Obama wonks on the trail
Wed Jan 09, 2008 at 07:54:10 PM PDT
Over at Balloon Juice, John Cole makes a substantive but not wholly accurate point that Obama "is not selling himself on [his] policies or positions... I like Obama just fine, but if you think he is gonna make it through a general election doing nothing but 'elevating' you with crap about 'change' and 'hope,' you are fooling yourself."
While I agree that in the past four weeks Obama has relied a bit too much on themes of "change" and "hope," he positively bored audiences throughout 2007 with policy specifics. And so as the meme is developing that Obama is all sizzle and no steak, he has to publicly re-introduce his inner wonk, at least up to a point.
I'm here to help. (Disclaimer: I am not a paid staff member for Obama, but I have given him money.) For those of you who forgot, or never knew to begin with -- go figure, the press rarely reports on the substance of policy speeches -- here's some recent history.
As recently as Dec. 3 in Iowa, Obama proposed a Credit Card Bill of Rights "that would prevent credit card companies from raising interest rates without giving consumers the chance to opt out of the agreement. Obama's plan would ban rate increases on past debt. It would also prevent credit card companies from charging interest on transaction fees." (This would be a very good thing for Obama to talk about right now, IMHO -- and with the economy heading into recession, all the candidates need to talk more about how to address the subprime disaster, the failing dollar, and declining employment.)
In July Obama gave a speech specifying how he would tackle poverty at a fundamental, root level. And so said the Washington Post:
Although Obama offered some of the same proposals as Edwards, such as a transitional jobs program and an expanded earned-income tax credit, he presented a sharply different overall objective: fixing inner-city areas so they become places where families have a shot at prospering, without having to move.
As an example, he cited the Harlem Children's Zone, an initiative that seeks to improve one section of that New York neighborhood with an array of services, including prenatal counseling, early childhood education and free medical services. Obama urged replicating the program in 20 cities, which he estimated would cost a few billion dollars a year. "If poverty is a disease that infects the entire community in the form of unemployment and violence, failing schools and broken homes, then we can't just treat those symptoms in isolation," he said. "We have to heal that entire community."
Obama also got all wonky in front of family farmers in Iowa back in August:
[Obama said], "I’m reminded that the test of leadership isn’t what you say, it’s what you do. Voting records matter... I’ve always stood for tougher environmental regulations and local control over whether CAFOs can be built in your neighborhoods and that’s why we need to limit EQIP funding to giant CAFOs so they are forced to pay for their own pollution. And that’s what I’ll do as President."... In addition to talking about rural values and CAFOs, Obama also spoke about the importance of country-of-origin labeling (COOL), payment limitations, renewable energy, and labeling foods that have been genetically modified. Each of these issues are important to a significant portion of the audience present and the thousands of family farmers and activists that work on food and progressive agricultural issues across the state.
Oh, and he talked policy detail during debates, too, and the Iowa Independent noted back in August that "Obama pulled points for talking about capping subsidies to large ag-business to help the family farm. His was the most specific agriculture answer" among all the candidates that night.
There are plenty of other examples. People have rightly pointed out the damned-if-she-does, damned-if-she-don't aspect of Clinton's emotional range. But the same dynamic is in play with Obama: if he talks substantive details, people tune out, and then claim he never talks substantive details. Maddening, I tell you...
But I agree it's Obama's responsibility, as well as ours, to fix this perception. Spread the word!
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