Nebraska Children Talk Up Obama Tax Plan

One of Senator Barack Obama's successes in the election year thus far is the way he's altered the electoral map, extending the favorable field for the Democrats and cutting from 2004's Red State swath a new clutch of battleground states. Naturally, competing doesn't necessarily mean winning. Still: what is up in Nebraska? Could the Cornhusker State, which, like Maine, splits its electoral votes, yield a point for Obama's column? I wouldn't necessarily bet the remnants of your ravaged portfolio on the possibility. Even so, this recent "Omaha Dispatch" on Mother Jones' MoJoBlog raises eyebrows, if only for how deeply Obama's substantive talking points have penetrated:

My mom went out to take my toddler nephew for a stroller ride around the neighborhood, and I tagged along. We aimed for the playground and plopped him into the baby swing. Nearby, a group of elementary school kids was busy burying one of their own in the sand, and as I eavesdropped, the topic of politics somehow came up. An older boy with an American flag T-shirt seemed to issue a challenge to the younger kids, asking, "Aren't you for McCain?" A chorus of "no's" rose up. "McCain, yuck," one of them shouted, "Obama says he won't raise taxes on anybody making more than 250 million dollars!" "250 thousand," the older kid corrected. "Well, we don't make that much anyway," the younger one responded, "so it doesn't matter."

Comments

[PT6]

The McCain "FEAR OF THE DAY" since Joe the Plumber is Wealth Shifting!
----------­----------­----------­----------­----------­----------­----------­----------­----------­----------­----------­-----

Both McCain's and Obama's Tax Plans Shift the Wealth?

McCain’s Tax Plan - Redistribute Wealth to the Richest 1 to 2%!

1. Biggest TAX CUTS to the Richest 1 to 2%
2. Trickle Down Minuscule Tax Cut to the Rest!

Obama’s Tax Plan - Tax Cuts for Middle Class and all making less than $250,000 Net!

1. Biggest TAX CUTS to 95% of Americans making less than $250,000 Net
2. Remove "BUSH TAX CUTS FOR 5% RICHEST AMERICANS" back to first year under Bush!

Clearly, Both Plans shift the wealth:

Obama's favors the Middle Class!
McCains favors the Richest Class! McCain is Bush's Tax Cuts for Rich SQUARED!

[ToonMoene]

I regularly teach high school students (remedial) courses of mathematics.

Let me tell you this insight in numbers by elementary school kids scares me ...

If you know what misunderstandings I have to handle weekly (is this number greater than or less than zero - is the magnitude of this number ~ 100,000 or ~ 1,000,000 ? etc.) you know how glad I would be with these kids.

And don't get me started on statistics - what percentage of the US population understands what "the margin of error of this poll is 3 %" means ? How many realize that as soon as the number of undecideds rise above 2 % this number becomes meaningless (in the classical, normal distribution statistics, sense) ?

[Nia1999]

"Out of the mouth's of babes." And Sarah Palin does not know her job description.

[toomuchpr]

That these kids can make the logical connection of Obama's tax plan and their family and understand it in quantitative terms of greater than / less than, shows how simple this election can be for 95% of Americans.

Americans - please please please remember this moment in time now and don't get amnesia in 8 years and vote Republican.

"There's and old saying in tennessee, I know it's in Texas, probably in Tenessee that says fool me once... shame on?. shame on you... fool me can't get fooled again." - GWB

[FrictionSoul]

Without any prompting or coaching from us, our 4 year old says "Barack Obama is going to win. Ih Jon McCain wins we are in trouble!"

There you have it, out of the mouth of babes.

Meanwhile why can't Johnny say his lines?

[JJ30]

It's so wonderful to read the stories of parents engaging their kids and talking to them about real issues. I applaud and admire all the parents out there who are investing in their kids futures.

I wish all parents the best of luck and I will pray that each child will have the opportunity to get an education.

[Terriac]

I live in Nebraska. Moved here from California about five years ago. I am delighted to see all the Obama signs in and around Omaha, where I live. We have quite a few liberal-minded neighbors and we discuss the poor state of the nation all the time, and hope that Obama wins. I would love to see Obama take at least the second district. There is a lot of support for him here. My daughter's government class in high school discusses politics all the time, and her teacher is a regular reader of Huff Post. He asked the class if they had heard of the site. My daughter said quite a few kids in class were familiar with it and mentioned that their parents go to the site. Music to my ears.

[cjinx]

Just a little tidbit about what kids in America think:

Nickelodeon just had its Presidential Election....the kids have been right 4 out of 5 times in past elections....this year the kids chose.......BARACK OBAMA!

what does that say!

[Pupadup4oBama]

sad to think then that they voted for Bush...:(

BUT i'm happy they voted for Barack!

[scenecreamer]

yes, they have been right 4 out of the last 5, because they are far more susceptible to media indoctrination. And the candidate with the most to spend can flood radio and television.

Kids don't know the issues! Give me a break. They believe in the tooth fairy!

I too live in Omaha, and I can tell you that the elementary school teachers are influencing the young kids. My first grader came home to tell me she voted for Obama in the mock election. She used to agree with me and repeat my comments in support of Clinton, but she faced pressure from her teachers and classmates and has "switched" over, lol. Kids don't know anymore than most adults. They make decisions based on influence.

"what does that say!", cjinx? It says nothing of any substance. I can't believe the ridiculous assertion that somehow if the kids "know" then it must be the plain and honest truth, lol! Hitler Youth, anyone....

[2sunny]

Incredible­.....Wonde­rful.....i­n reading the "family stories". Your kids are GREAT!
Thank-you for sharing these life enhancing moments!
They know truth when they hear it.
They know vision when they see it.
They know heart when they feel it.
How great thou art....our American family.

[prettycreatures]

My son's after school has become the same way. The teachers say they know the way all the parents are voting. They also say with the kids it has come down to who wants war and who doesn't. My son has even started saying "down with mccain, up with obama" and I didn't teach it to him (but I do say it with him!).

[teacheng]

We should remember that the legions of children for Obama today will write the histories of tomorrow. Future spin is important for future progressives.

Or maybe I'm getting a little too caught up in all this?

[Liberalforsure]

People google PNAC and john mccain. Make sure your sitting down. After you find out this chilling info spread the word.

[BlueAsh]

And I bet most elementary school kids know the three branches of our government and the concept of balance of power.

More than we can say for Palin.

[JJ30]

They may actaully even know what the VP's job is supposed to be.

[BlueAsh]

My kids both are convinced that Obama will take Ohio because all their friends "are voting for Obama." And they observe that there are more and more Obama signs along their bus routes. And they comment on how some kids "vote" for Obama even though their parents won't.

And they are all upset that, by the time they get to be old enough to vote, Obama will be serving his second term, and their first votes cannot be for Obama. These are suburban, mostly white, kids from comfortably middle class families, in Ohio.

During a school show-and-tell event early spring (while the primaries were still raging on), one girl dressed up as Hilary Clinton. Several women (parents), once they found out who she was supposed to be, asked the poor girl the kind of questions one only read about in blogs under pseudo names. And this was in Ohio!

So when the Scholastic survey came out showing that kids preferred Obama, I was not surprised.

[LoyalOpposition]

Daughter and granddaughter (2 yrs old, mind you) walk into the dollar store to look around, as they are leaving the recently opened store, the salesperson tries to give said granddaughter a balloon. Granddaughter says, "No! I want the Obama balloon! (It was a blue, beter quality.)