people come first.