Free Advice to the Obama Campaign

Hello Chicago!  You're doing a great job and you certainly don't need my two cents, but --hey, I've got a blog!  So here are a couple of ideas (and excuse my ignorance if you're already doing this stuff...)

1. Make the economic argument for the Affordable Care Act.  Romneyoids like to say President Obama didn't concentrate on jobs and the economy and instead wasted a year on health care.  But apart from the benefits for health in general and specifically for those who couldn't afford insurance, health insurance reform was an economic program.  Health insurance is a huge burden on businesses, especially small businesses.  It's a huge burden on middle class paychecks.  By controlling costs, reforming the system and making long-term health better through preventive care, lots of money is saved in the economy and in particular by state and federal governments.  It's a big help for deficit reduction.  And so on.

2.  President Obama makes the case that the Romney economic plan is the same prescription for economic growth that the Republicans preached and tried, and which failed--spectacularly.  Elaborate that argument with video of key Bush administration Republicans making exactly the same argument as Romney, and tie their words to what actually happened.  Somebody like Rob Portman would be a real plus.  But show it---this can't be taken out of context, because it's their faces.  

3. Brag on the Obama tax cuts.  Don't describe each kind, just the amount that the non-rich are saving every year.  You might start out with some Romneyoid talking about President Obama having raised taxes, and then hit the numbers, in a half dozen different ways.  That approach does double duty: points up the lack of credibility of the Romneyoids, and brags on lower taxes.

So that's my three cents, in addition to the real money I sent you last month (and the month before...and..)

P.S. Oh, and one more thing: you're doing a great job nailing Romney on his tax plan.  The import of it for the future of the campaign is that the middle class (broadly speaking) includes most Republicans, most of all demographics that currently aren't polling predominantly for Obama.  So this is an opportunity to dramatize the breadth of the impact of a lot of policies Romney favors.

Here's what I mean: beginning with his 2004 convention speech, Barack Obama made a name for himself talking about how we're not blue states or red states but the United States.  This theme can be fleshed out to talk about how these policies affect everyone.  Because Polish American workers in Pennsylvania get sick and need medical care they can afford.  Tea Party activists get old and need Social Security and Medicare they can count on.  Farmers in Iowa who have voted Republican all their lives still need dependable power and jobs, and they can see wind energy is helping.  And so on.