The AP Hands Obama His #1 Talking Point for the Second Presidential Debate

(Update added below)

Tuesday afternoon, just hours before Barack Obama and John McCain meet to chat with Tom Brokaw and real Americans in a Town Hall debate, the Associated Press has moved a story that screams: "Retirement Accounts Have Lost $2 Trillion."

According to the head of the bipartisan Congressional Budget Office, the $2 trillion has been lost in the past 15 months. This upheaval is "devastating workers' savings, forcing people to hold off on major purchases and consider delaying their retirement."

John McCain's campaign, we're told, wants to "turn the page" away from the economy. No doubt. Reality, however, is conspiring against him.

This latest news directly affects voting demographics (workers over age 50 and retirees) that need to "come home" to the Democratic Party on November 4th. It dovetails perfectly into a critique of McCain's support for tying social security to the stock market, which plunged another 500 points today.

Obama needs to mention this story in the debate.... early and often: "Do Americans honestly want four more years of this? Can we take four more years like the past eight years?"

End of film.

UPDATE: Obama did indeed make reference to voter concern about retirement accounts at the beginning of the debate, in answer to the first question (which was "ready made"):

Brokaw: I understand that you flipped a coin. And, Sen. Obama, you will begin tonight. We're going to have our first question from over here in Section A from Alan Shaffer. Alan?

Shaffer: With the economy on the downturn and retired and older citizens and workers losing their incomes, what's the fastest, most positive solution to bail these people out of the economic ruin?

Obama: Well, Alan, thank you very much for the question. I want to first, obviously, thank Belmont University....I think everybody knows now we are in the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. And a lot of you I think are worried about your jobs, your pensions, your retirement accounts, your ability to send your child or your grandchild to college. And I believe this is a final verdict on the failed economic policies of the last eight years, strongly promoted by President Bush and supported by Sen. McCain.....

Comments

[TickleyProductions]

McCain is a desperate candidate. Why anyone takes ANYTHING that he says seriously is beyond me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YUD_MTlPuM

[Shieldmaiden]

I'm so glad my grandmother lives in Canada.

[Openeyes]

I've been wondering when the Obama campaign would pick up on that - they should if they haven't. Run the ad about "how well would your retirement be doing right now if McCain had privatized Social Security as he proposed to do? None of the big banks or wall street saw this coming - would you have and been able to protect your retirement?"

Then they can run the ad (they are already) about McCain taxing your employer paid health benefits, and would slash Medicare and Medicaide.

Also love the you tube video (sorry I don't have the link to post) about the couple getting the bill for "$273,000 for domestic services? That's not ours, who pays $273,000 a year for domestic services? McCain does."

[MizLiz]

Thank God I own my own business. No retirement for me.

[grata2ude]

Same here. Me and my hubby will be working until they plant us. Under Clinton we had it good. Bush destroyed us.

[rinpochet]

Me too. Self employed so will just hang in there and work as long as I can.

[BobsNotWorking]

This Bush economy has destroyed me too. I'm a self employed real estate inspector. I had a pretty good little nest egg saved up, but about fifteen months ago I had to start adding to my income from savings. That is almost gone now and I may loose my home in a few months. With no savings and still three or four years away from a $1,500 per month social security check I'll be working to the end. That, of course, assumes I can find work. Who hires a sixty year old man with no employment history?

[blueshield]

Seniors who've seen their retirement nest egg evaporate will want to know that Mc.Cain plans to cut $1.3 trillion from your Medicare and Medicaid services as well. You're on your own.

He's keeping it as secret as he can, but the WSJ caught him in the act.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122315505846605217.html?mod=special_page_campaign2008_mostpop

[PuppaX]

I've been dreading this town hall, worried that Obama would look like a bully. After the recent viciousness of McCain/Palin, I think he has nothing to worry about.

[Pegi]

obama a bully???? never!!!! don't know where you ever saw him act like a bully!!!!!

[PuppaX]

Only because he would perform so much better than McCain. He would look like a bully only because he is so much more capable.

[Texas4Obama]

And also Senator Obama needs to remind everyone that McCain's camp came out yesterday and said that McCain wants to slash Medicare and Medicaid drastically!
That should turn Florida BLUE - gave over - Obama wins!

[TimmySlagle]

I actually think this WILL be a talking point, but not for Obama.

Many retirees had their investments tied up in Fannie Maes. And Democrats thwarted McCain's attempt to regulate the sub-prime mortgage industry.

[Daps]

"And Democrats thwarted McCain's attempt to regulate the sub-prime mortgage industry."

Regulating through deregulation, naturally. Let the free market sort it out!

[TimmySlagle]

No.

The "Deregulation" tag has been falsely applied to McCain. It is a talking point with no basis in Truth.

He was never big on deregulation (or the free market), and a lot of Conservatives took issue with him for that. Remember McCain/Feingold? How can you call Finance Regulations, "Deregulation?"

Google: "S.190 The Federal Housing Enterprise Regulatory Reform Act of 2005", and note that McCain was a co-sponsor.

[adaugeo]

Baby Boomers will be queued at WalMart for supplemental income at the present rate of the DOWn.
Where are the indictments on FM+FM failures spurring the first $200billion of the economic fiasco?

[milo h minderbinder]

McCain's proposed reforms at fannie may weren't aimed at stopping subprime mortgages. Nor would they have prevented the problems at the many other lenders who were taking far greater risks than FM.

The main reason FM failed was because OTHER companies were the ones taking the huge risks, which took down the entire market and FM with it.

[TimmySlagle]

The other lenders who were taking the risks KNEW they could sell bad mortgages to FMx2. That's why they took those bad risks.

And Barney Frank and Chris Dodd were right there, making sure that door was always open.

Barney's Partner got a great job, and Chris got a below cost mortgage.

[EvasDaddy]

Not a good idea to spit into the wind, my friend.

[bichn]

Nice try but Fannie and Freddie did not bring about the credit crisis. They operate under strict standards that do not allow them to write subprime mortgages. When the subprime bomb exploded, it affected everyone in the home-loan game. McCain is not nor has he ever been FOR REGULATION. In the 90's McCain tried to intervene with regulators for Charles Keating so please do not call him a regulator.

[TimmySlagle]

"tried to intervene with regulators for Charles Keating "

No he didn't. Democrats Alan Cranston, Dennis DeConcini, and Donald Riegle did.

McCain just took campaign contributions from Keating.

[MzTexas]

Well, I know I've lost about $7,000 in the last two months and my investments were "safe," "conservative," investments. Some of my co-workers with higher risk investments have lost much, much more than that.

[StickyStickyMcCain]

John Sydney McCain and Retirement Accounts is like George H.W. Bush surprised to find a price scanner in a grocery store, back in 1992. McCain is of retirement age but, has been in the Senate for 26 years, is very very rich, has 7 homes and 10 cars, that he's going to be surprised to find what is in one's IRA-Based Plans, or Profit-Sharing Plans, or Defined Benefit Plans or 401(k) plans. He can talk about it and feel your pain but does not understand it.