This is just a simple feeler thread meant to identify what Democrats think are the main issues in the 2008 Presidential election. I think it will focus on some economic issues and candidates domestic issues will be very important. Of course the war in Iraq will be front and center and the Democrats will have to offer a better way of dealing with that situation, not just opposing the views of the current adminstrations policies.

So what do you think my fellow Democrats?

Let me pose the question like this, you are the chair of the Democratic National Convention. You are working with leading members of the party and forming the platform for the Presidential Campaign. These are some of the questions you have to focus on:

1) What do we do in Iraq to promote Democracy and reduce troop levels?
2) The national debt is growing at an alarming rate, is another balanced budget feasible?
3) What is on the agenda for Health Care and Social Security?

That's just a couple of suggestions, there are no doubt many more. So without further ado...

Question for Debate:

What should be on the agenda for the DNC in the upcoming 2008 Presidential Election?

What should be on the agenda for the DNC in the upcoming 2008 Presidential Election?

There is no avoiding Iraq. We need a plan to start bringing soldiers home and terminating the whole sordid affair. Our foreign policy should change by beginning dialogue with nations Bush has ignored.

Other issues include:

1. Gearing the Bush tax cuts more to the middle-class,

2. Health care,

3. The minimum wage without the inheritance tax attached,

4. A more elightened approach to embryonic stem cell research than Bush has provided,

5. More balanced appointments to the U. S. Supreme Court, if they become available, than John Roberts and Samuel Alito have provided. Note: I opposed Franklin D. Roosevelt's court packing scheme, but Bush's appointments are so odious, I would entertain the idea if Democrats had the votes to do it,

6. A gentler policy on the environment,

7. A start toward actually doing something about altenative sources of energy instead of just talking about it,

8. A president and commander-in-chief who is in charge, more open than the current regime and one who is willing to admit mistakes,

9. A bipartisan cabinet, including some Republicans and independents.

That should do for starters. Remember, we must start from the hole Bush has dug for us.

Nato has to be given more attention. It seems strange that a sitting President would do something to strain such an important alliance. The Democratic party should be very open to hearing NATOs complaints regarding the invasion and start to repair the damage done as a result of unilateral action.



The tax cuts hit the middle class although they may not fully realize it yet. It helped the richest people in the country and eventually took more from the middle class. Health care reform has gotten very little attention and it should be front and center with so many Americans without adequate health care. I don't really know what the minimum wage has to do with the inheritance tax but I assume you will elaborate. Supreme Court nominations won't be a big issue for some time but I imagine appointing Federal judges will.

There is a lot here and I just touched on some of the earlier suggestions. I like the alternative energy point but I expect that will be front and center because enviromentalists are well received in Democratic circles. I do think that the issue of holding the cabinet accountable is very important. When Les Aspin admitted he made a terrible mistake in Somalia by not giving the troops armor he subsequently resigned. Rumsfeld on the other hand seems to be getting a pass despite the fact that he has made glaring errors and Bush would not dream of asking him to resign.

1) What do we do in Iraq to promote Democracy and reduce troop levels?

Well, we're about a year and a half away from this discussion for 2008. A lot can happen over these 18 months. Iraq vets are gravitating to the Demo party, and all this first-hand experience will likely impact how the platform looks.

I'm just guessing, but honesty might be a become a big thing. Voters might want the straight poo on this issue without spin, sales, pitching, brush-offs, denial, fingers in our faces, and straight arrogance.

2) The national debt is growing at an alarming rate, is another balanced budget feasible?

I think so. Again, ignoring the problem perpetuates the situation. It'll have to faced head-on.

3) What is on the agenda for Health Care and Social Security?

Demos already have a pretty good plan for this that involves no further spending, but an overhaul of the way we do health care now. Here's another opportunity for honesty. Health care in this country has huge problems linked to laws that promote corporate interests rather than public.

Since I don't see the Republican party moving away from the far right cliff, moderate Demo platforms could have a chance at doing a reversal of the Reagan revolution. Moderate Repubs in this state are endorsing a Demo candidate for the state legislature due to the far right problem. This trend could go national.

Seven Numbers You Should Know
DCCC.ORG

I found this going through the DCCC webpages, I was wondering if anyone might want to comment on them. In trying to figure out what the Democratic agenda is going to be, particularly if we get a majority in Congress, these could be crucial watershed issues.

1. $2.91 Average price of a gallon of gas - nearly DOUBLE what it was when George W. Bush took office at $1.52. (AAA Daily Fuel Gauge Report, Runzheimer International, April 2006)

I don't want to seem cynical but this couldn't have anything to do with having a big Texas oil man in the White House could it? Surely not!

2. $5.15 Hourly minimum wage for almost TEN years. (U.S. Department of Labor. Web: http://www.dol.gov/esa/whd/flsa/)

The GOP is not well known for being overly concerned with the working poor. Ten years is a long time for the minimum wage to be stagnant, the only reason would be a desire for cheap labor. Again, I'm not trying to be cynical but I smell ulterior motives here.

3. 45 Million Number of uninsured Americans. (U.S. Census Bureau, Housing and Household Economic Statistics Division , August 2005)

Right now I am not finding much in the way of comprehensive health care reform on the Republican agenda. Clearly there should be something on ours, I'll get back to you on that one if it gets any attention in the thread.

4. 46 % Cuts that would be made in 2075 under President Bush’s implied social security plan.(Social Security Administration Chief Actuary, as reported in The Washington Post, “Social Security Formula Weighed,” Jonathan Weisman and Mike Allen, Tuesday, January 4, 2005; Page A01)

5. $12.7 Billion Cut from student loan programs by Republicans – the biggest cut in American history. (CNNMoney.com, “Students to face heavier debt burden. Report: Congress cuts $12.7 billion from federal student-loan programs.” February 8, 2006)

There is no excuse for this one, education is one of the best investments we can make in our young people. If anything we should find better ways to help students get the financial assistance they need without going into debt, but when they do the interest rates should be in the basement.

