Listen, folks. I personally really like Obama's tax plan. I really trust him and the Democratic Congress to give us a tax plan that works for all Americans rather than just the wealthy few. I totally reject trickle-down economics and its regressive tax structure.
But if the Obama campaign keeps hammering these things I fear he's just preaching to the choir at this point.
You see, even if most voters know of the Republican failures on the economy, they may not be ready to trust Democrats or Obama on the economy either, especially on TAXES, and for them our reassurances and promises just aren't enough.
It's great that we have facts on our side while they have Bush's economic blunders on theirs and I'm certainly not advocating we stop reminding voters at every turn that Obama provides tax cuts to 95 percent of Americans and that everyone under $250,000 has nothing to worry about.
But if we want to close the deal with disgruntled moderate Republicans...
with independents unsure about Obama or Democrats...
with senior citizens not sure about this new guy with the funny name...
We need to hit McCain and the GOP HARD on Social Security!
As much as all of us believe in how awful John McCain's tax policy is because it is that truly awful, another truth we must recognize is that it's not enough for Democrats to rail against those dastardly, lying Republicans and their tax cuts benefitting the wealthy few at the expense of the vast majority even when that's the case.
If it was, I think quite a few elections the last 25 years would have gone differently.
So why not hit Social Security as hard as we do taxes?
First of all... it's a huge WINNER with voters and while borrow and spend Republicans can scare/fool the public with their "tax and spend liberals" lies to win elections from time to time, as 2005 showed, the public will NOT be fooled when it comes to Republican attacks on Democrats when it comes to Social Security. What's more... perhaps the most crucial voting block Obama needs to convert to his side -- SENIOR CITIZENS -- is against Social Security privatization by a 3-1 margin. A July Rasmussen poll also finds Dems have an 11 percent edge on Social Security.
Of course, that's not surprising because if it wasn't for Democrats and our greatest Democrat and greatest president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, there would be NO Social Security.
We can never insure one hundred percent of the population against one hundred percent of the hazards and vicissitudes of life, but we have tried to frame a law which will give some measure of protection to the average citizen and to his family against the loss of a job and against poverty-ridden old age.
This law, too, represents a cornerstone in a structure which is being built but is by no means complete. It is a structure intended to lessen the force of possible future depressions. It will act as a protection to future Administrations against the necessity of going deeply into debt to furnish relief to the needy. The law will flatten out the peaks and valleys of deflation and of inflation. It is, in short, a law that will take care of human needs and at the same time provide for the United States an economic structure of vastly greater soundness.
Where does John McCain stand on this issue? Well, as a longtime proponent of privatization, just this year he called Social Security itself "an absolute disgrace."
The idea of a safety net for the aged and unemployed is not any more a disgrace than it was during the Great Depression when it was introduced around the same time McCain was born at the dawn of Social Security seven decades ago.
I don't know about you but I'm glad Social Security is there when I am banging my head every two weeks seeing my 401k lose money even as I put more and more money in and am praying my investments turn around after 8 years of George Bush and the Dow Jones is just as low at it was when Bush took office. Heck if John McCain had his way we'd be seeing our Social Security disappear right along with our 401ks.
Of course maybe a guy who doesn't know how many houses he owns and thinks people who make just under $5 million a year are middle class doesn't need to worry about Social Security checks every month helping him pay the bills.
But the rest of our country's seniors sure as heck know how important Social Security is, the 600,000 people who have lost jobs this year know how important Social Security is and they know Democrats know how important Social Security is. They know Barack Obama and Joe Biden sure as hell know how important Social Security is and they must be elected Nov. 4 to ensure the Republicans can't turn our nation's safety net into just another golden parachute for the greedy, and gosh-darn irresponsible CEOs on Wall Street.
...
Now, last (and probably least), here's an idea I have for a campaign commercial (you all may think it's awful but it just came to me) and I am just wondering if either the Obama campaign or an enterprising Kossack could make it or something like it a reality.
I'm not very particular about the exact symbols used but I really think it's a crucial sort of theme I'd like to see visually presented because I think it could be a powerful ad in this campaign. And I would like to see the Obama campaign mix up its ads so it's not all stock photos of foreclosure signs with superimposed quotes day after day.
Anyway, here goes...
NARRATOR: Americans are facing a tougher time than ever trying to balance mortgage payments, soaring college tuition and uncertain retirement (I'm imagining a bunch of people walking on a tightrope or a really skinny beam) even as higher food prices, gas prices and health care costs conspire to make things even more difficult for the average American family (the going gets more difficult with more wobbling or maybe even someone almost slips but someone reaches out a hand to help them back up).
NARRATOR: Meanwhile, John McCain, just like George Bush and the rest of the Republicans in Washington, want to entrust Social Security, America's safety net for seniors and the unemployed (the camera pans below the tightrope walkers to the safety net beneath them) to the greedy and corrupt CEOS (here we cut to a stereotypical well off old white guy in a nice jet sipping champagne and laying back reading a sort of Wall Street Journal blaring bad headlines about the economy) responsible for more and more Americans losing their paychecks and seeing their 401ks go up in smoke? (back to the regular people wobbling on the tightrope)
NARRATOR: Now that the pain on Main Street has finally got the attention of Wall Street (we cut back to the guy on the plane and an emergency sign says it's in trouble and he's panicking), John McCain's plan for Social Security is to turn it over to he people who got us in this economic mess in the first place? (Rich guy shuts his briefcase of money and we see it stamped with labels like the Enron, Global Crossing, and other type logos and straps on a parachute ready to head out of the plane)(we cut back to Main Street types no longer able to stay on the tightrope)
NARRATOR: With this uncertain economy, we can't let John McCain risk turning Main Street's safety net into more golden parachutes for Wall Street.
Now I know this is really probably not that effective as exactly I described it as it's probably too complicated a message in terms of sort of having two ads in one, but I just want to see SOMETHING from the Obama camp or its surrogates that gets to attack McCain on Social Security, a potent reminder of why people should turn to Democrats in troubled economic times and a reminder of exactly how Democrats have made them safe.
And if you don't like my ad, fellow Kossack dansac directed me to another cool ad someone came up with to hit the issue of social security that imagines what life would be like had social security been privatized in 2005:
http://strategy08.wordpress.com/...
UPDATED:
I just found this DNC video on YouTube that actually featured James Roosevelt, grandson of FDR, talking about Social Security last month. Wish this message could be heard by more and wish Obama could tie this to his plan to eliminate income tax for seniors: