It’s amazing to see Donald Trump rising in the national polls, but maybe not so much, given the campaign rhetoric.
Trump sounds more like a leader, he says what he’s going to do. It’s mostly empty generalizations like “make America great” or really bad ideas like “build a huge wall,” but he says what he’s going to do, in no uncertain terms.
Meanwhile Clinton is busy saying what kind of a leader she will be and her plans get washed out by the personality debate, the beauty contest.
The American voters don’t want to hear what kind of leader she would be, they want her to lead. Tell us what needs to be done, like Bernie Sanders did.
If I were her right now, I would be doubling down on the basics of why we should vote for Democrats and not Republicans up and down the ticket.
Do Republicans plan to raise the minimum wage so all workers make a living wage? Do Republicans plan to guarantee health care to all Americans as a right, not just a privilege to those who can afford it? Do Republicans plan to make ptechnical schools and college truly affordable to any student regardless of family income? No, of course they don’t, but Clinton and the Democrats do.
So why would anyone other than the very wealthiest Americans think to vote for Republican? Because they are not getting the message.
Clinton and all the Democrats running are missing another big messaging point.
The economy, while not as bad as it was, is not where we would like it to be. Why? When Obama and the Democrats tried to pass a big stimulus package to get the economy back on track a few years ago, the Republicans chopped the plan down so far that it could not achieve the desired result. That’s why. All the smart economists said so, and they were right. Clinton and the Democrats need to remind us of that.
Thanks to tepid investment in new technology and infrastructure, not enough new good jobs are being created, and big industrial companies like Caterpillar are so slow they are shedding jobs, which ripples through the economy, slowing down our local industries like Waupaca Foundry and even shutting down long standing manufacturing in neighboring counties.
In a slow economy, it takes decisive and big government action to make a big change. The Republicans did not allow that to happen. Clinton and the Democrats need to tell us that if they have control, they will make it happen.
Never mind the day-to-day beauty contest, understand what’s really at stake. Vote to get this state and country moving again. Vote for Democrats.
Even if their messaging is poor, Democrats intend to do what’s best for us. And we all do better when we all do better.
Kevin M. Kuehl
Waupaca