The Political Chase

Don’t fret Newt - the details will come in due time

Newt Gingrich advices Barack Obama, in a Newsweek op-ed, he should further clarify "Change you can believe in." Of course, Newt knows the basic rules — don’t "complain" without providing a solution. The solutions Newt offers are the foundations of the GOP’s 1994 "Contract with America" or the "five popular themes" he developed in 1980. Just what America needs – more disastrous Republican ideas and policies.

I agree Obama will have to focus more on specifics in his speeches. Not everybody is going to take the time to read detail policies at his web site. However, based on comments he made yesterday regarding John McCain, I firmly believe his strategy is to roll them out at the appropriate time.

I believe there are a couple of points to consider here. First, who in their right mind is going to follow the failed strategies of Newt Gingrich and the Republicans? They may have won elections in the short-term, but the long-term negative consequences have been substantial.

Newt Gingrich and his fellow Republicans inflicted incredible damage on virtually every aspect of the United States government — from foreign to domestic. Corruption in Congress soared during those years and every agency was politicized. Moreover, the Republicans crippled the economy, devastated our international standing, abandoned the war against Al-Qaeda, and invaded Iraq on false premises resulting in a five-year-and-counting quagmire.

All of the tragedies and failures associated with the Republican “Golden Years” resulted in overwhelming distrust of government leaders. The first order of business for Barack Obama has been to gain the trust of the American people and then to get them motivated. Not an easy task after George Bush, Dick Cheney, Newt et al. but he has managed to accomplish it.

Many have whined about Obama not being specific enough. “Just words” has been their battle cry. I wonder how many have taken the time to read his policies. That notwithstanding, I believe Obama’s strategy all along has been to provide details and strategy incrementally at the appropriate time.

A candidate’s strategic plans are no different from a company’s trade secrets. The duration of this election season is unprecedented. Does anybody believe a comprehensive rollout of detailed plans a year or even six months ago would not have been just handing over the crown jewels to the competition?

Ask John Edwards. He was the first to roll out an excellent and detailed health-care plan. Within just a few weeks, Hillary copied it and put her name on it.

There must be a delicate balance between providing sufficient information for voters to make decisions and protecting the future value of those plans. Why should Obama or any other candidate give the Republicans or Hillary eighteen months or more to scrutinize every detail? It would not matter how good the policies or plans were, the political game would be to discredit them or to make them “their” plans as Hillary did to Edwards.

McCain needs surprises in June, not Obama’s strategic plans a year in advance.