Early word via the Page is that Barack Obama, fresh off new Frontrunner Status, will take the battle directly to John McCain and Hillary Clinton today over whose caused the economic weakness, and how he intends to fix it. First, his Framing:
The fallout from the housing crisis that’s cost jobs and wiped out savings was not an inevitable part of the business cycle. It was a failure of leadership and imagination in Washington – the culmination of decades of decisions that were made or put off without regard to the realities of a global economy and the growing inequality it’s produced.
It’s a Washington where George Bush hands out billions in tax cuts year after year to the biggest corporations and the wealthiest few who don’t need them and don’t ask for them
It’s a Washington where decades of trade deals like NAFTA and China have been signed with plenty of protections for corporations and their profits,
Next, Obama gets real on what's causing our economic woes:
It’s a Washington where politicians like John McCain and Hillary Clinton voted for a war in Iraq that should’ve never been authorized and never been waged – a war that is costing us thousands of precious lives and billions of dollars a week that could’ve been used to rebuild crumbling schools and bridges; roads and buildings; that could’ve been invested in job training and child care; in making health care affordable or putting college within reach.
This is important because he's now equating economic failure with John McCain and Hillary Clinton's votes in Iraq. Interestingly, in a poll by the AP-Ipos conducted last week revealed that 68% of Americans believed the best Economic Stimulus would be Getting OUT OF IRAQ! The Population equates the war with economic problems, and that may be why Obama is really starting to catch on. In this speech, he clearly links this position to the failures in Judgement by Clinton and the outright insanity of John McCain.
Next, he hits Clinton on NAFTA
You know, in the years after her husband signed NAFTA, Senator Clinton would go around talking about how great it was and how many benefits it would bring. Now that she’s running for President, she says we need a time-out on trade. No one knows when this time-out will end. Maybe after the election.
I don’t know about a time-out, but I do know this – when I am President, I will not sign another trade agreement unless it has protections for our environment and protections for American workers. And I’ll pass the Patriot Employer Act that I’ve been fighting for ever since I ran for the Senate – we will end the tax breaks for companies who ship our jobs overseas, and we will give those breaks to companies who create good jobs with decent wages right here in America.
Blue Collar Worker, Meet Barack Obama....
Pulling no Punches in laying blame where it should be layed, Barack does have several major new initiatives discussed in this plan:
1) Infrastructure Spending
I’m proposing a National Infrastructure Reinvestment Bank that will invest $60 billion over ten years. This investment will multiply into almost half a trillion dollars of additional infrastructure spending and generate nearly two million new jobs – many of them in the construction industry that’s been hard hit by this housing crisis.
2) Patriot Employment Act to Protect jobs in Trade
I’ll pass the Patriot Employer Act that I’ve been fighting for ever since I ran for the Senate – we will end the tax breaks for companies who ship our jobs overseas, and we will give those breaks to companies who create good jobs with decent wages right here in America.
3) Energy Investments
The question is not whether a clean energy economy is in our future, it’s where it will thrive. I want it to thrive right here in the United States of America; right here in Wisconsin; and that’s the future I’ll fight for as your President.
My energy plan will invest $150 billion over ten years to establish a green energy sector that will create up to 5 million new jobs over the next two decades – jobs that pay well and can’t be outsourced. We’ll also provide funding to help manufacturers convert to green technology and help workers learn the skills they need for these jobs.”
In my opinion, this is the speech a Frontrunner can give, to take the mantle of Economic Leader. He understands the causes of the problems: NAFTA + IRAQ + Mortgage Lenders.
He Understands the ways out of this: Investment in Infrastructure and Education for new Jobs + Fair Trade to protect the jobs we have.
After today's speech at the Janesville, Wisconsin GM Plant, Barack Obama will have answered two future critiques:
1- It's the economy Stupid
2- Where's the Beef (on the economy)
Protecting the Flank, Leading as a Frontrunner... All I know is that Barack is looking more and more like the Next President every day. I think he's hitting the right notes on Economic POlicy and I think this speech could cause Paul Krugman to throw his hands up in Defeat. There is little or nothing Krugman can argue against this "Beef".