Democrats muddle economic message

Jackie Calmes, NY Times:

Modern presidential conventions are mostly political circus, but for Senator Barack Obama, the question is whether the theatrics and drama of this one are overwhelming one of his most important tasks here: connecting with the economic anxiety gripping voters and convincing them that he has concrete and achievable solutions.

Democrats here are talking about the ailing economy, selling Mr. Obama’s policy prescriptions, offering biting indictments of Republican policies and trying to tie Senator John McCain irrevocably to President Bush.

Mr. Obama is broadcasting a new advertisement mocking Mr. McCain’s admitted lack of background in economics. But at a convention where the attention has been focused on political superstars new and old, and the narratives of personality and conflict — urged along by the McCain campaign — it is not clear that the message is getting through.

The challenge for Mr. Obama in establishing his identity as the best economic steward for a hurting nation was evident with Tuesday night’s highlight: the speech by Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton. Mrs. Clinton, who nearly won the Democratic nomination with a late appeal to middle-class anxieties, used her formal concession to restate those campaign themes and to make a rousing case for reversing eight years of conservative economic policies — though with Mr. Obama as president.

But it is not clear whether her substantive case would break through the story line about how well she would do in easing tensions with Mr. Obama and unifying the party. And just like on Monday night, when an emotional appearance by Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts and a speech by Michelle Obama dominated the coverage, the roster of speakers seeking to promote Mr. Obama as the answer to the country’s economic ills and Mr. McCain as worse than a third Bush term was barely seen on television.

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Actually, the Democrat problem is bigger than breaking through the noise of the convention. Their message is one that will make the economy worse. Raising taxes during an economic slowdown is like slamming on the brakes. Protectionist trade policies pushed by Obama and the unions are a prescription for a depression. The vast majority of voters prefer the small government low tax model favored by McCain.

On top of that Obama is a very imperfect messenger for the Democrats politics of gllom and doom. He is a guy who has gone from being essentially insolvent the year before Bush was elected to a multi millionaire since that time. Yet he keeps talking about how much worse off people are under the Bush administration. Where did the people get the money to buy all his books?

Democrats also gloss over the cessession they handed off to the Bush administration in 2001. They ignore the damage to the economy by the 9-11 strikes. They also ignore the unprecedented jobs growth during the Bush years.

Obama's higher taxes policy will produce less revenue in the name of "fairness." His energy policy will produce higher energy costs and less energy. It is energy that is hurting the economy the most right now and the Democrats are the main problem. They have been strangling energy in all forms for decades and they want a high price energy policy to push people into conservation and alternatives which will lower everyones standard of living.