David Axelrod may be an expert at electoral politics, but he's a naif at the politics of government. In the debate over extending the Bush income tax cuts, there are not merely two options, cave to the constant Republican desire to further advantage rich people or do nothing.
There is the third way (heh): Hammer Republicans every goddamn day for holding the middle class extension hostage. Go on TV as often as possible and say:
Our tax cut is for 100% of the population, yet the Republicans want even more for those who make more than a quarter million dollars a year.Say:
Even the most wealthy people in America will get the same tax cut as everyone else on their first quarter million dollars of income. That's not enough for the Republicans. I guess they know who butters their bread.Say:
Democrats are ready to pass the law to give Americans the hundreds of extra dollars that we all deserve. Republicans think that 98% of you don't deserve anything at all unless their wealthy friends get huge handouts above and beyond what you'll get. We Democrats don't believe in Republican welfare for the rich.Democrats are way too damn conciliatory. Yes, we want to get things done. Yes, what we want matters and needs to be done. But our lily-livered Washington representatives need to learn how to fight back against the vicious kleptocracy of Republican defense of established wealth and power.
3 comments:
Go to Cooper's Union Defcon 4. Put Obama himself up there saying it. We simply do not hear enough from him. After 2 years of talking and doing what the electorate eschews, it's time to talk and do nothing.
Gee I posted that and saw that your post was entitled "How to win at politics." Man, do I get some belly laughs here.
Oh, yeah, the electorate doesn't want a cut in its taxes. Riiight.
What we don't get from Obama is words that hold Republicans accountable for their ceaseless obstruction and the mostly ignorant objections they succeeded in manufacturing out of their lies in the electorate. OK, they won by doing that. It doesn't speak well of their character, but they do know how to sleaze through the game.
I'm advocating a way for a Democrat to play hardball and win. But he has to be willing to pin the tail on the elephant repeatedly, colorfully, and emphatically enough times to penetrate the advertising culture of citizen who mostly aren't paying attention to anything less than Fox-level saturation coverage.
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