"Contract with America"
"Restoring honor and dignity to the White house"
"No Child left behind"
"It's the economy, stupid"
and,
"We're going to invest 150 billion over the next ten years..."
Which of these things is not like the other?
We all know the GOP sucks at governing but they deserve their props when it comes to messaging. One reason Obama's economic plan isn't catching on is that it doesn't have a catchy name.
The investment is clean energy technonology addresses many of the issues facing the country and represents tremendous economic opportunity as well as the well documented environmental and national security benefits. It also beautifully ties together all of the issues in an elegent little bow. We can create great new jobs while keeping the money spent on energy hear at home, saving the environment and buying ourselves the luxury of telling rogue nations in the Middle East where they can stick it. WE all know this. The Obama campaign knows this. They're not selling it.
IT NEEDS A NAME!
When the McCain campaign counters that they're going to do it too, it will be extremely easy to show they don't have the record to prove it.
Their needs to be a press conference announcing a few more details to the program and christening the new name. It will create the right kind of press coverage and the name will allow it to stick in the collective consciousness much more effectively.
While I'm at it, I've got one other thing to say. I know we all are too eager to offer up talking points to a campaign that has been expertly and efficiently run, but I think they're really missing the key to the answer to the question;
"Why can't you admit you should have supported the surge?"
It's a simple answer that's right in front of their noses and fits with one of the core foreign policies of Obama's national career. The answer is this;
"I opposed the surge because I thought it was more important to send the extra troops to AFGHANISTAN! I knew we could improve the situation in Iraq, but every troop sent there is one not being sent to where the real fight is. With our limited resources we can't do both. Since fall of 2006 the situation in Afghanistan has deteriorated dramatically. History has borne me out once again."