- Jun 6, 2007
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The Clinton campaign needs to make some course corrections with their debate strategy. In last night's Vice-President debate, Senator Kaine did a great job in identifying the strong points of the Clinton Campaign and the negative points of the Trump campaign and articulating them well. The analysts assessment that Governor Pence won the debate seems to me not to be so much a criticism of Senator Kaine but a recognition that Governor Pence is a strong VP candidate on a presidential ticket. Frankly I think most Americans were in my boat when it comes to their views of Governor Pence, prior to last night they believed he was just another stuffed shirt right wing politicians with not much in the brains or heart department who was just a robotic advocate for the checklist right wing policies that the right wing Republican Party establishment espouses. Governor Pence demonstrated last night that this is not the case at all he demonstrated that he is a bright, with-it and sharp person who if is put in the White House the America people are going to find they have a very capable person there in him.
Senator Kaine's performance offers some lessons for the Clinton campaign. Don't interrupt the other person unless the other person is doing it to you where it then becomes a matter of justice because it gives the impression you're being unfair. Don't bring up a point more than twice and for it to get that much focus it has to really be important the subject I am referring to here is Donald Trump's taxes it warranted being brought up twice because America should know the kind of conflict of interests with foreign governments and foreign entities Donald Trump will have as President and disclosure of the tax returns would reveal this; but when a candidate brings up an item more than twice viewers think to themselves he is bringing that up again and it tends to be a turn off. When participating in a debate stick to the issue being discussed the American people care about the issues don't go off in an attack mode unless again it is matter of justice where your opponent is doing it so you're seeking fairness. One example of this was during the debate when the topic came up of police behavior and if it is sometimes wrong and the debate turned onto the specific issue of Senator Scott how he has experienced a high rate of police stops and how this makes him legitimately feel wronged. Senator Kaine was doing well in this discussion and then he veered off and brought up Trump's calling women pigs and the like and calling for a recusal of a judge just because he is of Hispanic descent all true and all wrong but the Clinton campaign looked weak on the issue because the Senator changed the subject I know this is a little not nice Monday Morning Quarterbacking but why didn't the Senator just take the opportunity to call for implementing Hillary's policy initiative of promoting more and better training of police officers across the nation especially in so far as promulgating best police practices.
This debate really underscored how misguided the Clinton Campaign is on condemning Donald Trump for not paying federal taxes. Donald Trump had a $916 billion business loss which he used against future income to reduce his tax bill all legal I'll tell you that probably at least twenty percent of American taxpayers have suffered an investment loss in the stock market where they used that loss to reduce their taxable income if I can do it why can't Donald Trump. Further to say because Donald Trump does not pay any Federal Income taxes he doesn't care about members of the armed forces, teachers and young people going to college is bogus you're stretching based on you're logic it is like saying low income families whose income is low which enables them not to pay federal income taxes do not care about these groups either it is an absurd meritless accusation. What is worthy criticism on this issue is how Donald Trump goes on talk shows like the Sean Hannity program and really condemns the American system and the approximately forty percent of Americans who don't pay federal income taxes the reason they have no tax bill is their income is so low and Donald does this criticism while he personally is not paying federal income taxes he is a complete hypocrite. If a moderator or Donald Trump makes a big issue of the tax loss issue it would be prudent for the Clinton Campaign to raise some of the bad qualities about the candidate Donald Trump that came from this period like at this time Donald Trump was running a Casino corporation and this corporation's stock went from like $35.00 to $1.00 and Donald Trump was taking tens of millions of dollars out of the corporation for himself as compensation at that time what a selfish person to throw the ordinary stock holders under the bus like this by bleeding the company in this manner! In another vein, the Clinton campaign makes a mistake when it tries to attach the label "you're fired" to the Trump economic plan when it sells it's economic plan as the "you're hired" plan this label requires too much of a stretch it makes one ask themselves what else is the Clinton campaign asking the American people to make a stretch about, not a good idea!
