Politics
The Democrat’s cynical strategy for the fall election
Oct 12, 2010
By Michael Krull
By Michael Krull
Writing recently about Democrats running in this year’s election, syndicated columnist George Will wrote, “Democrats, unable to run on their policies, will try to demonize the opponents with Tea Party support as unstable extremists with personality disorders.”
In other words, the Democrats have nothing to run on in this election cycle that remotely appeals to the average voter. Their “successes” over the past four years is popular only with their loonie liberal base.
Yes, I wrote four years. Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid became Speaker of the House and Senate Majority Leader, respectively, following the 2006 elections, so the Democrat’s record really begins during the last two years of the Bush administration. That period of power-sharing brought us the housing crisis, the collapse of Wall Street and the Wall Street bailout, called the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).
Barack Obama was elected president two years after that, in 2008. Let’s take a look at what Democratic control of the legislative and executive branches of government have brought us since 2006:
- Bills that no one reads before they’re passed, including
- The $787 billion stimulus plan that didn’t create any jobs (more on that below) but which was ladled with pork
- A new healthcare law that no one wants (more than 50% of Americans want it repealed, and it’s no wonder: it creates 158 new federal offices dealing with healthcare – plus all of the new and reorganized offices that states have to create so they conform to the new federal arrangement).
- Ethics problems – Speaker Nancy Pelosi declared that this would be the most ethical and transparent Congress in history. Well, ethics charges against her Democrats keep piling up.
- Reckless spending and runaway deficits that burden our children and grandchildren. The budget deficit was $600 billion when President Obama took office; in the 22 months that he has been president, the budget deficit has more than doubled to $1.3 trillion – and it will remain at least this high for years to come. The national debt is expected to be 100% of Gross Domestic Product (equal to all of the goods and services created in our economy in one year) by 2012.
- No action on taxes. Congress recessed at the end of September so they could go home and campaign for another term. Meanwhile, they have neglected important tax bills, which mean that every person and every business in America, large or small, does not know what the tax rate will be in 2011. This makes it nearly impossible for people and businesses to plan – and makes businesses reluctant to hire. For example, if no action is taken and the scheduled tax hikes go into effect, a family of four earning $50,000 will pay $2,100 more in taxes; a single mom earning $36,000 will pay $1,100 more; and married senior citizens earning $40,000 will pay $1,400 more in taxes.
- No budget. Not a single appropriation bill has been passed for the government’s 2011 fiscal year – which began on October 1. That’s right, of the 12 appropriation bills that fund the government, Congress has not passed a single one. Our government is operating on a continuing resolution, which is basically a scheme for funding the 2011 government with the 2010 appropriation levels (remember, this is the budget that doubled the deficit in one year).
Far from embracing the agenda of the Pelosi/Reid/Obama era, Democrats are running away from it. Only two Democrats are running ads this fall touting the healthcare bill – one from a safe Democrat district in New York and the other saying that he fought to improve it for the rural voters in his state so voted for it. Remember the debate on the bill, when Speaker Pelosi and President Obama assured nervous Democrats that people would love the bill (and find out what was in it; again, no one read it before voting on it) after it passed?
Most Democrats are distancing themselves from President Obama, Speaker Pelosi and Senator Reid; so much so that the Speaker and President rarely make appearances for candidates. Senator Reid is locked in a reelection race within the margin of error so cannot afford to campaign for anyone else – even if he was invited. Former President Bill Clinton is by far the first choice of candidates.
Under Democrat’s plans, we’re in for a continued stagnant economy (this is already the longest recession and down economy on record since the Great Depression); increased deficits; and increased unemployment (according to the Bureau for Labor Statistics, since Pelosi and Reid took control of Congress, unemployment has increased by 7.7 million people and has been stuck over 9.2% for nearly the entire Obama presidency; add in the U6 number - underemployment and those who have quit actively seeking a job - and the number rises to nearly 17%). Under the Democrat’s watch, the number of people on food stamps has increased from 26.5 million people to more than 40 million people.
It’s no wonder that Democrats are avoiding talking about the issues that confront our country and would rather engage in character assassination against their opponents. What the Democrats offer us for the next two years is more of the same – but they’re afraid to tell us.
Will’s astute observation rings true in nearly all of the advertising Democrats are running this election cycle. Now that you know what they’re trying to do, watch for it – and don’t let your friends and neighbors fall prey to the Democrat’s cynical tactics.
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Michael Krull is a graduate of Luther College and Iowa State University. He has worked on disaster relief for the State Department, a major Washington, DC public relations and political consulting firm, and is currently working for American Solutions for Winning the Future. He is a member of the Council on Emerging National Security Affairs.
