Wordsmiths, economic gurus, government wonks - Now is your time in the sun. We know what the problems are, we know what the hole looks like that the rethugs have been digging for decades. Now we need to frame ladders instead of shovels. Now we need that clear ringing tone from all of us that sounds and feels and tastes and acts and IS truth.
Already the pundits, (concern trolls, partisans, idiots) are trying to paint Obama (and all of us) into a corner.
For example:
From WaPo / Hard Choices :
William Galston of the Brookings Institution, who served as domestic policy adviser during President Bill Clinton's first term, predicted a battle over analogies among Democrats seeking to influence Obama.
Some, he said, will argue that conditions require a major infusion of government activism and intervention, as in 1933. Others will point to the start of Johnson's first full term in 1965, which ushered in the Great Society and an era of liberal governance. Still others may point to 1993, the start of Clinton's first term, when Democrats pushed another liberal agenda, only to find that the country was resistant. Within two years, Democrats lost their congressional majorities.
Sharp turn left?
Galston argued that 1993 may be closest to the mark, although he noted that the economic problems are far worse than those Clinton faced. But he said there was little evidence heading into yesterday's balloting that the country had taken a sharp left turn. "It's hard to say substantively what mandate Obama and the Democrats have gotten," he said. "They've gotten a chance to make their case."
After seeing Obama in action over a span of 24 months, I realize he can really create his own reality (with help from us!) But we need to start attacking these memes with memes of our own.
"Redistributing wealth", "socialist", are all great ways to stifle our ability to fix these monumental problems. People are fed up with the divisiveness and we can use that to our advantage, but we really need concrete solutions and we need to support those solutions in creative and non-threatening ways.
We know we need economic stimulus packages to jump start a moribund economy. Bail-outs to bankers will not work. Giving us checks on a one time basis will not do the trick. We need jobs, we need protections from the depredations of wall street and we need money flowing again through the pipelines of commerce. I am not a wonk, I am not a good writer and I don't understand enough of the economy to know what I know. But I will support ideas that gets us working again. I will support tax money to car manufacturers to subsidize green cars because that seems to be the best bet for NEW jobs. I will support green industry subsidization because that seems to me to be the best way to save our planet, create new jobs and gets us away from the tyranny of oil barons. The latter ideas seemingly will take time but be long lasting. For short term, I will support immediate stimulus - such as extended jobless benefits, a waiver on penalties for use of 401ks or IRAs for the next year up to 10,000. And, a temporary tax cut for 2008 to bring more money to the people during the spring might help. I will support a new cops program to allow communities to hire more police. And perhaps we could do the same with teachers. An infusion of extra teachers would benefit all schools. That will aid in employment. And long term infrastructure projects both statewide and for municipalities for a longer term affect. We have to shake off the notion that the long term stimulus is overkill. Since we are now in the equivalent of the Marianna Trench, it will take us a bit to find our way out.
I suspect that the lawyers will have found their own stimulus package in cleaning up (and protecting) that bunch of crooks now occupying the administration. I also suspect that Obama will employ linquists (regardless of their sexual orientation), ambassadors of all kinds and a ton of wonks.