Dear Barack: It's the Economy Stupid

Dear Barack,

Repeat after me: It's the economy, stupid.

Your people read the papers. They read the business page. Hell, they
even read Krugman. So I beg you, stop squabbling with Hillary over
scandalettes. Flip the script: start talking dollars and cents. Senator
McCain gave you a perfect opening. Here's how to take it:

"As many of you know, Senator McCain visited Iraq over the weekend.
He wants to remind everyone how much foreign policy experience he has.
What he doesn't want people reminded of is what he said before the war
in Iraq began: that it would be over quickly, within a matter of weeks.

That was what his vast foreign policy experience told him.

We've now been in Iraq for five years. If Senator McCain has his
way, we may be there another hundred. What McCain refuses to talk about
is the costs of this occupation. He doesn't want to talk about the
thousands of soldiers who have died. And he especially doesn't want to
talk about the ways in which our economy has been ravaged by this
debtors' war.

You see, to Senator McCain 'homeland security' means sending troops
into the wrong country to fight the wrong war. I have a broader vision
of what "homeland security" means. It means finding ways to help the
millions of Americans living in poverty. It means creating jobs. It
means providing an education that will allow our children to compete in
the global marketplace. It means taking the steps necessary to pull our
economy out of its current tailspin.

The majority of our citizens have wanted this occupation over for
years. They know that our economy grows weaker every single day our
soldiers are in Iraq. In fact, if this occupation were a home, it would
have been foreclosed on long ago. The American people don't need another
lecture from Senator McCain about 'victory in Iraq.' What they need is a
leader who can to create economic victories here at home."

I'd follow up with some specifics about how you would spend the
money squandered in Iraq here at home. That's what Americans want to
hear right now. Trust me, I'm one of them.

Still technically unemployed,

Steve

Comments

[Sundialsvc4]

You can look at all three of these sitting Senators and "know them by their fruits."

Through the magic of the Internet you can even dig a little deeper and ferret out their business connections. Seems there's a mighty short distance between the war industry and just about everyone inside the Beltway, exactly as General Eisenhower forewarned.

"The economy," Steve, as seen by these people, "IS The War," and it's doing just fine, bringing in a million dollars every couple of minutes around the clock. Since the prices are hyper-inflated and nobody's watching the coop, most of that money is pure gravy. This is a familiar "I've Got Mine!" that leads all the way to perdition.

As for the profession that you're part of, well, you might get very depressed if you read too many books on crowd psychology. They're playing this thing like a bloody (literally...) keyboard. And, or so they think, "laughing all the way to the bank." Rather like the Germans did between the Wars, but they haven't caught on to that quite yet.

Being a (amateur) historian really sucks sometimes. You know how the story ends and wonder if you can somehow, with your little bitty voice, change it. I've got an idea: you're a storyteller. How about your voice? All your voices? ...

[pilgrim7]

Steve, as much as I love Barack, I have to agree with you completely. I hope the campaign gets your message. He said all there is to say about race. He should just let the media & other racists continue to play the race card, ignore them and move on. He is black. He can't change that. It had to get to this point. He should take the high road, stay the course, run this race as though color were not an issue and tell this country he is fighting for their them, for their jobs, their health concerns, their pocketbooks, the lives of their loved ones. Drive home the economy and what he intends to do about it, just like you said. And keep repeating it until the people get it.

[Nutcase]

Politicians try to play to their strengths and avoid their weaknesses. Does that explain why he doesn't seriously address the economy?

Je pense, donc je suis populiste.

[joebaggadonuts]

Well, after he has the race thing out of the way and has properly introduced himself to America, and after he is definitely the presumptive nominee, THEN he can tell us in an aspirational and unifying way what we can do to make the economy work again.

Might as well let some of the dominoes fall first anyway. Why let the R's get a shot in before they have been properly fitted with the cement overshoes this economy is making for them right now, eh? Maybe even give some time for the cement to set up. Bear Stearns is still too fresh. Half an Euro dollar is not quite there yet. Give it time.

[jorydozier]

I believe Obama has a major speech on the economy coming up soon, maybe tomorrow.

[SCG]

I blame the Media coverage, which spends it's time analyzing the latest mudslinging, than covering the details of a candidates proposals.....less boring in their view, and better for ratings and spin. How else to influence the public to vote as they wish?

[thebohemiangrooves]

gee, Obama doesn't get the economy? shocker...you would think he has intimate knowledge since his biggest donors by far are the banking elite, just like Hillary. They are one and the same. You think they care about you and the economy? they are pawns of the banking elite. Obama' s economic strategist Goolsbee is up here telling canadians "dont worry, Nafta is secure, Obama is just posturing". You will stick with NAFTA and corporate rule and probably end up getting the North American Union that much sooner, complete with the Amero just in time to save the tanking dollar, which was orchestrated by Greenspan (by the same banking elite in the privately run Federal Reserve Bank of course)

Who is his foreign policy strategist? Zbigniew Brzezinski, the grand chessboard man, so expect more foreign wars and meddling and money to the military industrial complex and the banking inustry that loans the money to the government with interest for its wars.

He is advocating a future UN tax even, so, you know, basically parroting everything the bilderberg's and their ilk want, so of course he is backed by the banking elite. I feel sorry for American's that truly pin their hopes for change on Obama. He hasn't done anything for change up until now, so I am not sure what miracles you are expecting.

[MilwaukeeDan]

Mr. Almond, most politicians don't live in the real world, so how can they have any policy experience? They are all lawyers, which are worse than used car salesmen, shills for the rich of this country.

[BBackSoon]

Yes, just keep hammering on the economy. I know I am hurting and so are many others.

[robinhood1]

Tiger Woods just paid $65 million for an estate in the Hamptons, so not every one is hurting in this economy.

[Thorn]

McCain never said the war would be over in weeks. You just have your facts wrong. (But it's not really that, is it? You're guessing. For effect.)

[ceu]

McCain said something awfully close, though. In March, 2003 Meet the Press he said "I believe that this conflict is still going to be relatively short." Not the words of a man envisioning a long-term American occupation of a sovereign country