Angus King H’07, a distinguished lecturer at the College since 2004, is a regular contributor to the Bowdoin Daily Sun. In his latest post, the former two-term governor of Maine says last week’s election losses by Democrats might have been avoided if the White House had just shouted out its successes.
In looking over my first three Bowdoin Daily Sun posts, there seems to be a pattern developing wherein a quote from my dad becomes the text for the ruminations that follow. Today, however, my source is different—one Ellen King, schoolteacher, community volunteer, and mom (mine). It seems somewhat uncharacteristic, but I can swear I remember her saying (on more than one occasion), “If you’re going to do a good deed, be sure people know about it.” Would that Barack Obama’s mother had said something similar to him, because the political debacle of last week could have been prevented had the President (and his Democratic mates) effectively and repeatedly told the real story of the last two years.
To illustrate my point, we’ll have a quiz. No peeking until you’ve made a good faith effort to come up with your own answers. Here goes:
1.) Name the automaker (of all those in the world) for which U.S. sales increased the most in the last twelve months. Now name the second biggest “increaser” and the company that produces both brands.
2.) Name the automobile manufacturer with the second-highest total U.S. sales in the last year, just behind Ford and ahead of Toyota.
3.) Name the automaker that came within an inch of going out of business less than two years ago but was saved by federal intervention led by Barack Obama.
4.) Identify on the following graph the bar for the month when Barack Obama was sworn in as POTUS:
5.) What is the significance of this number: 20 million?
6.) (Trick question) How much have Barack Obama and the Democrats raised taxes?
7.) What was the largest single component of the “Dreaded Stimulus Package” (DSP)?
8.) If you had invested $100,000 in the stock market on the day Barack Obama was sworn in, what would it be worth today?
9.) How many U.S. troops were in Iraq the day Barack Obama was sworn in, and how many are there today?
10.) What percentage of personal income was total federal, state, and local taxes in 2009? Where did this level of taxation rank in terms of the last 60 years?
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OK, here are the answers:
1.) Name the automaker (of all those in the world) for which U.S. sales increased the most in the last twelve months. Now name the second biggest “increaser” and the company that produces both brands. Buick, followed closely by Cadillac, had the greatest sales increase over the past twelve months; both are manufactured by General Motors. Number four was GMC.
2.) Name the automobile manufacturer with the second-highest total U.S. sales in the last year, just behind Ford and ahead of Toyota. General Motors is the second leading manufacturer over the past year, just behind Ford.
3.) Name the automaker that came within an inch of going out of business less than two years ago but was saved by federal intervention led by Barack Obama. General Motors, again. Had it not been for the President’s intervention (read bailout), the company would be gone now and about a million extra people would be out of work.
4.) Identify on the following graph the bar for the month when Barack Obama was sworn in as POTUS:
That’s right, it’s the longest bar, representing 750,000 jobs lost that month. As you can see, the jobs picture has been steadily improving ever since and we’ve been in plus territory for the past eight months. Last month, for example, saw an increase of 151,000 jobs. Bonus fact: number of net new jobs created during the eight years of the (anti-business) Clinton administration: 23 million; number of net new jobs created during the eight years of the (pro-business) Bush administration: 3 million.
5.) What is the significance of this number: 20 million? Twenty million is the number of 21 to 26 year-olds that are now eligible to be kept on their parents’ health insurance plan by virtue of “Obamacare.” Many would have been without coverage prior to the passage of the healthcare bill last ear.
6.) (Trick question) How much have Barack Obama and the Democrats raised taxes?Obama tax increases: zero. (Coincidentally, the same number as Obama gun-control initiatives).
7.) What was the largest single component of the “Dreaded Stimulus Package” (DSP)?The biggest middle class tax cut in U.S. history was the largest single component of the DSP, accounting for $300 billion of the $800 billion total. If you didn’t realize this, don’t feel bad; a recent poll revealed that only 8% of the American public knew that the DSP contained any tax cuts at all. Whose fault is that?
8.) If you had invested $100,000 in the stock market on the day Barack Obama was sworn in, what would it be worth today? One hundred thousand dollars invested in a fund based upon the Dow on January 20, 2009, is worth $180,000 today. Bonus fact:$100,000 invested the day George W. Bush took office was worth $65,000 eight years later.
9.) How many U.S. troops were in Iraq the day Barack Obama was sworn in, and how many are there today? Troops in Iraq in January, 2009: 150,000. Troops in Iraq today: 45,000.
10.) What percentage of personal income was total federal, state, and local taxes in 2009? Where did this level of taxation rank in terms of the last 60 years? Total federal, state, and local taxes represented 9.2% of personal income in 2009, the lowest level since 1950.
If you’re like me, most of this information is surprising and some of it is amazing.
And that’s my point.
Basically, the President was subjected to a two-year, non-stop “Swift Boating” and never really fought back. On healthcare, for example, he spent the entire summer of 2009 and most of the fall letting Fox News, talk radio, and the likes of Sarah Palin and Michelle Bachman define him and his proposals. On the economy, he never made the case of how bad things were and what progress has been made.
Sure, President Obama made all these points at one time or another in speeches or during his Saturday morning radio address (did you know there was such a thing? What station is it on?), or the occasional press conference (why does a guy who’s so smart and articulate have so few press conferences?). But in order to really get through to people, you have to follow the country preacher rule I teach my students: “Tell ‘em what you’re going to tell ‘em; tell ‘em; then tell ‘em what you told ‘em.” In other words, repeat the message over and over until it seeps into the public consciousness. And then repeat it about a hundred more times.
I think Barack Obama should have had that jobs graph tattooed on his forehead, for example, or least posted it on the front of the podium every time he spoke.
Ya think Rush Limbaugh never repeats himself? Have you ever seen the same or similar stories bashing Obama on Fox News? How about ten times a day every day? William James once said, “There is nothing so absurd that it cannot be believed as truth if repeated often enough.” Lenin put it a little more bluntly: “A lie told often enough becomes truth.” Death panels and Obama-raised-your-taxes spring to mind—and the fact that they spring to mind so easily makes my point.
I’m not faulting the President for what he’s done or not done, but rather for letting his opponents define the narrative of his first two years without seriously telling his side. I don’t believe the public necessarily repudiated the President or his policies last week; I think they repudiated a cartoon version of what he has or hasn’t done and he let it happen. Americans like their leaders tough and scrappy (think Gary Cooper in “High Noon” or Jason Bourne). And they like Indiana Jones a lot better in the crushed fedora with a whip in his hand than as the mild-mannered professor.
It’s too late now, but I wish the president had read The Killer Angels last summer. He would have learned that when Chamberlain and the 20th Maine were on top of that hill and about to be overwhelmed, they didn’t retreat or crouch behind the rocks or talk about bi-partisanship.
They charged.
