April, 2008
Change Campaigns
Nicolas Fitzpatrick
Obama's campaign, and its historical counterparts
Barack Obama has fashioned himself as the newcomer in the 2008 presidential election. Gone, he says, are the days of partisan bickering and racial politics. To himself and his followers, Mr. Obama is a veritable political Messiah. The Messiah will bring about a new era in American politics and change the way America works. His platform is loosely held together by his inspirational planks of hope and change. Yet, for all the media attention that his hope and change message has brought about, very little light has been shown on what change we can expect, or what it really means.
The appearance of the “change agent” in presidential elections has, well, not changed. In nearly every election since 1952, one candidate has billed himself as the man that will bring about change. Presidential candidates from both parties have donned the change slogan. Dwight D. Eisenhower did. So did Walter Mondale. Jimmy Carter told America to elect “A Leader, for a change.” Contemporary politicians have been no different. In 1992 Bill Clinton used the slogan “It’s time to change America.” However, the most compelling comparison is Obama’s change oratory with that of Robert Kennedy. It is also the most frightening.
The comparison of Obama to Robert Kennedy is done for many reasons. Both are young and appeal to voters. Both give inspirational speeches, but the most troubling comparison is their big government entitlement policies. During a campaign speech, Kennedy was asked “And who's going to pay for all this, senator?" He replied, “You are.” Barack Obama hasn’t gone that far, but it’s not a secret that he means it. His campaign website is chock full of great programs. Are those high mortgage payments getting to you? Obama wants to give a $500 credit to 10 million families. That’s $500,000,000 for mortgages alone! Talk about buying votes. We won’t even get into his healthcare program, or his desire to cap our of control pork barrel spending at the astronomical 2001 level. Someone more cynical than I might interject that his plans are not new, but recycled failed policies of Lyndon B. Johnson’s Great Society.
Mr. Obama, however, does not have any grandiose plans for Social Security. By the year 2017, which is the year the next president will leave office if elected to two terms, Social Security payouts will have exceeded income! Under Social Security, his website lists good ideas like eliminating taxes for seniors making under $50,000 to more failed policies of the past like creating automatic workplace pension funds.
The Florida Frontier has endorsed John McCain for President. While he may not be perfect, he is not fooling the American people with unattainable entitlements. It is clear that Barack Obama lives in the past. He has taken a previously successful campaign strategy and made it his own. He has also made failed policies his own and billed them as change. I am able to say with confidence that Mr. Obama is not lying to us. He will bring about change, just not with a good approach. He will ignore the proof that a free market works best, and an American works best when left alone. I am not afraid of change; in fact I advocate change. Let’s change the notion that the public sector works better than the private. Let’s change the way we protect our unborn. And let’s change the way we view ourselves, and strive for unabridged prosperity. To that, I say: Yes We Can!