White House Readies Aggressive Midterm Push (Ron Brownstein, National Journal Online)

[highplainsdem]

http://www.nationaljournal.com/njonline/no_20100111_1501.php

In an interview with National Journal, senior White House political adviser David Axelrod laid down several keys to strengthening the Democratic position in an election that all signs suggest is shaping up as extremely difficult for his party. Axelrod's checklist includes improvement in the economy, some (but not vastly more) legislative action and, most pointedly, an effort to draw sharper contrasts with Republican positions. His comments may foreshadow a much more pugnacious Democratic message as the election approaches.

"It's almost impossible to win a referendum on yourself," Axelrod insisted. "And the Republicans would like this to be a referendum. It's not going to be a referendum."

Asked what has to happen in the next 10 months to produce the best possible result for Democrats in November, Axelrod didn't hesitate in identifying his top priority: an economy that is adding, rather than losing, jobs each month. "I think job growth is certainly number one," he said. "I think that's how most people measure a recovering economy."

To nudge that process along, he says, he expects Congress to quickly conclude legislation to promote job growth: "We have to take that up right away," he said. Still, he has no illusions about the capacity of further legislation to significantly affect the employment trajectory -- or the likely impact next fall if it doesn't improve.

-snip-

Next on his checklist: "finish this health care bill successfully." And after that? "Then we have to go out and sell it," he said. "I think we can run on this. I think there is so much in here that has value to every American, and mostly to people who have insurance."

-snip-

Axelrod sees other benefits in drawing sharper contrasts with the GOP, arguing that it could help motivate the Democratic base, which several polls have shown to be less enthused about voting this year than Republicans. "If the question is what we've been able to achieve, which I think is substantial, versus the ideal of what people hope for or hoped for, that's a harder race for us," he said. "If the choice is between the things we've achieved and we're fighting for and what the other side would deliver, I think that's very motivational to people."

Included in that effort, he said, would be a concentrated focus on first-time and other irregular voters, many of them minorities and young people, who surged to the polls for Obama in 2008 but typically turn out at lower rates in midterm elections. "One of our missions has to be in the next 11 months to communicate rigorously with those voters and make the case for why it's important that they come out even when the president isn't on the ballot, and what the consequences are of not doing that," Axelrod said. "I think we can make that case. We're sophisticated enough in the art of communicating, the technology of communicating, that we can a lot of those voters."

More at the link. Interesting article for what Axelrod says.

[highplainsdem]

1. Thanks for the recs! I hope more people will read this article.

[Pirate Smile]

2. K & R

[highplainsdem]

4. Thanks!

[flyarm]

3. hey Axelrod..you can ready yourself all you want..this retired union member will vote all incombants

out..in payment for fucking with my health care benefits I worked a lifetime for, with concession after concession..and lockout after lockout and strikes and being threatened by Presidents and being harrassed by corporates..

Axelrod..I have a very long memory..

and i already paid for my health care with my labor, and blood sweat and tears for a lifetime..

Now go Rahm yourself!

[highplainsdem]

5. Union leaders are meeting with Obama this afternoon. It'll be interesting

to see what comes of that.

I'd read earlier that union leaders at least wanted the level at which that excise tax kicks in to be raised enough that almost all union health plans would avoid the tax. The initial WH reaction was no, that too much revenue would be lost (but of course they can't tax the rich, as in the House bill). Then I started seeing some stories yesterday about the WH possibly being willing to accept that level being raised a bit anyway. But there was nothing about how far they'd be willing to go.

Union workers have every right to be mad about that tax.

And my take on Axelrod's comments about this year's elections is that the administration knows they're in trouble. They're going to have to try to turn the election into something other than a referendum on how well voters think the Democrats are doing in terms of campaign promises. They're going to try to make this about Democrats not being as bad as Republicans, even if hopes for this administration haven't been realized. They're going to try to motivate people who usually don't vote, as they did in 2008 -- but I think that'll be a lot tougher for them this year.

What we're hearing today about a fee on the banks is also apparently a reaction to voter anger.

[flyarm]

6. Trumka Blames The Senate, Republicans And Some Democrats For Controversial Health Care Tax

Source: Talking Points Memo

Trumka Blames The Senate, Republicans And Some Democrats For Controversial Health Care Tax
Brian Beutler | January 11, 2010, 1:00PM


Speaking at the National Press Club this afternoon, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka blasted a controversial provision in the Senate health care bill, which would impose a stiff tax on high-end health care plans--a penalty that would impact many middle class workers and union members. From the prepared remarks: "thanks to the Senate rules, the appalling irresponsibility of the Senate Republicans and the power of the wealthy among some Democrats, the Senate bill instead drives a wedge between the middle class and the poor."

The bill rightly seeks to ensure that most Americans have health insurance. But instead of taxing the rich, the Senate bill taxes the middle class by taxing workers' health plans--not just union members' health care; most of the 31 million insured employees who would be hit by the excise tax are not union members.

The tax on benefits in the Senate bill pits working Americans who need health care for their families against working Americans struggling to keep health care for their families. This is a policy designed to benefit elites--in this case, insurers, hospitals, pharmaceutical companies and irresponsible employers, at the expense of the broader public. It's the same tragic pattern that got us where we are today, and I can assure you the labor movement is fighting with everything we've got to win health care reform that is worthy of the support of working men and women.

Read more: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/01/trumka-blame ...