This is my first diary, so be gentle!... I'm no blogger. I run big web forums. ;-)
I saw Biden today here in my region, speaking in Sarasota FL. He spoke of several things central to Obama's campaign, and he did a great job of both firing up the crowd and getting the message out to the media that was present.
But while listening to the part of his stump speech about McCain's lousy healthcare plan, it occurred to me that the Democrats are missing out on some angles of attack that I feel would be much more effective.
Follow me below the fold for more...
Biden's bread and butter speech broadly discusses the costs of McCain's industry-friendly healthcare proposal, and how much it neglects the uninsired, while soaking the insured.
One of Biden's key assertions is to knock McSame's healthcare plan about how it would make worker healthcare benefits taxable (which run $12-14k a year), and then give workers a tax credit of just $5k to put towards that increase in taxable income.
I think that all of the Democrats and especially Biden, need to do 2 key things here which could devastate the Republican position, even with some of their own voters.
- Dems need to do a better job of succinctly stating the numbers of McSame's plan, and doing the math openly for people, out loud. Something to the effect of, "John McCain is proposing what amounts to a $14k healthcare cost increase for the average family, and only a $5k tax credit to offset that increase. This means not only is John McSame proposing to raise your taxes by several thousand dollars a year, but he wants to lower your health benefits at the same time."
- Dems need to pounce on the McSame plan with a great canard that links McSame's plan to something that all Americans despise and mistrust; The IRS. Dems need to come out and state something to the effect of, "So we all know we have a healthcare crisis in this nation, and we know that the next Administration has to have a sound plan to address it. John McCain's answer to the national healthcare crisis is to bring in the IRS, and have them tax your healthcare benefits. How does involving the IRS in your heathcare decisions solve anything?"
I feel that if the Dems better articulate their position in language and with tactics that 'ham and eggers' can empathize with, then they will soundly defeat McSame on the dual message of being out of touch on the economy and being obligated by his loyalty to special interests within his party's base to perpetuate the politics and policies of Bush.
If you were an Obama/Biden campaign adviser, how would you attack the industry-friendly McSame healthcare plan?