NOTE: Great First-Person Report on this Town-Hall from Smash Artist
Great news, Obama is taking control of the messaging today following ridiculous back-and-forth on non-issues, and he's playing the "economy card" by releasing a new Emergency Economic Plan today in Florida (streaming live on CNN.COM now):
Senator Obama today released the following statement on the latest jobs report and unveiled an Emergency Economic Plan that will take the excess profits of oil companies to help working families deal with energy costs with new $1,000 rebate checks and enact a $50 billion package to save more than 1 million jobs.
A stimulus with tax rebate checks was nothing new, but taxing windfall profits is. This is a timely move designed to jump on the news of the huge oil profits and the terrible job losses.
More on this below, including the full statement from the campaign and the plan itself:
The first part of Obama’s plan is an emergency energy rebate ($500 to individual workers, $1,000 to families) as soon as this fall.
"This rebate will be enough to offset the increased cost of gas for a working family over the next four months," Obama said. "Or, if you live in a state where it gets very cold in the winter, it will be enough to cover the entire increase in your heating bills. Or you could use the rebate for any of your other bills or even to pay down debt
Separately, Obama’s plan includes a $50 billion stimulus package that his campaign claims would save more than 1 million jobs.
Half of the money would go to state governments, which are facing big budget shortfalls, and half would be used for national infrastructure, including replenishing the Highway Trust Fund, rebuilding roads and bridges, and repairing schools.
Really smart - not only putting stimulus in the hands of consumers, but helping local governments that desperately need the cash to invest in our infrastructure - a move that will also build much-needed jobs.
And note the timeliness of it:
Obama announced his plan 27 minutes after a Labor Department report showed unemployment hit a four-year high of 5.7 percent in July — the highest rate since March 2004, when it was 5.8 percent.
"We need to do more," Obama said in a statement. "That’s why today I’m announcing a two-part emergency plan to help struggling families make ends meet and get our economy back on track.
Great work Obama. It's our job to help make sure this important economic announcement breaks through the clutter of the "race card" distraction thrown our way by the McCain campaign. I'd LOVE to see this plan in an ad ASAP.
Here's the full campaign release (w/link to the 6-part plan itself):
Senator Obama today released the following statement on the latest jobs report and unveiled an Emergency Economic Plan that will take the excess profits of oil companies to help working families deal with energy costs with new $1,000 rebate checks and enact a $50 billion package to save more than 1 million jobs.
"Today, we learned that 51,000 jobs were lost last month, the seventh straight month of job loss – now totaling 463,00 jobs lost since the beginning of this year. I’ve already called for an economic stimulus package on two different occasions this year, and much of what I’ve proposed has passed in Congress. These efforts have made some difference. But with job losses mounting, prices rising, increased turbulence in our financial system, and a growing credit crunch, we need to do more."
"That’s why today I’m announcing a two-part emergency plan to help struggling families make ends meet and get our economy back on track. The first part of my plan is a $1,000 emergency energy rebate that could go out to families as soon as this fall. This rebate will be enough to offset the increased cost of gas for a working family over the next 4 months. Or, if you live in a state where it gets very cold in the winter, it will be enough to cover the entire increase in your heating bills. Or you could use the rebate for any of your other bills or even to pay down debt. As we provide relief, we must also be mindful of the swelling budget deficit. That is why I am proposing that we pay for this rebate by taxing the windfall profits of oil companies so we can use some of their record profits to help families pay record prices."
"The second part of my plan is a $50 billion stimulus to help jump-start job creation and help local communities that are struggling due to our economic downturn. Half of this stimulus will go to state governments that are facing big budget shortfalls. The other half of this stimulus will be used to invest in our national infrastructure, replenish the Highway Trust Fund, rebuild our crumbling roads and bridges, and repair our crumbling schools."
"Today’s jobs report is an urgent reminder that we cannot afford four more years of the failed Bush economic policies, and that is what Senator McCain is offering. He’s proposing to cut the gasoline tax paid by the oil companies and trust that they will pass on the savings in the form of lower prices at the pump. And he’s also proposing tax cuts for corporations and the wealthiest Americans in the hopes that a little bit of it will trickle down to ordinary Americans. I do not believe that giving $4 billion in new tax cuts to oil companies will create any jobs or save you any money. I believe that if we want relief for families, we should give relief to families, not oil companies. If we want to create jobs, we should do more to make work pay for ordinary Americans, not boost the profits of oil companies. It’s time to restore fairness and balance to our economy and we can start by passing the emergency economic plan that I’m proposing today."
The full plan is available HERE
CROSS-POSTED AT STRATEGY '08
UPDATE: Obama just mocked McCain in his town hall:
"John McCain has spent most of the past month not talking about his ideas, but about me. Frankly, I say this respectfully, he’s doing that because he doesnt have any new ideas."
I could have done without the "say this respectfully," but otherwise, great stuff.
UPDATE 2: Kossack Smash Artist went to the town hall today and will be giving a first-person report on it, both here and at Strategy '08. Should be interesting.
UPDATE 3: Here's SMASH ARTIST'S REPORT