Now the real work begins

The conventions are over and now the critical work of re-electing the President begins. There is much at stake for individual Americans and for the country as a whole. Every vote will be needed if we are to prevent a return to the policies that brought about the Great Recession still affecting so many and a retraction of the social safety net upon which so many depend.

I have to admit that I did not watch one minute of the Republican convention. So I did not experience first hand their negative alternate reality of an America in sad decline solely because Barack Obama and his policies have placed the boot of government on our necks. I understand that the RNC was a bit of a ho-hum, nostalgic look back to earlier times.  Yes, some things don't change – like the Republican disregard for the truth. Can you believe a Republican strategist actually said that they would not devise their ads and campaign strategy based on “fact checkers”. Paul Ryan, the “brains” of the Republican Party, showed both his disregard for the facts (blaming an auto plant closing that happened at the end of the Bush era on Obama) and in the memorable words of Bill Clinton, his “brass” (condemning Obama for making efficiency savings in Medicare that, to the dollar, are part and parcel of his own Medicare plan). As Clinton put it: “You got to admit one thing — it takes some brass to attack a guy for doing what you did.” And of course, there was little mention of foreign policy in the RNC because their Presidential and Vice-Presidential candidates have absolutely no experience in the area – other than to want to take us back to a cold war mentality and spend hundreds of billions more on the defense budget than even the Joint Chiefs of Staff want.

I did see Michelle's moving personal tribute to the President and Bill Clinton's superb take down of the Republican talking points. Republican strategists to the contrary, it helps when you have facts on your side: 42 million private sector jobs created in the last 24 years of Democratic administrations vs. 24 million such jobs created in the last 28 years of Republican administrations. And of course I tuned in for Obama's closing speech which fired the admittedly partisan audience up to a fever pitch - not something I suspect happened at the RNC. In his speech, the President turned the tables on the Republicans for criticizing hope and change. Yes, he said, change is difficult and we are not satisfied with the incomplete progress made towards repairing the still-struggling economy.  But we need to keep in mind that we have been facing the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression:  "The truth is, it will take more than a few years for us to solve challenges that have built up over the decades."

Most importantly, the President presented a vision of a future America changed for the better – one where we work together instead of going it alone. As the President said: "But when all is said and done — when you pick up that ballot to vote — you will face the clearest choice of any time in a generation. Over the next few years, big decisions will be made in Washington, on jobs and the economy; taxes and deficits; energy and education; war and peace — decisions that will have a huge impact on our lives and our children's lives for decades to come. On every issue, the choice you face won't be just between two candidates or two parties. It will be a choice between two different paths for America, a choice between two fundamentally different visions for the future."

There is much at stake – domestically and internationally – if the Romney-Ryan ticket is victorious in November. I've been speaking to people as a volunteer for a MoveOn get-out-the-vote effort in swing states. One Pennsylvania voter replied to my comment that a lot is at stake in this election. She said “I know. It's my life.” With the reduction of the social safety net in this country that would result from a Romney-Ryan administration - including programs for the poor and healthcare, I had the distinct feeling that she meant this literally. Disappointing as Obama's foreign policy has been (too long to get out of Iraq, still in Afghanistan), at least there is a commitment to bring the troops home in 2014. What can we expect from the Republican Presidential candidate who referred to the final withdrawal of American troops from Iraq as “tragic”?

Drowned in an avalanche of right wing political ads and outright hatred, the Democratic message is not getting through to many. I spoke to one voter, a teacher and former Obama supporter, who said that she was voting for Romney because her husband, a small business owner, says that he has suffered under Obama and that Obama was leading us to socialism. Also that Obama had had enough time and hadn't been able to turn the economy around. I guess she hadn't listened to Bill Clinton's speech. I wished I pursued it more but the effort may have been fruitless. Her mind was made up.

You can expect much more of this reaction in the coming months. Robocalls that misleadingly state that Obama is weakening the welfare to work requirements play to the baser instincts of some voters. The flood of Citizens United money will inundate the airwaves with negative and misleading sound bites. And although Obama has been a very centrist President, the charge of socialism will be levied at him. It's been more effective with independent voters than the charge that he is Muslim, which plays well with the ignorant, the paranoid and the racist.

If all the negative ads and nutcase virulence don't do the trick, then voter suppression laws very well might. Up to 5 million primarily Democratic voters could be disenfranchised this November. Voter turnout will be key. Guess it's time for me to make a few more phone calls.

Update: I just saw this video of John Lewis, one of the original Freedom Riders of the early 1960's.  I am sorry I missed this speech at the Democratic National Convention- a powerful, moving indictment of the Republican voter suppression effort.
http://front.moveon.org/one-of-the-most-powerful-speeches-of-the-entire-democratic-national-convention/?rc=daily.share