[What follows is an open letter to Barack and his team of Economic Advisers, that I will be taking with me to the Chapel Hill, North Carolina meeting of Barack's North Carolina Economic Forum.]
Dear Barack,Better than 'Bitter': "FOCUS '08"I will be attending the Chapel Hill meeting of your North Carolina Economic Forum on April 15, 2008.There, I will be urging you and your team of Economic Advisers to adopt into your campaign policy my proposition, FOCUS '08, a simple, yet powerful proposition that offers comfort to all working families who currently live in fear of losing their homes and jobs, or who feel they can't make ends meet because of rising food and gas prices (www.focusonpoverty.blogspot.com).FOCUS '08 declares that:'Every man, woman and child in the United States should have access to adequate food, clothing, housing and healthcare.'I am registered as an unaffiliated voter in North Carolina, and frankly, I consider myself to be undecided until the moment my pen hits the ballot paper. However, there is much about you and your camapign, Barack, that attracts me. Not least your obvious empathy with working people.
It is, therefore, as a friend of your efforts that I write this letter, and although painfully blunt (and something tells me you won't mind that!), it is offered solely in a spirit of helpfulness. So, to business:
It is a brave man, Barack, who advances an honest analysis of dire economic conditions, without immediately accompanying it with a concise summary of the uplifting policy that will address resolution - wrapped up in language that enrolls rather than offends.
This last point, in particular, should now be crystal clear in light of the temporary hiccup that has followed your 'bitter' speech last weekend.
Mind you, what you said was spot on - as an incisive checklist of the frustrations of working people in America. I should know. I am one of America's angry working poor.
It is only those who are truly elitist and out of touch who would suggest our anxieties do not exist, and who would deny that it is all too easy to find unhealthy ways to vent those anxieties - and that there are those who would feed on the latter fact.
Goodness knows it's nice to have a politician who has the guts to be honest and straightforward. But, to be equally honest, what was a little unfortunate, Barack, was your language, and the fact that you chose not to accompany the analysis with a simple breakdown of your recommended solutions.
Without wishing to appear too presumptuous, I hope you won't mind if I use the opportunity of the Forum meeting to help you out a tad, and offer a couple of ideas that might assist you in addressing both of these issues.
For some years now, America's working folk - whether in the cities or in the country - have watched helplessly as power-mongers and the elite in political and financial circles have caused the American economy wildly to ride the waves, and then to crash into the abyss.
Why helplessly? Because all this has meant for us is more jobs lost, more plants shut down, our homes under threat, prices rising, the bar continually raised and our lives constantly squeezed.
Democrats, to whom I have spoken, have openly wondered why, through all this, more and more of my working friends have found themselves turning to the likes of George Bush, and now John McCain.
I tell these Democrats that, at a time of seeming inability to cope, at a time when all seems so weak, it is easy to turn to the appearance of strength and experience - however false the promise of that strength and experience may be.
When you sense that your country has abandoned you, and there is little point in trying, it is too easy to find paths of escapism. One of the easiest is a political philosophy that says it's ok to take that anger and convert it into hatred and envy and revenge.
When we are told that the real problem lies overseas, it's all too easy to respond to a pseudo-call for patriotism and sense of duty, and to cheer on a war, even though we now know that war is both futile and dishonest - and, moreover, it is killing a disproportionate amount of the sons and daughters of our working familes.
And where have the Democrats been, to offer we working people an alternative? Why, trying their hardest to pack themselves into those same Republican clothes - but without packing any conviction.
The problem is, when you're a sheep in wolf's clothing, it's a bit difficult to look anything other than…well…sheepish.
Until you, Barack, came along.
I'd had a bad feeling about voting for some 20 years. You are the first American politician in that time who's making me look forward to voting in November.
Now. We've hit a glitch. It's not the end of the world. And this is what I suggest to you and your Economic Team going forward:
1) Adopt FOCUS '08. The working folk of this country deserve a rallying cry that offers them a safety net, while preserving their dignity.
This is true, not just for those of us who already struggle below the poverty line, but also for those who, through no fault of their own, feel that they may be next.
We did not create the housing and jobs crisis, or cause gas and food prices to rise.
2) Enroll these same good people, Barack, in the campaign to sell you, your policies and FOCUS '08.
Do not pity us. We are a proud people. Appeal to our better nature. Challenge us. Turn the tables on your opponents, and make an appeal to genuine patriotism and a real sense of moral duty.
Go so far as to put it in military terms, if necessary.
Offer us a deal - "A New Compact." Tell us boldly and bravely: 'You take care of your business at home, and we'll back you up, by taking care of our business in Washington.'
[I expand on this approach in a separate document of talking points, which can be found as the next post in this blog.]
Call on America's working men and women to support a "Citizen's Code": family, country and honor.
'We take care of our family first; then we help our neighbor; then the folk around us. Not because of a political slogan or a grand economic strategy, and not for personal gain or ambition, but because it's the honorable, the right thing to do.'
Meanwhile, holding up the other side of the compact, you, Barack, have to clean up Washington. Clear out the logjams, get the necessary bi-partisan support, prioritize action, and get us the help we need to support what we're doing on the home and family front.
FOCUS '08 can be a part of that. Take George Bush's slogan, and turn it against our opponents. Make that slogan ours - and make it apply to all Americans under a Barack Administration. 'We will leave no-one behind.'
I have my own political line for all of this: 'Taking Care of America's Family Values.'
So, Barack, come one, why not give it a try? Visit the web-site (http://focusonpoverty.blogspot.com), sign the Petition (www.thepetitionsite.com/petition/483881699), even buy the T-shirt (http://197491.spreadshirt.com).
But. Most important of all. Adopt FOCUS '08, and enroll America's working folk in its implementation.
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