Cross-posted from
ProgressivePolitics
Yesterday on Meet the Press, the chairman of the DCCC, Rahm Emanuel, did a nice job of succinctly putting forth five ideas that could at least form the core of a Democratic "Contract with America" for 2006. Of course, I should be muted in my approbation of the chairman, since many in our side of the blogosphere have a predilection for attacking anyone who comes close to showing support for "establishment" Democrats, but I think that this rhetoric from the Chairman is a step in the right direction:
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The American people have rejected the same policies that are giving us the same results and the status quo. They want change. They want big ideas, big reform. This is going to be a big election, a national election because of the challenges this country faces. We can do better than the policies that got us into the position we have right now. And the fact is, the Democrats have an obligation to lay out to the country what those ideas are.
Big reform...big ideas...a national election! Now we're talking. In my opinion, Emanuel is setting the right tone for Democratic message development and is making it clear that "reform" and "ideas" are going to be two important pieces of the Democratic message that we can use to nationalize the election.
Of course, to run on "reform" and "ideas," you must actually have ideas to run on. Here's what Rahm had to say:
I'll give you five quick ideas. One, we make college education as universal for the 21st century that a high school education was in the 20th...Second, we get a summit on the budget to deal with the $3 trillion of debt that's been added up in five years and structural deficits of $400 billion a year. Third, an energy policy that says in 10 years, we cut our dependence on foreign oil in half and make this a hybrid economy. Four, we create an institute on science and technology that builds for America like, the National Institutes has done for health care, we maintain our edge. And five, we have a universal health-care system over the next 10 years where if you work, you have health care. That says fiscal discipline and investing in the American people by putting people first. The policies that the Republicans have offered have gotten us in the ditch we have today.
If current circumstances hold, which they most likely will not, the Democratic Party will be faced with opportunities to regain power using a domestically-focused agenda that they have not had since 1992. Right now it appears as if the '06 election will be, in large part, about the struggles that the American people are feeling at home, which means that Dems must continue to position themselves as the only party that has ideas to solve the major problems facing real, middle and working class Americans. I like the broad emphasis that Dems are placing on long-term investments in education, energy, technology, health care, and fiscal sanity, as well as their efforts to frame these investments as the only way that the United States can be placed on a long-term course for economic sustainability and success. It is absolutely essential that we continue to define Republicans as "problem makers," responsible for all of the problems that beset the people of this country (the challenge is to do this without seeming too partisan), and Democrats as "problem solvers," who will clean up Washington and do things that improve the lives of regular people.
Remember that this list is only a start. It needs a strong anti-corruption component that is focused on "smoking out" cronyism and reinjecting professionalism and competence into the public sector, as well as a national security component that includes a strategy for disengaging from Iraq as well as "winning" the war on terrorism. However, the next year is about winning the public relations battle and an important piece of our strategy should be a powerful and succinct agenda that provides the American people with a strong idea of how Democrats plan to govern, and provides Democrats with a vehicle for nationalizing the election.
The transcript, courtesy of the DCCC