Rightfully yours

First, Democrats can be expected to intensify the accomplishments of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (health care reform), and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (economic stimulus), as well as the Credit CARD Act of 2009 and the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (financial reform). 

This will be to demonstrate that Democrats can accomplish positive things for the American middle class in spite of bloc voting to defeat all actions.  Voters are upset, however, on the health care provision that requires everyone to have health care by 2014 or face penalties. 

Democrats might be advised to address modifying that portion of the health care bill. 

Obama disappointed his anti-war support base, when he lengthened troop withdrawal from 16 months in campaign promises to 19 months after he took office and backloaded his campaign promise of withdrawing one to two brigades per month. 

The president has now officially committed to ending our military involvement in Iraq by August 31, 2010, removing all U.S. combat troops.  Of course, 50,000 troops will still remain to train and advise Iraqi security and conduct counter terrorism operations.  Those troops will be likely at times to engage in fighting at the request of Iraqi commanders, but all troops will be out of Iraq by the end of 2011. 

Democrats are also looking to regather environmentalists with the president’s push to replace our black economy (fossil fuels) with a green economy (renewable energy sources). 

They will highlight to environmentalists the strong (if not somewhat tardy) handling of the Gulf oil spill with the promise of restoring the Gulf environment, backed by the $20 billion escrowed by BP.  The passage of the H.R. 4213 bill, extending unemployment benefits, also increased the tax on oil to 34 cents per barrel to fund against future spills (H.R. 4213 (p286) Title IV: Subtitle D – Sec. 431). 

That bill, however, does not address a federal law that caps corporate liability at $75 million for economic damages beyond direct cleanup costs. Democratic Senators tried to pass a bill that would have increased the cap to $10 billion, but Republicans blocked them.

There are certainly items the Republicans can snipe at, like accusing Democrats of tax-and-spend, while they support lower taxes for all – with no responsibility for any of it, unless they are trapped into talking about their history of running up the deficit when they held the power. 

Republicans have established a glaring very public record of voting as a bloc against every major proposal, including equal pay for all and the extension of unemployment benefits for the millions of workers without jobs. 

Recently, Obama was the first sitting president to appear on a daytime talk show.  The president needs more appearances on The View and other daytime shows with large homemaker followings who can influence their family members to see him as a regular family man with a tough job.

Part Two

The second part of the Democratic strategy involves recruiting strong candidates for open Congressional and Senate seats, while playing up the divisions between the Tea Party and the traditional Republicans.  This is meant to split the Republican electorate and increase the chances of less electable candidates edging out strong moderates.  Then extensively research the candidates to help moderate voters reject them – just politics as normal.

It also involves using the White House and strong Congressional members to raise more campaign funds than the opposition. And the final step is to coordinate with Democratic allies like environmentalists and labor unions to mount a get-out-and-vote effort for young, first-time, and non-white voters.  These are the people who swept Obama into office. 

The opposition

Republicans believe that concern over the lack of jobs and resentment over the big-spending ways of the Administration will prevail in voting preferences over the merits of the stimulus and economic recovery, as well as health care and financial regulation reform.

They will trash the health care bill and the compulsory coverage, saying they will, if elected, repeal the bill, start over and do it right.  

Republicans will talk about coming tax increases and how they will hold or reduce taxes to put more money in voters’ pockets, allowing small businesses to create jobs.  They will try to kidnap the platform of change. 

Issues afloat

One significant item the Congress must deal with is the tax cuts implemented by President Bush that are due to expire at the end of 2010.  Read What to Expect if the Bush tax cuts expire. 

Democrats have already planned to extend some of the tax cuts, but are planning to let them expire for citizens with incomes over $250,000, saying they are the rich and their income that would go to taxes would not stimulate the economy anyway.  It will save $67.5 billion per year from being added to the deficit. 

What Democrats are missing is that voters who make above $250,000 see themselves as the upper middle class who would spend their disposable income in ways to stimulate the economy.  Drawing an arbitrary income line will drive those above it to the other camp.

If Democrats voted an extension of the Bush tax cuts for all, even short term, they could defuse the Republican election rhetoric that Democrats will raise taxes for Americans.  If they were really shrewd, they would also lower other taxes like the corporate income tax from 35 percent to the 23.5 percent par level with Europe. 

The Deficit

An issue separating Congress and American voters is the size of the deficit.  It is a subject that may, along with unemployment, sway elections to challengers. 

Many Members of Congress and voters misunderstand the role federal deficits play in managing the economy.  Major economists have taken the position that federal deficits are an integral part of a global economy based on trade deficits and dollar reserves.   Congress has yet to realize there is no advantage in being too “fiscally responsible.”

Let Republicans talk about balancing the budget and keeping taxes low.  They will have to avoid being trapped into talking about their own history of running up the deficit when they held the power.  Perhaps Dick Cheney was right – deficits don’t matter. 

Primary scorecard