Last updated on August 11th, 2014 at 12:03 am
For the first time since becoming the Democratic nominee, Barack Obama delivered this week’s Democratic radio address. He focused on the economy and the need to move America in a new direction.
Obama talked about the budget deficit and the Bush tax policies, “In recent days we have seen two stark examples of exactly what’s wrong with Washington and what’s at stake in this election. First, we learned that the federal budget deficit could reach a half a trillion dollars next year. Eight years after we had record surpluses we are faced with record deficits. This mortgaging of our children’s future is a direct result of the Bush administration’s dangerously failed fiscal policies.”
“Instead of helping Americans who are struggling we have seen loopholes and lavish giveaways for corporations who ship jobs overseas, and tax cut after tax cut for the wealthiest Americans who don’t need them and didn’t even ask for them. Now Senator McCain proposes to continue these costly and unfair Bush tax policies. He’d continue to put special interests ahead of Americans who are struggling, while shortchanging the investments we need to get the American economy moving again,” Obama continued.
Next he spoke about the connection between the America’s economic woes and the Iraq war, “The second thing we learned this week was that the Iraqi government has a $79 billion surplus thanks to their windfall oil profits, and while this Iraqi money sits in American banks, American tax payers continue to spend $10 billion a month to defend and rebuild Iraq. That’s right. America faces a huge budget deficit. Iraq has a surplus. Senator McCain promises to continue President Bush’s opened ended commitment to the war in Iraq while refusing to pressure Iraqis to take responsibility for their own country.”
“Our country has spent nearly a trillion dollars in Iraq, even as our schools are underfunded, our roads and bridges are crumbling, and the cost of everything from groceries to a gallon of gas is soaring. Now think for a moment about what we could have done with the hundreds and hundreds of billions of dollars that we’ve spent in Iraq,” Obama said.
We could have rebuilt American schools and roads and bridges. We could have made historic investments in alternative energy to create millions of American jobs. We could have headed off $4 a gallon gas and begun to end the tyranny of oil in our time. Instead the president decided to spend our money on tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy, and a war in Iraq that has already lasted longer than World War II, and Senator McCain has fully embraced these Bush policies.”
Obama painted a vote for McCain as taking a chance on a third Bush term, “The American people are worse off than they were eight years ago. Sen. McCain talks about putting our country first, but he is running for a third term of the very same policies that have set our country back. We can’t afford to take that chance. We can’t afford to keep running up record deficits while we favor the few over the many. We can’t prioritize a misguided war in Iraq over the urgent needs of the American people.”
This is the argument that Obama should be out there making every single day until Election Day. McCain has no counter to this argument which is why he has resorted to negativity and attack ads against Obama. The Democrats want this election to be about the economy and Bush, while the Republicans are trying to turn this election into a referendum on Barack Obama. Historically speaking, when the economy is back, pocketbook issues almost 100% of the time wins out with voters. Obama would be wise to remember Bill Clinton’s slogan from 1992, it’s the economy, stupid. If Obama talks about the economy between everyday between now and November, he will win this election.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
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