Speaking in Community

Frame the Debate: a year of mud slinging

by Stella Atrium
12/1/11
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Pres. Obama has a jobs plan, a student loan plan, a new mortgage plan, a loan modification plan (but no guest worker plan).  In the true spirit of community organizing, the president brings a targeted proposal to each voting group to solve local issues.

In the meantime, no federal budget has been proposed by the ruling party in the Senate for THREE YEARS. Instead taxpayers get continuing resolutions to open the paymaster's door, and debt ceiling hikes to the $4 billion A DAY increase on the debt.

The voting public can look forward to 12 more months of empty plans that won't move in congress until election day comes, after which we get more of the same. What inspired plan to solve issues will Pres. Obama proposed in his second term that he did not already try?  Is he saving the tough choices for when he feels secure in his job?  Or is he unable to address tough choices, relying on "hope" the the Gang of Six is effective, and "great hope" that the Supercommittee can face the fire.

At a Veterans of Foreign Wars post in Milford NH, Candidate Mitt Romney said Pres. Obama's stewardship has created a "'Where's Waldo?' economy," referring to the children's books in which the challenge is to hunt for a small, hard-to-find man on a crowded page. In Romney's analogy, the jobs are Waldo.

He also accused Obama of fostering "class warfare" that Romney said demonized groups of people unfairly. "I've been really disappointed -- and, in some respects, a little frightened -- by the president's rhetoric -- this class warfare, trying to find someone to blame," Romney said. (Bloomberg Businessweek 10/11/11)

Each party tries to frame the debate for what issues will drive the election season.  However, just like the last election season, none of the talk includes reality.

Reality has overtaken the European Union, and we chuckle at them for austerity measures, rigid job markets, hat-in-hand begging for better interest rates.  They are facing a "lost decade" similar to what Japan knew when their housing market crashed in the late 1980s. The USA is next, you know.

In the meantime, we play this trivia game to frame the debate.

Elected officials in Washington ignore the need to restructure Social Security, Medicare, a health care mandate, SEC corruption that allowed crooks on Wall Street to dirty the play pen, and more. 

I'm not much for demonstrations (since Kent State in 1968 — go figure), and I'm not a liberal.  But I can understand the anger that prompted the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations.

The Hope and Change framework was inspiring, but those who had a warm feeling down their legs on election night in 2008 are feeling a pinch in their wallets now.

The framework of "He's worse than me" to argue issues without addressing Obama's record as president is already in place.  Meanwhile, Rome is burning...

I know I sound cynical today. Get ready for the year of mud slinging.