John McCain has been reciting the line, "He wants to share the wealth." When the words drip from McCain's mouth the line sounds like an epithet, a slur, the prelude to, "He's a Socialist."
Watching McCain on Meet the Press with Tom Brokaw this morning the phrase, "He wants to share the wealth," grated on my nerves. McCain repeated it often as though it was an obvious killing blow to Obama. And even though Brokaw pressed McCain on several different economic issues, Brokaw lacked the appropriate catch-phrase in reply to instantly show how stupid this McCain attack is - for it is stupid.
Join me on the flip-side where we provide the media with the counter narrative and search for an equally pithy catch-phrase that puts the current McCain slogan in its deservedly unfavorable light.
Here's the appropriate narrative as I see it:
OK, let's NOT share the wealth. We'll let the CEO's with their multi-million dollar bonuses and their golden parachutes keep it all while workers see their hourly wages go down or fail to keep pace with inflation.
OK, let's NOT share the wealth. We'll concentrate the wealth into the hands of a select few so the rich can get richer. The poor can get poorer. And the middle class can shrink smaller and smaller.
OK, let's NOT share the wealth - unless it means rewarding Wall Street's stupidity and greed with bailouts and guarantees.
OK, let's NOT share the wealth. Let's provide tax breaks and incentives for wealthy corporations to move jobs overseas and to set their headquarters in off-shore tax-havens.
Wait - isn't this exactly what we already have? Aren't these the economic philosophies that got us to this point? Trickle-down without the trickle. Wealth has not been shared. The average American has seen real wages decline, debt soar, and the gap between rich and poor get wider.
So, by attacking, "sharing the wealth" McCain is saying nothing more than, we don't need change. It's just more lipstick on the pig. Here are some ideas I have in response - but I'm sure you have some of your own. Add them in the comments and let's find the best riposte to McCain's grating, "He wants to share the wealth."