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OBAMA: Steady Hand Forecasts Presidential Success
McSAME: Erratic Behavior Forecasts Crash Landing
ARLINGTON: Let’s Get 80/80 In 08!
Saturday, October 18, 2008
(Arlington County Democratic Committee)
Report from the
Chairman
Peter Rousselot
In these perilous times at home and abroad, America’s next President must possess the ability to inspire and to calm. Barack Obama will do both; John McSame can do neither. To put Barack Obama in the White House, we must turn Virginia Blue. To turn Virginia Blue for Obama, we need to get 80/80 in 08 in Arlington!
Obama
Recognizing that it is going to take a while for us to dig ourselves out of the deep hole in our economy that the Republican administration has dug for us, Barack Obama characteristically has appealed to the better instincts of the American people:
"I know these are
difficult times. I know folks are worried. But
I also know this – we can steer ourselves out
of this crisis. Because we are the United
States of America. We are the country that has
faced down war and depression; great challenges
and great threats. And at each and every
moment, we have risen to meet these challenges
– not as Democrats, not as Republicans, but as
Americans."
Obama's economic policy has both long-term and short-term features that will benefit Main Street and the middle class. His long-term policies include tax cuts for 95% of American workers and their families; elimination of income taxes for seniors making under $50,000; reforming our health care system, and creating five million new, high-wage jobs by investing in renewable sources of energy.
To address the current economic crisis, Obama has also developed a package of proposals focusing on job-creation, including small business tax credits to hire new employees in the United States; creation of a Jobs and Growth Fund to spur needed infrastructure investments in states and local communities; a mortgage tax credit for struggling homeowners, and a three-month moratorium on foreclosures.
These are the changes we need, and we need them now!
McSame
John McSame has voted with George Bush over 90% of the time. Because he didn’t vote with George Bush 100% of the time, McSame takes pride in calling himself a "maverick." It is a delusional self-image. The American people have seen right through it. Instead, McSame is a toxic combination: an orthodox, yet erratic, right-wing Republican. McSame is joined at the hip with George Bush and Dick Cheney--the GOP evil twins who brought America the economic 9/11 that threatens the economic futures of millions. On Election Day, the American people will justifiably hold McSame responsible for his leadership role in the orgy of financial deregulation that generated the current economic meltdown.
McSame's record of erratic behavior goes back decades. Early examples include his well-documented shouting matches with colleagues and his refusal to speak--for years in some cases--with people with whom he has disagreed. Recent examples include his choice of the unqualified Sarah Palin as his VP nominee, his phony “suspension” of his campaign to fly back to Washington (in an unwelcome and unsuccessful effort to rescue the financial bailout legislation), and his recanted threat not to attend the first Presidential debate. In the deft words of conservative columnist George Will, McSame is a candidate who thinks he can ride to the Presidency by "substituting vehemence for coherence." In both domestic and international crises, vehemence is no substitute for coherence.
McSame's temperament is a fatal flaw that disqualifies him from the right to have his finger on our economic lifeline and America’s nuclear trigger!
Arlington
In 2004, George W. Bush beat John Kerry in the state of Virginia by about 262,000 votes. For the forty years prior to 2004, the Republican nominee for President carried Virginia every single time. No matter what the national or Virginia polls may show when you read this column, turning Virginia Blue at the Presidential level will require an all-out volunteer effort by every one of us to achieve the overwhelming margin of victory in Arlington that Barack Obama will need to turn Virginia Blue.
We have set the very ambitious--yet achievable--goal of generating an 80% voter turnout in Arlington and capturing 80% of those voters for Barack Obama for President. Let’s not let Obama's current lead in some national and Virginia polls delude us into thinking that our 80/80 goal is no longer necessary. There are many parts of Virginia that are very reliably Republican and will vote overwhelmingly for any GOP candidate--even one as flawed as John McSame.
In the closing days of the 2004 Presidential campaign, many of us developed a false sense of confidence that John Kerry was going to win. Don’t let that happen in 2008. Instead, we've got to adopt Yogi Berra's philosophy: "it ain't over 'till it's over."
Let's work our hearts out.
Obama–Biden in '08!
PETER ROUSSELOT