What Message Do You Want To Hear At The Democratic National Convention?

[carltonplace]

So you don't have a wish list of things you'd like to see POTUS Obama address as objectives for his second term or are you simply afraid of a debate over them?  I'd really like to see what others would like to hear come from this convention.  I honestly am not spring loaded to argue over them, I'm more interested to hear what his supporters are wanting to see in new policy initiatives. 

Obviously the recovery is going much slower than anyone would like and on social issues, he appears to still be lagging in things more progressive voters like yourself would like.  Well he did finally come clean about his stance on gay marriage. 

I want him to do what is right without weighing it on the political scales for so long.

Example: He was always for gay marriage but it took a slip from Biden to draw him out.

Equality Issues when viewed through the rearview mirror of history will prove to have been the right thing to do.
Humanistic Immigrant reform is the right thing to do.
Lets put people first and politics second.

[Gaspar]

I want him to do what is right without weighing it on the political scales for so long.

Example: He was always for gay marriage but it took a slip from Biden to draw him out.

Equality Issues when viewed through the rearview mirror of history will prove to have been the right thing to do.
Humanistic Immigrant reform is the right thing to do.
Lets put people first and politics second.

Lets put people first and government second.

[Gaspar]

If President Obama presents a platform where Government:
Divorces itself from business, no more GM, Solyndra, Bank of America, or any "too big to fail" BS.
Provides equal opportunity for all energy production, not just his favorites.
Gives parents the choice on where to spend their educational dollars (private or public).
Gives everyone a choice to take their SS (currently averaging 1.23%) and divert to securities that actually produce a return insulated from politician plunder.
Gives everyone the choice to replace their medicare with private alternatives, also insulated from politician plunder.
Promotes a progressive reduction in taxation across the board.
Simplifies or eliminates much of the tax code.
Offers to work with his own democrats in the senate on completing and passing a budget instead of just delivering ridiculous documents that his own party won't even bring to the floor for a vote.
Gets rid of Obamacare and the uncertainty holding back employers. 
Creates a national exchange for health insurance and eliminates state run monopolies.
Proposes a complete tort reform program.
Stops paying banks .25% not to loan money to people (why the hell is that still around?)
Phases out GITMO once all of the suspected terrorists and their friends have been killed by drones.
Promises to publish the names of the winners of his "Terror Tuesday Meetings."
Promises to praise job creators and embrace capitalism.
Agrees to sit down with The Simpson Bowels Committee and adopt their recommendations instead of doing absolutely and utterly nothing.
Agrees to stop saying "I will create a committee", or a "study" or any other delay mechanism designed to stall obvious decisions that have to be made.
Agrees to meet with house republicans and hash out differences on legislation.
Promises to his own constituants, not me, to make good on his 2008 campaign promises.
Admits himself to a 12 step program to stop blaming outside forces for everything that happens in his life.

If he promotes just half of these in his address at the DNC, I'll vote for him. 

[AquaMan]

^See why few people are taking this topic seriously?

[Conan71]

^See why few people are taking this topic seriously?

But those are all currently things roughly 1/2 (give or take a few percent per issue) really do agree with.  We need to stop demonizing those who don't hold our identical point of view, start looking at our similarities, and start working together to craft solutions to our nation's tough problems instead of viewing everything through a "liberal" or "conservative" lens.

We are seriously going to have to quit looking at opposing political and societal viewpoints as "radical" or "extreme".

Snark and condescension aren't solutions.

[RecycleMichael]

Since gaspar made a list of things Obama could do to earn his vote, I felt obliged to offer a list of things Romney could do to earn my vote.

Release ten years of his taxes. Taxes are a critical connection between the federal government and the individual and he has been running on a campaign of changes to tax laws. To not release his own personal taxes for review is an insult. He knows that this issue makes him look bad, but must also know that releasing this information will make him look worse.

Take all of his money out of the Cayman Islands and Swiss banks. Putting his money in overseas banks is frankly unAmerican. Our country's entire banking system is based on banks loaning money to individuals and businesses. What he is doing is legal for an American businessman, but wrong for an American president. What does it say to the rest of us that don't hide their money to avoid paying taxes? Tax loopholes like deducting $77,000 in expenses for your wife's horse are bad; taking money out of America is way worse. I expect more out of my presidents.

