Posted by
Steve on Saturday, September 06, 2008 9:54:06 AM
On the way into work, I listened to the Mike Broomhead show on KFYI. In listening to the show, he gave me an idea on how John McCain could win the election in a landslide. If John McCain pledged to veto any bill that came to his desk with an earmark attached, he would transform the race. Talk about change in Washington. That would be a huge change. It might anger some of the Republican elite, but so what. It would endear him to the Republican base and almost all of the independents as well. McCain already has a reputation as someone who does not use earmarks. This would be entirely believable and the public would flock to McCain like you could not believe.
Barack Obama talks about change, change we can believe in. He never tells us what change he is talking about. So, how are we to believe it if he never tells us what changes he plans to make. Whenever he talks about what he plans to do, they are always bigger government. That is not the kind of change I can believe in or want. Bigger government means less freedom. Smaller government means more freedom. If Obama is peddling bigger government as change we can believe in, I want no part of it. I also think most of the American people would want no part of it, but they would have to understand exactly what he plans to do. That is the problem. Obama talks at length and you cannot find out anything he really said. He tries to have it both ways on all issues. That is impossible.
If John McCain transformed the race into changing Washington by eliminating earmarks, he could do it in an instant. His advisors would most likely tell him not to do this. Some of his Republican peers would tell him not to do this because they like to feed at the trough just like the Democrats. Now, John would have to sell it to the public on why this was a major change. It would not be a difficult sale, but he would have to do the sale. The primary reason to forego earmarks is because it would help restore fiscal responsibility to Washington. Washington politicians as a group have no fiscal discipline. Forcing them to put everything in through the front door would be a traumatic experience for the older hands. But, when they learned how to deal with a loss of earmarks they would have more fiscal discipline. That is because the public would be able to see who did what. No more hiding an earmark behind closed doors. Everything would have to be out in the open and above board. That would eliminate most, if not all, the earmark type projects.
In looking at the candidates, John McCain has not requested any earmarks in his 26 years in Congress. Sarah Palin has stood against earmarks in her two years as Governor of Alaska. In fact, her most famous attack against earmarks was the “bridge to nowhere”. Barack Obama has requested $750 million in three years. Joe Biden has requested billions in his 36 years in the Senate. The Democrats would not know what hit them. They would be completely on the defensive. They would have no defense and would have to try to change the debate to how many houses the candidates have or something like that.
Now, obviously that cannot be the only thing he runs on in the next two months. It would be one that would make the race very interesting. The public would have to believe it. The fact that both Republicans have records against earmarks would bolster the argument. The fact that both Democrats are heavy users of earmarks would work against them in the argument.
John McCain and Sarah Palin will probably win in any case. But, focusing the public on earmarks would enable McCain/Palin to cement the role of change agents. They could say we are going to change Washington this way. The Democrats would have to say, believe us. Nobody will believe someone when one side gives specifics and the other side does not. The side with specifics will always win that argument, even with most liberals (the ones that have not been infected by moveon.org).