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Saturday, Nov 7, 2009
Barack, I know you can do it and thats why I have been supporting you financially, praying for you and talking you up. I am an old guy(70 years)living simply, no car or phone in southern Mexico. I see the angst of the immigration issue every day in my barrio. 20% of working age Chiapans went to the US over the last 5 years. They would love to stay home with their precious families but there are no decent jobs. We need a Marshall Plan for Mexico. It would help us both greatly . I also taught union guys and women(now they are old folks) at the U of Wisconsin School for Workers for 10 years. I wont risk telling what white women want but I do have one in my household.
Have you done focus groups with these particular groups to get their wants and needs on a state by state basis? Even if you have you should do some more and maybe deeper because you are missing something compared to Hillary, at least in some states.
I have heard you many times state that the "new voters" are your base or your main base. While this is an important group, it is not nearly as stable as some of the demo groups Hillary is tapping, particularly older folks and union members. These people vote year after year and are loyal.
Your health care position and Hillary's are not far apart, but you have left yourself open to her charge re. 15 million uninsured under your plan. Also I havent heard you mention much about Medicare. The Republicans are wreaking havoc with Medicare, approving questionable operations(angioplasty), obesity surgery, expensive defibrillators installed in people, wholesale and unnecessary prescription of expensive statin drugs(close to a $70 billion charge for Medicare annually) and no cap on price increases for prescriptions(my Mom has seen her prescription costs double since the drug bill passed).
One of the worst things is not allowing Canadian and other drug imports at half or less the price of our inflated pharma produced drugs. Also, how about approving ED drugs under Medicare again. I am athletic and vigorous but do need a little help from a friend;it is a lot cheaper than mental health counseling which is covered under Medicare. Also what are we going to do about the coming Medicare deficit.
On both Medicare and SS payments there is a coming deficit but the Republicans would like to see it go broke(Starve the Beast). It isn't nearly as bad as it is painted by right wingers and could be solved by a combination of lifting the cap on SS taxes for high earners and a small increase in the payroll tax. Dont shy away from this. Talk about the cost/benefit details to people and they might understand. I am not worried for myself but I think young people need to be sold on how SS is so important for holding our country together and maintaining an income floor for older adults.
Another thing. Do you know that Bush has taken around $200B annually out of Social Seucrity to finance his programs, mainly war.
This at the same time we have huge SS IOUs to be financed by Congress in the future. This is not how the l983 deal was supposed to go. Check and hit this.
I am getting too wordy. I love your verve and confidence and hope you can reach out to these groups a little more to get their votes. Good luck in Indiana, NC(I went to school there and know the rednecks are tough but can be won over if you hit their issues-job loss from the textile and other industries leaving for China.).
On image, get into your youth. Dirty jobs, growing up in a single mom household, toughness in standing up to bullies. Sports is important. Street ball, running. Get some old teammates in an ad to talk about what a tough competitor you were and what a good sport you were(not mutually exclusive). You can certainly show your Alpha credentials better than Miss Goodie Two Shoes with her simulated toughness.
Good luck and take a few days rest. Really, you look depleted. I am with you in spirit and as it permits, wallet.
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