Stop saying you saved the Olympics. He saved them by getting a government bailout of $1.3 billion dollars. It was more U.S. taxpayer dollars than all the previous Olympic games combined. What did he do with the money? He spent it on stuff like $30 million on parking lots for privately-owned ski resorts owned by republican campaign dollar bundlers. To rail against federal spending and earmarks at every campaign stop while ignoring his own payments is the exact definition of hypocrisy.

Stop solely blaming Obama for the national debt. Yes, the debt has risen from $10.626 trillion to $16 trillion under Obama. That is a 50% increase. But under George Bush it went from $5.6 trillion to $10.6 trillion (an 89% increase). Both presidents did nothing to lower the national debt. Why even under Reagan it went from $907 billion to $3.3 trillion (a 350% increase). The national debt is a major problem, but it didn't start the day Obama took office.

Stop lying to the American people. He says that Obama has had massive defense budget cuts. The truth is that Obama defense spending has gone up every year and during his years went from $594 billion to $739 billion. Romney says he is not going to reduce taxes on the high income people, yet his tax plan gives the richest 1% a $60,000 reduction and the richest .1% a $264,000 tax reduction. Romney says the rate of regulatory burden has increased four-fold since Obama became president, yet the facts show that Obama approved 613 rules during his first 33 months, 4.7% fewer than Bush did in his first 33 months as president. Romney lies about defense to make people scared, then lies about his tax plan to get the poor to believe him, then lies to business community so they will support him. He is nothing more than an habitual liar.

Stop attacking ObamaCare. The differences between Romney healthcare solution while governor and Obama's healthcare solution for America is minute. Both had individual mandates that impose a tax penalty to people who don't buy insurance. Both require health care exchanges designed to create competition between providers. Both plans would provide subsidies to low-income individuals to help pay the costs. The only real difference is that Obama's version includes a patient bill of rights.

If Romney can do any three of these things, I would consider voting for him.

[guido911]

^^^^^^^

Bwahahahaha. Like you would EVER be the slightest inclined to vote for anyone but Obama (unless it was Hillary).

[Conan71]

Now we are getting somewhere.  Thank you RM & Gaspar.  I'll take a turn now.

Okay, well I don't expect President Obama to ask:

"Are you better off than you were four years ago?"   

Whomever gets elected in November has a difficult task ahead.  I do realize not all our problems are of Obama's making and there are some limits as to how much control the POTUS has over economic issues. 

I'd like to know what specific policy initiatives you'd like to hear for his second term.  Please keep this from devolving into personal attacks and ad hominems.

I'll make this simple and break it down into several categories-

Debt and deficit reduction/budget:

I'd love to see President Obama adopt many of the same policies of the Clinton administration.  I honestly don't see reverting to the Clinton-era tax rates as being something which would doom the economy to eternity.  That time may not be now, but it may be in the next year or two should indicators start showing significant growth and unemployment finally starting to abate.  However, I'd like to see him frame it in something other than "The rich don't pay their fair share!".  Clinton did it without the wealth-envy rhetoric. Clinton also managed to work with an opposition Congress to reform entitlements, cut spending, and raise revenue. 

Obama would also do well to quit calling unpalatable taxes or another issue he knows is kryptonite to the GOP he inserts in initiatives as attempts at bi-partisanship. 

Environmental issues:

Provide tax incentives to companies who will willingly adopt more energy efficient and low emission technologies in their operations.  That's also another way to create jobs via sales and installation contractors and with manufacturers who build high efficiency/low emission furnaces, machinery, electric motors, etc. [/color]


Overall economy:

There needs to be a solution to health insurance and healthcare, no one is denying that.  The problem with Obamacare as it passed is thousands upon thousands of small businesses still have no idea what it means to their payroll costs.  We've got to remove this doubt which is one reason potential employers cite as being a wait and see issue before they will go on a hiring spree.  Certainly demand is an issue, but in previous downturns we've seen those willing to invest in the future with the promise of better times ahead.  That's not happening this time around.

Unemployment:

Provide healthy tax incentives for companies who will hire American workers and expand with American workers.  Make people accepting u/e benefits do contract or part time work for local, county, state, or federal agencies while they continue their search for permanent employment.

Entitlements/government aid:

As the economy improves, hopefully this trend reverses. Otherwise, remove incentives to seek long-term aid in place of employment.

High oil costs/energy:

Rein in the speculators.  That's the most immediate impact you can have.  There are no more supply issues than there were when gas was $2.00 per gallon.  With gas at nearly $4.00 a gallon, it's choking the rest of the consumer economy.  Yes, this will astound some people who know me, but I'd even be in favor of temporary price controls as a way to help free up cash for consumers to spend in other parts of the economy.