The Clinton campaign has also got it wrong when they blame the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy on the great recession. The cause of the Great Recession lies squarely on the feet of the federal government for failure to regulate the financial industry properly. Specifically the federal government failed in allowing banks and mortgage companies to issue sub-prime real estate loans that had initial low interest rates but when the interest rates reset to higher rates the borrowers could not afford the home loan payments resulting in them defaulting on these loans. The federal government failed in allowing banks to securitize these unsound sub-prime loans and hold huge amounts of these unsound bonds on their books and further the federal government failed in allowing America's financial industry to sell credit default swaps otherwise known as insurance contracts on these unsound bonds for pennies on the dollar. The great recession resulted from when the sub-prime borrowers started defaulting at high rates the banks capital in these bonds dropped significantly in value and their liability skyrocketed from the credit default swaps which caused banks stocks to drop precipitously in value and caused banks to pull back on lending which spread a contagion to the whole stock market and seized-up lending in America's financial industry which had a domino effect causing massive harm to business and individual income throughout the economy. However, the Clinton Campaign is absolutely right in criticizing the Republican trickle down tax cut policy for the reason that not enough trickles down to ordinary Americans these policies just increase and solidify the income gap between the wealthy and everyone else in America.
Secretary Clinton in the first debate did a great job, she communicated that she is a strong leader has a good agenda and has the wherewithal to implement it and America can trust her on national security matters. Three areas where I think she has room for improvement would be the following. Many analysts commented on this that during the debate Secretary Clinton almost always had a smile on her face even when there was not anything occurring to smile about it gave the impression that she is this polished slick politician. I know what she was trying to convey with this behavior which was that she is not intimidated by the bully Donald Trump she is not rattled like Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio appeared to be on occasion with their debates with Trump. Secretary Clinton should remember that she can convey this strength to the American people by the overall way she comports herself during the debate as well as the answers she provides during the debate!
The Clinton Campaign can do a better job in rebutting the Trump campaign's criticism that Hillary Clinton has been in Washington for thirty years and hasn't solved America's problems in fact they have gotten worse so it doesn't make sense for the American people to send such a person back to Washington again. The political commentator Paul Begala came up with a good rebuttal to this criticism when he said based on that logic the people of the fifth congressional district of Georgia shouldn't send Congressman John Lewis back to Washington this November. Because for thirty years John Lewis has had the opportunity to solve racial discrimination in this country and obviously it is not solved so Mr. Lewis has failed he is a failure so it would be completely nonsensical for his constituents to give him another term this November. What is nonsensical is this logic John Lewis has made an outstanding effort to eliminate this problem for America very few living Americans have done more, the focus should be on the effort not the result for Discrimination like many other large problems America faces today are incredibly complex problems focusing on whether or not the result is achieved and not on the effort will result in America failing to elect many great and better candidates to the detriment of the American people!
The other campaign issue which the Clinton Campaign seems to fumble is when the Trump campaign essentially says that what America needs is an outsider a non-politician to go to Washington and fix the country and Donald Trump is that outsider because career politicians don't know how to get the job done. The Clinton campaign should respond Trump is over simplifying and under appreciating the challenge in solving these problems and consequently is going to make little if no headway in solving them wasting the next four years for America something the American people can ill afford at this time. The challenge here for America is that to solve these problems the President has to get good legislation passed through Congress. The reality is that come November 9th of this year the day after this years election the President elect whoever that is is going to still need sixty senators votes to get bills passed into laws and almost certainly senators from the party not the presidents. The president will face a House membership with many members elected from heavily gerrymandered districts where they can ignore the views of wide swaths of the American people. The president will face a Congressional membership that knows that for them to win their next election they will need large amounts of cash for campaigning so therefore they cannot ignore in their votes the individuals and groups that give large amounts of cash to candidates within their party. Not only will Donald Trump face these institutional challenges but also the state of America's finances with its high national debt leaves limited options for America. No way will Donald Trump get his $5 trillion dollar deficit spending spree through Congress, such legislation would cause the financial rating companies in the world to take away America's Triple A credit rating which would prohibit many business, pensions and investors from buying or possessing America's bonds this would cause systematic and disastrous consequences for America and the world one can say with certainty this reason alone will cause members of Congress to not vote for such a package of bills. Meaning Donald Trump will have to make significant cuts in the federal budget to get his agenda through meaning Donald Trump will have to cut federal safety net spending and entitlement spending the latter he said he would never do. The bottom line is that Donald Trump's promises don't add up, the truth is he is playing the American people for suckers and we shouldn't go along!
