The politics of fear

March 8, 2010March 8, 2010 ~ Jim Eltringham ~ 4 Comments

Washington is still buzzing about the RNC’s leaked fundraising presentation, especially the use of the word “fear” as a means to win support.

Why couldn’t the Republicans be more like our President, who speaks in rational terms about ideas, just like he did in Pennsylvania today:

Every year, the problem gets worse. Every year, insurance companies deny more people coverage because they’ve got preexisting conditions. Every year, they drop more people’s coverage when they get sick right when they need it most. Every year, they raise premiums higher and higher and higher.

See the difference?

Playing two sides against Afghanistan

December 2, 2009December 2, 2009 ~ Jim Eltringham ~ 1 Comment

It’s one thing for a politician to draw criticism for a policy from his opponents, but the reaction to President Obama’s Afghani-plan speech last night from the left is potentially more problematic.

Obama’s speech was unsurprising – not only had his plans for troop escalation been the worst kept secret in Washington for weeks, he promised to do as much during the campaign last year. Still, pundits like Michael Moore – normally a water boy for all issue blue – have issued strongly worded rebukes against such a strategy.

Moore’s warning, in an open letter, that Obama would “destroy the hopes and dreams so many millions have placed in” him suggests that he wasn’t paying attention to the substance of Obama’s campaign rhetoric. As a likeable candidate, Obama made it easy for folks like Moore to ignore policy details and revel in the fact that their newest candidate wasn’t a wonkish robot (like Al Gore in 2000) or a New England blue blood (like John Kerry).

Unfortunately for the President, that raises expectations to the level of his follower’s wildest dreams – not a good thing in an environment where success or failure often comes down to the size of the yardstick.

Paranoia may destroy ya, but McCain’s health care plan won’t

October 30, 2008 ~ Jim Eltringham ~ Leave a comment

I have seen tons of Barack Obama commercials plugging his health care plan and telling me that John McCain’s plan will tax my health benefits. Predictably, it’s not true; what is true is that McCain’s plan would shift ownership of health care coverage to me and away from my employer – so if I change jobs, my health coverage comes with me. (It’s a concept that was championed by Thomas Friedman in his best-selling book, The World Is Flat.) Barack Obama cribbed the major pillars of his program from Mitt Romney, who instituted it in my adopted homeland of Massachusetts.

Is it part of a disturbing pattern? Another Obama commercial quotes a Heritage Foundation policy expert – and by “quotes” I mean “flat out lies about” the expert opinion. Despite the lead, Obama is demonstrating an almost paranoid urgency. McCain HQ may want to double check their phone lines.