Posted by
m0t0r1zed on Sunday, October 12, 2008 1:59:24 PM
Obama has McCain on the ropes and looks to win on points, but if he wanted to, he could KO McCain right now and end it.
He just needs to make a minor policy shift on one issue, perhaps before or during the last debate, and it would all be over.
Taxes.
Obama has already said that he would have to delay some of his spending proposals and may not raise taxes given the current economic situation. All he has to do is step out a little further and add that if it were in the best interests of the nation and the economy, he would even CUT taxes across the board (including the wealthy) and even consider CUTTING THE CAPITAL GAINS TAX if it would help stimulate the economy.
KO. Game over.
This shift does many things to help Obama.
It would show that he is not a rigid ideologue. It would show that he is flexible and can adapt to changing circumstances. It would decimate the two-pronged attack being launched at him right now by McCain i.e. that 1) Obama is an extreme leftist / socialist, and 2) Obama's taxes would ruin the economy. This would win over the Independents and make Obama look much stronger with respect to handling the economy. It would also be an example of "reaching across the aisle" ideologically. Finally, Obama only has to say that he would "consider" it - not necessarily even do it.
Negatives - very few. This shift is unlikely to cause major defections from the Dems when they are this close to victory. McCain might try to portray this as a flip-flop, but it won't matter. Obama could easily counter by saying that his position on taxes isn't based on blind ideology, but rather on pragamatism. He could say that for Republicans, taxation is too much a religion, while for Democrats, taxation is simply a tool used in good governance. There are times when it is best to raise taxes, and there are times when it is best to lower them, etc. etc. If they attack him by asking how he could fund any of his programs while lowering taxes, Obama could easily counter by saying that the most important task right now is to fix the economy. Everything else must wait. Once the economy has recovered, then we'll go from there on how to implement new programs.
With this shift in strategy, there just wouldn't be any significant avenue of attack left for McCain. They might try stories about ACORN or whatnot, but I doubt they'd do enough damage.
Also, the fact that Iraq has stabilized helps Obama since Independents are less fearful about handing off the war to someone inexperienced. Petraeus taking over operations in Afghanistan also helps Obama by similar reasoning.
Anyhoo, Obama probably doesn't need to do this to win, but if he did, his victory would be a fait accompli.
This election would be O-V-E-R.
(actually, there is one slim chance for mccain, but that would be to link the current economic mess to the democrats and to big gov't in general. however, it's too easy to neutralize that attack by playing the blame game ...)