The ongoing financial crisis presents a great opportunity to Team Obama to move beyond pigs and lipstick and remind voters why they dislike the GOP so much. There's no need to get hyper-technical about what caused what but Obama should use this event to highlight clear policy differences and propose specific solutions voters, particularly swing voters, will like. Few people will be directly affected by the fall of Lehman Brothers but many more will be impacted indirectly and millions are concerned about their jobs and financial situation and see what's going on as a red light, telling them something bad is going on. Obama can recognize this and address it.
There's a great many ways this can be done. My proposal is simple. Focus on two points:
- The need for a stronger government role in the markets. For better or worse Democrats are seen as the 'mommy' party, always trying to control and protect, so we might as well use it to our advantage when we can. This is one of those times. No need to get into great specifics, just explain that we, unlike McCain, see the problem and are willing to address it.
- Tax cuts. Explain that in this time of need Obama is proposing greater tax cuts for the majority of Americans than the GOP. Obama already has this proposal, he just needs to make it clearer.
There are other ways to accomplish the same thing. My only hope is that the Obama campaign use this to change the debate and move harder towards taking the offensive