I just watched Obama's Press guy on the Joe Scare-boro show. He was asked about the so-called gas tax holiday and launched into a very accurate, technical, well-thought out, academic, but wholly forgettable response.
If the Republicans have done nothing, they have zeroed in on the art of short, repeatable answer. I will grant you, that having a fifth grader in the Whitehouse made this easy and absolutely necessary, however, Democrats have to learn how to break it down:
For example, when opposing the Patriot Act, habeus corpus and other extra-constitutional power grabs, don't talk about competing constitutional theories, just say: THIS IS STILL AMERICA! 9-11 Didn't change that!
THE GAX TAX: The government giveth, the oil companies take away. If we thought folks would actually see it, we might support it!
INFLATION:
This "pass it on to the consumer" is finally breaking the working man's back. In Florida, hurricanes coming? Raise insurance rates and pass it on to the consumer. Airlines paying more for fuel? Pass it on to the consumer. Grocery store paying more for delivery costs? Pass it on to the consumer. Electrical utility company sustain damage to equipment during a storm? Pass it on to the consumer. State revenues low? Increase taxes and pass it on to the consumer. The working man has been carrying it all, with no more money coming in to do it with and is saying: When will somebody take some of this off of me?!
TALKING TO ENEMIES:
The surge is working because we talked to the Sunnis who were shooting at us, but we shouldn't talk to Cuba, who haven't fired a shot?
IRAQ:
Tell those companies doing business and profiteering in Iraq, the trough is about to dry up! Why is it, the only time Republicans say "money is no object" or "spare no expense" is when it comes to war? Why not the new GI Bill, New Orleans, Children's Healthcare, or education? We will not build another bridge in Baghdad until we build them in our big cities! How can you build another's house and ignore the maintenance on our own?
Billions for Baghdad, borrowing for us!
RUN-UP TO WAR
John McCain, says "we thought" Iraq had WMD's. We need a president, inquiring enough to KNOW. You can not lead, if you are so easily MISLED.
GRAND FINALE: Put up a clock/timer that shows the cost of the war by the second and have Obama stand in front of it as it ticks upward. Weave state and local cutbacks as a result of funding into talking points.
UPDATE: Why talk with our enemies Mr Obama? So when I talk to Mothers and Fathers of the fallen, should such talks fail and conflict ensues, I can tell them honestly, I did all I could to avoid the situation we as a nation find ourselves in, we exhausted every measure so that this day would not come and a grateful nation is sorry for your loss. What does the most powerful nation on the planet lose, by talking? Nothing. Doing so, does not show us as weak, but reinforces our strength.
UPDATE 2: ON MCCAIN'S EXPERIENCE AND FAILURE IN JUDGMENT REGARDING AUTHORIZING THE WAR IN IRAQ: You can't count experience, if when experience counted, you failed!
UPDATE 3:
SIZE OF GOVERNMENT - Conservatives argue for small government and say that liberals want big government. I want good government, effective government. The size of FEMA after Katrina was not the problem, it was the effectiveness of FEMA.
CAMPAIGN FINANCE - I have decided to go a new novel way, to the people! Whatever that makes me, I am happy to be, but I am casting my lot with the people. When you check the box on your tax return, you don't know who will get your money. Some people are having their money go to McCain, that do not support him, likewise if I did the same. Atleast the people who give to this campaign support this campaign. I am relying on the purest form of public financing .. .by the public.