6. $139 Billion Money in Windfall Profits for the Pharmaceutical Industry from the GOP-sponsored Medicare Part D legislation. ( Boston University School of Public Health, “Report: 61 Percent of Medicare’s New Prescription Drug Subsidy Windfall Profit to Drug Makers,” Alan Sager, Ph.D. and Deborah Socolar, M.P.H. , October 2003)

It's no secret that the Pharaceutical companies are making huge profits, if you remember the Health Care program the Clintons worked on they focused on this a lot. Instead of working to get costs down they are getting fat off the GOP Medicare legislation. You had better bet that if there is a Democratic congress this will go on the chopping block.

7. 15 Number of Seats needed for a Democratic majority in the House.

I'm not overly optimistic but I know of at least two seats that are up for graps, Bob Ney and Mark Foley have both resigned in disgrace. I'm not really following the other races but 15 is the magic number, any projections?

http://www.dccc.org/had_enough/seven_numbers/

Just tossing another log on the fire, I imagine this could get a lot more interesting after the election if Democrates manage to get control.

I think we can safely add Tom DeLay's former seat in Sugar Land, Texas to that slate. DeLay couldn't legally get his name off the ballot, so the best the Republicans can mount against Nick Lampson is a write-in candidate.

1) What do we do in Iraq to promote Democracy and reduce troop levels?

I'm not sure if we've not already past the point of no return as far as Iraq goes, and while I don't think Bush has handled the whole thing well (though this becomes more apparent the further back you go, meaning hes gotten better).

Us leaving via a short term timetable of the sort supported by the Democratic caucus, which is irreverent to intensity levels on the ground could mean the end of the current central government, and a power vacuum in the country would ruin our security, via both the prestige the fundementalists will get at our loss, and the new territory they will gain in its wake.

While it may seem vain, a valid arguement can be made that we need to increase current troop levels (which Bush is doing, though he shouldve done so ages ago). As we can't control all territory simultaniously with competent Iraqi and US forces, with our current deployment level, its obvious our current level is too low.

Possible hope for peace can come through appeasing the Sunni's by giving them a proportionally equal share of Iraqs oil profits, even though they dont live around the land from which the oil is extracted. An end of the militias would cut off a substantial portion of whats keeping the eye for an eye fued going. Getting those things done of course is easier said then accomplished, and the Bush administration is already trying to get those thing done.

Negotiations with Iran may bear fruit, as while believing the current actions United States to be a form of post imperialism (note, that we supported a brutal Iranian dictator for decades, and they are quite prone to jump to negative conclusions about our intentions in all things as result), the Iranians really have no desire to see Iraq fall into chaos. Their current president is for the record, rather disagreeable, but at his core humanitarian, or so he seems via his empirical actions and spoken words.

2) The national debt is growing at an alarming rate, is another balanced budget feasible?

Certainly, but not without higher taxes or lower spending. Given the amount government has grown since Clinton left office, a simple rollback of the Bush tax cuts probably will not be enough to balance the budget, especially if we don't (as some Democrats are proposing) undo the tax cuts for those making 250,000 a year or less.

If the GDP rises faster then the national defecit, then effectually speaking, the defecit shrinks (as interest stays constant and revenue goes up). Thus, when economy is growing, we can overspend by a certain amount without technically making the defecit bigger; of course the most responsible thing to do is cut it, not just maintain it at its current level.

Lets assume for the sake of simplicity and practicality that all we are concerned with here is a balanced budget, as that will effectually reduce the defecit, and wont force us to cut or tax more then were willing.

We'll we can make up some of our overspending with a reversion to Clinton Era tax levels. That not being enough, we can then clean up the contracting practices in Iraq and New Orleans, and stop engaging in pork barrel spending...though I ony trust that Democrats will probably do the first of those two things, and I probably trust to much.

We back plans for the five man junta, or the loose federalism plan as espoused by many Iraqis. We then gradually leave, with the U.N., NATO, or muslim nation coalition overseeing the whole thing. The junta or group after us might have to crack a few heads, but in the end, it will be worth it as peace and orderliness will be restored. It certainly can't get any worse than the average of 100 civilian deaths a day.



We need to really paint the republicans as being irresponsible fiscally. The best way to do this is to push for the presidential line item veto, as well as to push for an end to "rider" legislation. In doing these things, it will make a clear line of distinction between uor party and the one tha successfully put us back into the red after eight years of sound management that ended in 2000.



Push for a prescription drug benefit and allow the federal government to haggle down prices that the GOP failed to do in their gift giving to big Pharma a fe wyears back. Shore up social security by eliminating old programs and funds that normally would go to the bloat in Iraq.

Some interesting thoughts everyone but the last post has me reeling. For one thing the line item veto was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court back in 1998. For the President to have that kind of power would require a Constitutional amendment. I really don't think that imposing martial law in Iraq and suspending the parliment is going to encourage democracy. The Iraqi Constitution will no doubt give some loose federal powers to key people but having a coup would probably be had to pull off with the US running things right now.

Now as far as the problems with social security I am probably being a little simple minded here but what about putting the lock box back on it? It's just a thought but it was working great until someone had the brainstorm of taking it off.

There is really only one way to get things working in Iraq, we have to get everyone to the table and work out a compromise. I realize that political solution seems like an oxymoron in this day and age but it is nevertheless up to elected officials in Iraq to find an equiable compromise. People are a lot less likely to pick up a gun when they know that all they really have to do is pick up a phone.