If this President has any plans on being re-elected here are the things he must do immediately to change the current momentum. Never since the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt have the dynamics existed within the economy where there is a clear "war" going on against working class Americans by the "robber barons" of today. The President thus far has not shown clear and constant leadership on any of the major issues we are facing as a nation. Here is how this White House can turn things around.
1. Engage the public on critical issues and make a call for action. For example, on unemployment extensions the President has publicly been missing in action. It is not enough to reference this issue on the weekly Saturday radio address. How many Americans ever really listen to the weekly address? When the vote failed recently in the House of Representatives, the POTUS should have taken to the airwaves that same night at 8 o'clock to urge Americans to contact their elected officials to implore them to support the extension. Congress today, unfortunately, will generally not act in the best interest of the average American unless they are sadly made to.
2. Start taking on the protectors of the wealthy and corporations. There is a coalition in the US Senate that consists generally of all forty republicans and four to six or so democrats that will regularly vote together in a block on every domestic issue so that even common sense matters like not giving tax cuts to millionaires and billionaires during a "depression like" economy with two wars is not the prevailing logic legislatively. This should have been addressed by this White House from day one. Shine the spotlight on these individuals so that they are made uncomfortable when they vote against the best interest of average Americans and this nation. The majority of American do not watch C-SPAN and are unaware of the individuals who are voting against their interest in favor of protecting the wealthy and corporations.
3. Have White House advisers have regular meetings with leaders of the groups and organizations that represents your base constituents. Remember the lists of tens of millions of Americans that were on Obama for President's list? What ever happened to them? After Obama was elected, it seemed that he and his advisers went to the White House and closed the doors shut. Having regular contact with these leaders should have been done immediately so that you keep your base actively engaged in what is going on politically so that if you, the President, need backup to get certain legislation passed through the Congress, you can call on these"foot soldiers" to bombard opponents of particular legislation with calls and emails to their offices to put pressure on them to reconsider their stance. This and money are the few things that seemed to move many members of Congress nowadays.
4. When introducing issues to the public, always put your opponents on the defensive right away by having a clear and concise strategy and a correct framing of issues which will result in clear messaging. There is nothing that has sank the democrats more in the last two years than an appearance of having no message at all on major issues facing the country. Whether it's tax cuts, health care, or jobs, the democrats have been all over the map with their messages. The republicans have been in lock step unison ninety nine percent of the time from one issue to the next. This has given them the appearance of strength even if what they are advocating is totally wrong for the country.
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