FEAR Is the Republican’s Best Friend
The current economic crisis is, counter-intuitively, playing into Republicans hands. Whereas the conventional wisdom is economic problems=advantage democrats, and is the traditional counterpoint to national security=advantage republicans, the deeper, operative, and as yet currently unrecognized connection is fear=advantage republicans, and the economy is provoking real and substantial fear among all classes.
I received panic calls on Sunday from a friend who could be described as blue collar, as well as one from a Wall Street heavy who thought he was going to lose half his net worth when the market opened on Monday.
Obama, Biden, and Democratic House and Senate incumbents, as well as Democratic challengers who until recently were the front-runners in their local elections, have to hammer home the overwhelming Republican responsibility for the greed that caused the current turmoil. Neither party can claim zero culpability, but for reasons both factually correct and pragmatic Democratic candidates at all levels have to strongly admonish the swing voters to remember the prosperity enjoyed by the nation during the Clinton years.
Bill, Hillary, Reich, Rubin, and Volcker (the Fed chief under Reagan and an early Obama endorser) have to come out of the closet ASAP with firm and reassuring strength and an easy to comprehend message as to how we’re going to climb out of this mess.
Otherwise, fear and the Republicans win.
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