Home > Thinking Right > Archives > 2008 > February > 22
Friday, February 22, 2008
Rhetoric will leave off where McCain begins
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
In one sentence on primary night in Wisconsin, U.S. Sen. John McCain nailed Barack Obama — and defined precisely the terms of the fall campaign.
Be not intimidated by the growing certainty that the rhetorically gifted Obama, and not his fingernails-across-the-chalkboard opponent, will emerge as McCain’s opponent in November. With Hillary came the high negatives that gave Republicans hope of a built-in general election advantage. With Obama comes an army of high-end liberals, affluent and well-educated, along with an energized swell of blacks and the young drawn specifically to him. The prospect of running against a “movement” has unnerved some Republicans, to say nothing of those — affiliated or not — who have listened to Democrats lay out their vision for America through a long series of debates.
McCain summed it up in that one sentence. “I will fight every moment of every day in this campaign to make sure that Americans are not deceived by the eloquent but empty calls for change that promises no more than a holiday from history and a return to the false promises and failed policies of a tired philosophy that trusts in government more than people.”
No question that a decade or two ago, Americans, hands down and without reservation, would have rejected the alternative McCain described. But half the U.S. population is younger than 36.6 years, and an increasing percentage of the country, now almost a third of those who file, pays no income tax, up from 20.6 percent two decades ago. What’s more, an alarming number of children are born to unwed adults — more than two-thirds of blacks, almost half the Hispanics and a quarter of whites — without the security a two-parent family provides.
The point is simply that the “failed policies of a tired philosophy” McCain describes are distant to the experiences of the YouTube and Facebook generation and they are, furthermore, no threat to those who see themselves as possible beneficiaries of Obama’s spending. Besides, 97 percent of income taxes are paid by 50 percent of those who file, according to the Tax Foundation, so — many potential beneficiaries believe — the tab for Obama’s $900 billion in proposed new spending will be borne by somebody else, by “the rich.”
Still, there’s much reason to believe that with time and a focused message elaborating on the two options for America that Obama (or, if by some miracle, Hillary) and McCain represent, the nation will choose the course that avoids replaying the “failed policies of a tired philosophy.”
Why be invigorated by the prospect of running against Obama? Simply this: He will talk himself into trouble — and may very well talk himself out of the White House.
Obama is a truly gifted orator. But he’s been reassured of that so often, and his rhetorical skills have taken him to such heights, that he’s grown much too comfortable with his eloquence. He’ll say too much. He’ll get caught up in the beauty of his argument and get careless.
In the two Democrats’ Los Angeles debate, number 18 in the series of 19, the line of questioning went to the two candidates’ health insurance proposals, which would be costly and require raising taxes “on millions of Americans,” the questioner declared.
“On … on … on … on wealthy Americans,” Obama replied.
As the exchange continued, Obama finished his point.
“And then look, I, I, I’m not … I’m not bashful about it,” he said. “You guys,” he said, making reference to what he said was a “pretty well-dressed” audience attending the debate, “potentially pay a little bit more. I will pay a little bit more.”
Agreeing moments later with Hillary that “people did really well” before tax rates were lowered, Obama declared:
“They were doing just fine.”
When he’s the nominee, expect to see his words fed back to him.
While he may not repeat the mistake of picking up the rhetoric of others, as the Clinton camp accused him of doing last week — she called him “change you can Xerox” in Thursday’s debate from Texas — Obama’s strength is his weakness. He’s been surrounded by the adoring, by party activists who applaud at lines that connect with the moveon.org left but reflect a tin ear for the workaday worries of ordinary people.
Permalink | Comments (251) | Post your comment | Categories: Column
Hillary; a coy Lewis; quitting time
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Based on exit polls, Hillary Clinton is a shoo-in for president —- in a nation of 74-year-olds with a sixth-grade education. Otherwise, this campaign’s dying. Ohio and Texas on March 4 could be the final gasp —- though she’s leading in both now.
Republicans who want to pass the buck pretend that on tax increases they’re just giving the people a voice by running them out as proposed constitutional amendments. Yet that same line of thinking doesn’t apply to, say, the proposed Human Life Amendment debated in the House this week or to Sunday liquor sales or to any of the other hot-button questions of the day. I’m not suggesting that they should, merely that legislators are playing a game with voters on taxes. They should vote now the way you’d vote in November. Be honest.
Accidents on interstates through Atlanta will now be handled by the Georgia State Patrol and not Atlanta police. That should, in fact, be the policy statewide: The state patrol polices interstates; locals police city and county roads. Every law that gives law enforcement officers a financial incentive to write tickets, or place red-light cameras, should be changed to remove financial incentives from enforcement.
Dang. Some laws are just not necessary. State Sen. Judson Hill (R-Marietta) introduces a bill to keep state pension fund managers from investing in Iran or Sudan. It’s called the “No Georgia Dollars to Terrorists Bill.” No public pension fund manager in Georgia knowingly invests in terrorists. For my part, I’d rather they spend their time and my tax dollars investigating returns.
State Rep. Sharon Beasley-Teague (D-Red Oak) in one day drove from Fairburn to Albany (173 miles, three hours) to Waycross (114 miles, two hours), to Savannah (129 miles, two hours), to Athens (257 miles, four hours), to Dillard (81 miles, 1 1/2 hours) to Fairburn (134 miles, 2 1/2 hours), putting her behind the wheel —- no food or bathroom breaks —- for 15 hours. Beasley-Teague may claim the one-day record, but the fiscal-year record goes to former State Sen. Roscoe Dean of Jesup, who made 254 round-trips between Jesup and Atlanta in 1974, when he drove a total of 72,696 miles on official business. Dean, first elected at age 28, and a candidate for governor in 1982, eventually wound up in prison —- though the charges stemming from his travel resulted in a hung jury.
Since we’re being honest, I’ve got to tell you that it’s despicable to use the names or images of dead soldiers who are somebody else’s sons or daughters to make political statements about the war —- as a couple on West Paces Ferry Road does. Parents, spouses and even siblings can express their grief as they please —- and I’ll not say a word.
The world breathlessly awaits: WWJD. What will John do? Lewis, that is. Congressman, Atlanta. Hillary or Obama? Anybody care? His support for Hillary didn’t do much for her in the Georgia primary.
Elected officials should not create charitable foundations or take a management interest in somebody else’s, as Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle has done with the charity that’s now called “Presence With a Purpose.” The risk is that contributions will come from those who have a policy interest in the elected official’s decisions. And of course, as we’ve seen with Atlanta’s once-promising councilman Lamar Willis, the operation of them can be a major embarrassment.
So 35,000 government-issued trailers occupied by Katrina evacuees may be dangerous because of formaldehyde? And what of those occupied by purchasers who’ve been using them for years? The feds didn’t check those —- presumably because the paying customers weren’t complaining or demanding upgrades.
A charter bus operator pulled into a convenience store parking lot in Corsicana, Texas, and abandoned her load of 40 former prisoners. Reason? It was 4 p.m., and that’s her quitting time. I would express outrage, but it’s approaching 6 p.m. and that’s my quitting ti
Permalink | Comments (142) | Post your comment | Categories: Column
.JPG)
-1.JPG)
Services »