Stop playing lip service to alternative fuels and craft some sort of real energy policy.  This issue has been punted for the last 30+ years and he's in a position he could make a difference.  Rein in the speculative trading practices which are falsely inflating the price of oil, gasoline, and road diesel.  Reward the energy alternatives which make the most sense and which could be capable of standing on their own if they have the same sort of favorable treatment that the petroleum industry gets but quit investing money in technologies in which we simply cannot compete unless we are willing to erect tariffs to protect US companies in the energy business.  (Let's not pretend that petroleum is subsidy-free.)

Foreign policy:

Refuse to be the world's top cop and make NATO more fairly split the load on international police actions.  There's very little I disagree with on how he handled Libya and deposing Qadaffi.  I'd still love to see and accelerated timeline out of Afghanistan and Iraq.  I'd also like to see us not always be the first in line with foreign aid to every corrupt tin horn dictator after earthquakes, volcanos and tsunamis.  We have got to get our own house in order before we keep handing out bucket loads of borrowed cash to other nations.

Social issues:

Declare the war on drugs a fiscal failure as well as a failure to humanity and decriminalize marijuana.  It's effects are far less deleterious to society than that of alcohol.

Any additional issues not covered by the sub sets above:

None I can think of at the moment.

[nathanm]

Clinton managed to raise taxes without painting the wealthy as evil-doers, why hasn't Obama used the same tact?

Clinton didn't have the noise machine putting words in his mouth. Limbaugh was just getting started at the time, if you'll recall.

[Conan71]

Clinton didn't have the noise machine putting words in his mouth. Limbaugh was just getting started at the time, if you'll recall.

Limbaugh ran hourly parodies about Clinton being a tax and spend liberal.

Obama doesn't need talking heads to do his bidding when he stands in front of the camera and says: "The rich aren't paying their fair share".

I honestly cannot ever remember a Clinton speech claiming that.  If you can find and quote one, please do.

[Hoss]

Limbaugh ran hourly parodies about Clinton being a tax and spend liberal.

Obama doesn't need talking heads to do his bidding when he stands in front of the camera and says: "The rich aren't paying their fair share".

I honestly cannot ever remember a Clinton speech claiming that.  If you can find and quote one, please do.

Maybe because during Clinton's presidency, the highest taxed were paying almost forty percent.  Bush's tax cuts reduced that to 35.

[nathanm]

Provides equal opportunity for all energy production, not just his favorites.

Like what, artificially improving the economics of coal in an environment when natural gas is stupidly cheap? You are asking for market manipulation.

Stops paying banks .25% not to loan money to people (why the hell is that still around?)

Perhaps you aren't aware of this, but the President, by design, does not control the Fed.

Phases out GITMO once all of the suspected terrorists and their friends have been killed by drones.

He tried. As I recall, Congress told him to love off.

Agrees to sit down with The Simpson Bowels Committee and adopt their recommendations instead of doing absolutely and utterly nothing.

The committee did not produce a recommendation, largely thanks to Paul Ryan voting against it because it included tax increases in addition to spending cuts.

Agrees to stop saying "I will create a committee", or a "study" or any other delay mechanism designed to stall obvious decisions that have to be made.

You just praised one of his committees. What's up with that?

Conan, you complained about facts, try this on for size. Real personal income (in 2005 dollars) since February 1 2009:



Personal Income is up significantly.



U6 is down a tick, the actual unemployment rate is pretty much unchanged, which is good when you consider that 02/01/2009 was prior to the bottoming out of the recession.

Hoss, more importantly, the capital gains tax rate was not less than half the top wage income tax rate.

[Conan71]

Sentier's research utilizes BLS and US Census bureau data.

I suggest you read it:

http://www.sentierresearch.com/reports/Sentier_Household_Income_Trends_Report_June2012_07_24_12.pdf

http://www.sentierresearch.com

[Teatownclown]

So you don't have a wish list of things you'd like to see POTUS Obama address as objectives for his second term or are you simply afraid of a debate over them?  I'd really like to see what others would like to hear come from this convention.  I honestly am not spring loaded to argue over them, I'm more interested to hear what his supporters are wanting to see in new policy initiatives. 

Obviously the recovery is going much slower than anyone would like and on social issues, he appears to still be lagging in things more progressive voters like yourself would like.  Well he did finally come clean about his stance on gay marriage. 

TWO WORDS!

Supreme Court

[Breadburner]

I would vote for Obama if his balls were as big as this dogs.....