Senator Kaine's performance offers some lessons for the Clinton campaign. Don't interrupt the other person unless the other person is doing it to you where it then becomes a matter of justice because it gives the impression you're being unfair. Don't bring up a point more than twice and for it to get that much focus it has to really be important the subject I am referring to here is Donald Trump's taxes it warranted being brought up twice because America should know the kind of conflict of interests with foreign governments and foreign entities Donald Trump will have as President and disclosure of the tax returns would reveal this; but when a candidate brings up an item more than twice viewers think to themselves he is bringing that up again and it tends to be a turn off. When participating in a debate stick to the issue being discussed the American people care about the issues don't go off in an attack mode unless again it is matter of justice where your opponent is doing it so you're seeking fairness. One example of this was during the debate when the topic came up of police behavior and if it is sometimes wrong and the debate turned onto the specific issue of Senator Scott how he has experienced a high rate of police stops and how this makes him legitimately feel wronged. Senator Kaine was doing well in this discussion and then he veered off and brought up Trump's calling women pigs and the like and calling for a recusal of a judge just because he is of Hispanic descent all true and all wrong but the Clinton campaign looked weak on the issue because the Senator changed the subject I know this is a little not nice Monday Morning Quarterbacking but why didn't the Senator just take the opportunity to call for implementing Hillary's policy initiative of promoting more and better training of police officers across the nation especially in so far as promulgating best police practices.
This debate really underscored how misguided the Clinton Campaign is on condemning Donald Trump for not paying federal taxes. Donald Trump had a $916 billion business loss which he used against future income to reduce his tax bill all legal I'll tell you that probably at least twenty percent of American taxpayers have suffered an investment loss in the stock market where they used that loss to reduce their taxable income if I can do it why can't Donald Trump. Further to say because Donald Trump does not pay any Federal Income taxes he doesn't care about members of the armed forces, teachers and young people going to college is bogus you're stretching based on you're logic it is like saying low income families whose income is low which enables them not to pay federal income taxes do not care about these groups either it is an absurd meritless accusation. What is worthy criticism on this issue is how Donald Trump goes on talk shows like the Sean Hannity program and really condemns the American system and the approximately forty percent of Americans who don't pay federal income taxes the reason they have no tax bill is their income is so low and Donald does this criticism while he personally is not paying federal income taxes he is a complete hypocrite. If a moderator or Donald Trump makes a big issue of the tax loss issue it would be prudent for the Clinton Campaign to raise some of the bad qualities about the candidate Donald Trump that came from this period like at this time Donald Trump was running a Casino corporation and this corporation's stock went from like $35.00 to $1.00 and Donald Trump was taking tens of millions of dollars out of the corporation for himself as compensation at that time what a selfish person to throw the ordinary stock holders under the bus like this by bleeding the company in this manner! In another vein, the Clinton campaign makes a mistake when it tries to attach the label "you're fired" to the Trump economic plan when it sells it's economic plan as the "you're hired" plan this label requires too much of a stretch it makes one ask themselves what else is the Clinton campaign asking the American people to make a stretch about, not a good idea!
