海角大神

A memo to the president re: the next debate

Robert Reich sends his advice to President Obama in anticipation of his second debate with Mitt Romney.

To: POTUS

From: Robert Reich

RE: Upcoming debate

Your passive performance in the last debate was damaging because it reenforced the Republican claim that you鈥檝e been too passive in getting jobs back and in responding to terrorism abroad.

That doesn鈥檛 mean you have to 鈥渃ome out swinging鈥� this time. You need to be yourself, and one of your qualities that the public finds reassuring is your steadiness and authenticity, by contrast to Romney鈥檚 unsteady flip-flopping and apparent willingness to say and be anything. But you will need to be more energetic and passionate.

And although the 鈥渢own meeting鈥� style debate in which you鈥檒l be answering audience questions isn鈥檛 conducive to sharp give-and-take with Romney, look for every opportunity to nail him. Indignance doesn鈥檛 come naturally to you, but you have every reason to be indignant on behalf of the American people.聽

Emphasize these five points:

1. Not only is the economy is improving, but there鈥檚 no reason to trust Romney鈥檚 claim he would improve it more quickly. He鈥檚 given no specifics about how he鈥檇 pay for his massive tax cut for the wealthy, or what he鈥檇 replace ObamaCare with, or how he鈥檇 regulate Wall Street if he repeals Dodd-Frank. His record to date has flip-flopped on every major issue. Why should Americans trust his assertions?

2. Our problems require we pull together, but Romney and his party want to pull us apart. Romney has praised Arizona鈥檚 draconian anti-immigration law profiling Hispanics, and has called for 鈥渧oluntary deportation鈥� by making life intolerable for undocumented workers. He is against equal marriage rights. He wants to ban abortions, and his party and running mate want to ban them even in the case of rape or incest. He鈥檚 determined to make the rich richer and the rest of us poorer. Romney is beholden to a radical right-wing Republican party that is out of step with most of America.

3. Romney鈥檚 鈥渞everse Robin Hood鈥� agenda is inappropriate at a time when the wealthy are taking home a larger share of total income and wealth than they have in a century, and when the middle class is still struggling. He wants to cut taxes on the rich by almost $5 trillion 鈥� which inevitably means higher taxes on the rest of us; and over 60 percent of its budget cuts come out of programs for the poor and working middle class. He鈥檚 determined to turn Medicare into vouchers whose value won鈥檛 keep up with rising healthcare costs, and turn Medicaid over to cash-starved states. His comment about 鈥�47 percent鈥� of Americans not paying taxes and taking government handouts was not only wrong (every working person pays payroll taxes, and every consumer pays sales taxes; and the biggest so-called 鈥渆ntitlements鈥� are Social Security and Medicare, which are insurance programs that Americans pay for during their working years). The comment also reveals a callousness and divisiveness that鈥檚 the opposite of what we need now. Romney wants to set Wall Street loose again when the Street鈥檚 greed got us into the mess we鈥檙e still trying to get out of.

4. Romney views America as if it was one huge corporation, but we鈥檙e not a corporation; we鈥檙e a nation. He says corporations are people; touts his years at Bain as if making companies profitable qualifies him to be president; wants to deregulate corporations and Wall Street; and assumes CEOs and the wealthy are 鈥渏ob creators,鈥� and if we cut their taxes they鈥檒l have more incentive to create jobs. None of this is true. The nation exists to make lives better for all its people 鈥� making sure that corporations treat their workers as assets to be developed rather than as costs to be cut. Companies have been slow to create jobs not because of insufficient profits but because of inadequate customers. The vast American middle class are the real job creators, but they don鈥檛 have enough money in their pockets because too many companies have broken the basic bargain linking wages to productivity.

5. On foreign policy, Romney wants to rush to judgment, blaming the administration for not acting quickly enough in Libya on scant information. But that rush-to-judgment mentality is exactly what got us into Iraq eight years ago on the pretext of 鈥渨eapons of mass destruction.鈥� Two days ago we marked the 50^th 聽anniversary of the Cuban missile crisis. Had John F. Kennedy rushed to judgment as Romney wants to, humankind would have been obliterated in a nuclear holocaust.聽

Be indignant, but measured and steady 鈥� as you naturally are. Practice your closing (your last closing was listless) so the nation can see clearly the choice: We鈥檙e all in it together, or we鈥檙e on our own.