50% Solution: 100% Idiotic. Your Laff For the Day

[Corlyss_D]

Schumer: How Dems Can Win White House
To build on our midterm gains, Dems should follow my '50 Percent Solution.'
By Sen. Chuck Schumer
Newsweek

Jan. 29, 2007 issue - I am blessed. I love my job. I wake up every Monday morning excited about the week ahead. The one downside is how consuming it is. I don't have much time for leisure activities. So whenever I can, I fit in a nice bike ride through New York City. It's good exercise, it helps me relax, and it's a great time to noodle on difficult problems. In the fall of 2005, I somehow found time for a late-afternoon bike ride. It was just about halfway between the 2004 and 2006 elections. As I pedaled around Brooklyn and Queens, incognito behind my sunglasses and helmet, I was consumed by the question that Democrats in every part of the country are asked almost every day: What does the Democratic Party stand for? How can it help the middle class and those struggling to make it there?

From the Great Depression through the 1960s, the Democrats were the party of the middle class. We won by talking about the social safety net, neglected groups and a stronger federal government. In 1980, Ronald Reagan shifted that mantle to the Republicans. The country was focused on crime, taxes and America's place in the world. By 2005, Americans had new concerns. Technology had created a Brave New World: terrorism, global competition, longer life. Democrats sometimes had a difficult time speaking in a convincing way on these issues. Republicans didn't have that problem. They figured out specific issues that connected to their deeply held values, defined themselves clearly by those issues and then stood by them unequivocally. In 2004, they did it with eight words: War in Iraq. Cut taxes. No gay marriage. Those eight words sum up the reasons for George W. Bush's re-election.

"What are our eight words?" I thought.

Biking through New York's boroughs in 2005, I thought about some old friends, Joe and Eileen Bailey. Though they are imaginary, I frequently talk to them. To me, they represent the hardworking and often-ignored families who are not tuned in to special-interest newsletters or editorial pages, but want a little something more from their government and their leaders.

In 2006, Democrats did much better with people like Joe and Eileen, but only because of Bush's mistakes. We had our own eight words: No war in Iraq. No corruption. Bad economy. But these eight words did not describe our own vision; they were the negative image of the Republican message. In 2006, they helped us win back Congress. In 2008, we will need to do more to persuade the Baileys to again trust the Democratic Party.

As we head toward the election, the competition between the two parties is very close. As in 1932 and 1980, the electorate is up for grabs. Reagan Republicanism, which the middle class has supported since 1980, is under strain. The average middle-class person is looking to the government once again. Still, it won't matter if Democrats don't fill the void. We need our own eight words.

I know what you're thinking. "Hurry up, Schumer! What are the eight words that will save the Democratic Party?"

The truth is, the eight words are far more elusive than you might imagine.

Believe me, I've spent two years trying to find them. Slogans are easy. Empty promises, like "better health care," are easy. But they don't stand for anything; they're typical political b.s. To generate our words, we need concrete ideas that clearly and concisely communicate our values. It's not yet possible for Democrats to boil down our core ideology into eight words. That's not a knock on Democrats. It took Republicans years to develop theirs. The eight words are the end result, not the beginning of the process.

In part of my book, "Positively American," I try to start the process by presenting 11 goals, which I call "The 50 Percent Solution." Taken together, these ideas could help define what Democrats stand for. In the book, I explain each goal, how we can achieve it and why it is important to the Baileys. For example, Democrats should commit to increasing reading and math scores 50 percent by dramatically increasing federal involvement, and funding, in public schools. We should increase the number of college graduates by 50 percent. We should call for reducing illegal immigration by at least 50 percent and increasing legal immigration. We should cut our dependence on foreign oil by 50 percent, and reduce cancer mortality, abortions and childhood obesity each by 50 percent. We should increase our ability to fight terrorism by 50 percent. Sounds like a lot. It is. Together, we can do it—and more. Families, from Appleby to Bailey to Zutter, deserve no less.

From "Positively American" by Senator Chuck Schumer. To be published by Rodale Inc. © 2007 by Charles E. Schumer.

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16723384/site/newsweek/
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Chuck needs to do more polling to find out the top 3 concerns of the American public, the stuff they would, you know, vote on, focus on those, and stop trying to make the Dems all things to all people.

[jbuck919]

As I pedaled around Brooklyn and Queens, incognito behind my sunglasses and helmet....

He doesn't strike me as someone who would ordinarily be recognized on the street in the first place.

[Ralph]

He does have a high recognition profile, at least in the city and suburbs.

[DavidRoss]

And nationally as one of the biggest dopes in the Senate--and the competition there is nearly as tough as in the House.

[Corlyss_D]

As I pedaled around Brooklyn and Queens, incognito behind my sunglasses and helmet....

He doesn't strike me as someone who would ordinarily be recognized on the street in the first place.

Are you serious? The guy is in front of the cameras constantly. He can spot a a camera or a microphone over the horizon and he never can resist either. Whenever the media want a quote from someone that passes for leadership in the Democratic party, especially the Senate (where blowhards and gasbags unable to get their own televangism programs go to die), there's Chuckie with opinions for all occasions.

[Febnyc]

A blowhard, a toady and a wimp. Schumer is a joke as one of our (New Yorkers) senators. He wouldn't recognize an original idea if it bit him on the nose.

[Don Satz]

A blowhard, a toady and a wimp. Schumer is a joke as one of our (New Yorkers) senators. He wouldn't recognize an original idea if it bit him on the nose.

That sounds a lot like Bush.