The Clinton campaign has also got it wrong when they blame the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy on the great recession. The cause of the Great Recession lies squarely on the feet of the federal government for failure to regulate the financial industry properly. Specifically the federal government failed in allowing banks and mortgage companies to issue sub-prime real estate loans that had initial low interest rates but when the interest rates reset to higher rates the borrowers could not afford the home loan payments resulting in them defaulting on these loans. The federal government failed in allowing banks to securitize these unsound sub-prime loans and hold huge amounts of these unsound bonds on their books and further the federal government failed in allowing America's financial industry to sell credit default swaps otherwise known as insurance contracts on these unsound bonds for pennies on the dollar. The great recession resulted from when the sub-prime borrowers started defaulting at high rates the banks capital in these bonds dropped significantly in value and their liability skyrocketed from the credit default swaps which caused banks stocks to drop precipitously in value and caused banks to pull back on lending which spread a contagion to the whole stock market and seized-up lending in America's financial industry which had a domino effect causing massive harm to business and individual income throughout the economy. However, the Clinton Campaign is absolutely right in criticizing the Republican trickle down tax cut policy for the reason that not enough trickles down to ordinary Americans these policies just increase and solidify the income gap between the wealthy and everyone else in America.
Secretary Clinton in the first debate did a great job, she communicated that she is a strong leader has a good agenda and has the wherewithal to implement it and America can trust her on national security matters. Three areas where I think she has room for improvement would be the following. Many analysts commented on this that during the debate Secretary Clinton almost always had a smile on her face even when there was not anything occurring to smile about it gave the impression that she is this polished slick politician. I know what she was trying to convey with this behavior which was that she is not intimidated by the bully Donald Trump she is not rattled like Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio appeared to be on occasion with their debates with Trump. Secretary Clinton should remember that she can convey this strength to the American people by the overall way she comports herself during the debate as well as the answers she provides during the debate!
The Clinton Campaign can do a better job in rebutting the Trump campaign's criticism that Hillary Clinton has been in Washington for thirty years and hasn't solved America's problems in fact they have gotten worse so it doesn't make sense for the American people to send such a person back to Washington again. The political commentator Paul Begala came up with a good rebuttal to this criticism when he said based on that logic the people of the fifth congressional district of Georgia shouldn't send Congressman John Lewis back to Washington this November. Because for thirty years John Lewis has had the opportunity to solve racial discrimination in this country and obviously it is not solved so Mr. Lewis has failed he is a failure so it would be completely nonsensical for his constituents to give him another term this November. What is nonsensical is this logic John Lewis has made an outstanding effort to eliminate this problem for America very few living Americans have done more, the focus should be on the effort not the result for Discrimination like many other large problems America faces today are incredibly complex problems focusing on whether or not the result is achieved and not on the effort will result in America failing to elect many great and better candidates to the detriment of the American people!
The other campaign issue which the Clinton Campaign seems to fumble is when the Trump campaign essentially says that what America needs is an outsider a non-politician to go to Washington and fix the country and Donald Trump is that outsider because career politicians don't know how to get the job done. The Clinton campaign should respond Trump is over simplifying and under appreciating the challenge in solving these problems and consequently is going to make little if no headway in solving them wasting the next four years for America something the American people can ill afford at this time. The challenge here for America is that to solve these problems the President has to get good legislation passed through Congress. The reality is that come November 9th of this year the day after this years election the President elect whoever that is is going to still need sixty senators votes to get bills passed into laws and almost certainly senators from the party not the presidents. The president will face a House membership with many members elected from heavily gerrymandered districts where they can ignore the views of wide swaths of the American people. The president will face a Congressional membership that knows that for them to win their next election they will need large amounts of cash for campaigning so therefore they cannot ignore in their votes the individuals and groups that give large amounts of cash to candidates within their party. Not only will Donald Trump face these institutional challenges but also the state of America's finances with its high national debt leaves limited options for America. No way will Donald Trump get his $5 trillion dollar deficit spending spree through Congress, such legislation would cause the financial rating companies in the world to take away America's Triple A credit rating which would prohibit many business, pensions and investors from buying or possessing America's bonds this would cause systematic and disastrous consequences for America and the world one can say with certainty this reason alone will cause members of Congress to not vote for such a package of bills. Meaning Donald Trump will have to make significant cuts in the federal budget to get his agenda through meaning Donald Trump will have to cut federal safety net spending and entitlement spending the latter he said he would never do. The bottom line is that Donald Trump's promises don't add up, the truth is he is playing the American people for suckers and we shouldn't go along!
