It would seem that we have a couple of former aides to our old friend "Slick Willie" Clinton who may be sounding the alarm, of sorts, by calling for a rather dramatic shift in their party's economic message, and calling for it to happen soon. They are also now warning of an "impossible headwind in November," should the party choose to continue on down its current path. Now I think it fair to say that these two political 'operations', that of "BJ" Clinton and Barry "Almighty", have never exactly seen eye-to-eye on many of very substantive issues of today. And with that being said, some of the top voices of the Democrat 1990s have appeared to now shifted into what can only be described as being open criticism of a political operation they cast as being overly negative, thin skinned and reactive, and failing to offer a positive set of plans for the economy.
"Slick Willie's" 1992 campaign pollster, some guy by the name of Stan Greenberg along with his former campaign manager James Carville, have taken it upon themselves to point out what they see as being Barry's flawed economic message in a memo drafted with pollster Erica Seifert for Democracy Corps. "What is clear from this fresh look at public consciousness on the economy is how difficult this period has been for both non-college-educated and college-educated voters, and how vulnerable the prevailing narratives articulated by national Democratic leaders are," they write. "We will face an impossible headwind in November if we do not move to a new narrative, one that contextualizes the recovery but, more importantly, focuses on what we will do to make a better future for the middle class." Personally, Democrats have never been very good at being positive, it’s always about doom and gloom, making sure everyone gets a “fair shot” and the “rich” pay their “fair share."
The election, as these guys go on to say, is not a vote on economic performance, but, instead, on which candidate it is that’s seen as having, at least, what the voting public perceives to be the best prescription for the future. They advise against the same old program of higher taxes on people earning more than $200,000, and new spending supposedly aimed at securing the future for those of us in what is described as the middle class. "[Voters] know we are in a new normal where life is a struggle — and convincing them that things are good enough for those who have found jobs is a fool’s errand," they write. "They want to know the plans for making things better in a serious way — not just focused on finishing up the work of the recovery." Really? What's this 'new normal' crap all about? Personally, I don’t see how an increase in taxes as well as in spending is going to be what provides the fix that’s needed.
The message these clowns offer is one very similar to what was "Slick Willie's" 1996 message of providing a "Bridge to the 21st Century," though they did conceed that the economy is nowhere near as stable as it was in that election year. Former "BJ" pollster and supposed Democrat strategist Doug Schoen, brought in by "BJ" to replace Greenberg in a rightward tack after the 1994 midterms, echoed the memo's conclusions in an email to BuzzFeed. "They are absolutely correct. [Democrats] must talk about the future. [I] may have a different view of the message than they have, but they couldn't be more correct. [Democrats] must talk outcomes and benefits to win," he said. It 's the Democrats, going all the way back to Carter who got us into this mess. And they, to use Barry's words, need to be the ones relegated to the back seat if we are ever to have any hope of getting out of this ditch.
But pollster Mark Penn, Schoen's former partner and a member of "BJ's" inner circle in the White House and later a force on Hitlery Clinton's presidential campaign, said Barry needs more than just a new message, he also needs a new economic plan. "I think that the president needs a new economic plan that takes the country into the 21st century global economy, a plan with emphasis on education, infrastructure, innovation, and growing exports. A plan that creates new economy jobs for a country that wants to move forward," he told BuzzFeed, adding that "most of the messages [in the memo] are too much about raising taxes and raising spending in a public that has changed quite dramatically from 1992." In regards to the tax and spend issue I would agree, because raising taxes and spending more of what we don't have just doesn't make any sense. After all, we're broke!
Barry's aides have always bristled a bit at any criticism received from the Clintonites, in part because they see Barry's victory over Hitlery as the triumph over his carefully calibrated centrist politics. A Barry campaign spokesman emailed BuzzFeed in response to the memo: "The President has always been clear that we need to do more than recover from the recession, we need to restore economic security for the middle class. The question we have put to Americans is whether they want to continue to make investments in areas that will provide a boost to the middle class – like doubling funding for college scholarships, investing in research and development to promote innovation, and allowing responsible homeowners the opportunity to refinance their homes – or do they want to cut back in these areas and return to the policies that caused the economic crisis?"
So, is it too much to hope for that Barry will ignore any and all advice meant to improve his odds of successfully being re-elected? Now we know that the man possesses and arrogance that is simply unrivaled. But will his desire for self-preservation regarding his political aspirations trump his narcissism that has him seeing himself as being smarter than anyone else? Personally, I think what it's all going to come down to, no matter whose advice he follows, or simply chooses to operate on his own, is whether enough of the American people will fall for whatever plan it is that's ultimately put before them. Because the bottom line here is that this country will not survive four more years if this man being in office. That is the one certainty here. And if the American people don't, or refuse to, recognize that cold hard fact, then we’re toast. Or to coin an old movie adage, 'we're already dead, we just don't know it yet."
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