2010 Election Campaign: Obama and Senator Race

I listened to President Obama's campaign speech for the first time tonight on C-SPAN. Of course his campaign speech criticized the Republicans.

Obama claimed the Republicans had their fingers stuck on the 'no' button. Not true.

Obama stated that the Republicans said 'no' to student loans, equal pay for women, unemployment compensation, finance reform and securing money from BP for operation costs and claims. He accused Republicans of using the 'no' button to gain votes. This is a distortion of what actually took place in Congress.

Obama ridiculed one Republican for wanting Obama to apologize to BP.

Obama spoke about a three year freeze on all government spending except items related to national security in order to lower the national debt.

Obama claimed he inherited a 1.2 trillion dollar debt stemming from two wars and tax cuts for the wealthy.

Obama said the economic problems will not disappear overnight. He stated that the Republicans are fighting to win this election, but he (Obama) is also fighting for the next generation of Americans: Another distortion of what the Republicans are fighting for.

Of course, there are no surprises in Obama's campaign speech. It is pretty much what people expected.

Then I listened Republican Senator Race of Missouri. Senator Race was talking to business leaders and CEOs about the economy. Here is a summary of the points Race and the CEO's made.

CEOs stated they could make more money by moving overseas. They blamed the new government regulations for high overhead and the inability to compete with other nations for an international market. I blame unfair trade policies for the problem.

Senator Race claimed that the US lost 3 million public and private jobs in the last six months. However, the leading economic indicators state the the US gained 500000 jobs in the last six months.

Senator Race claimed that the stimulus package did not create jobs. However the Congressional Budget Office claimed that the stimulus package definitely created jobs.

Senator Race talked about jobs being lost due to new EPA regulations to improve air quality. It sounds like Senator Race wants to sacrifice the health of our men, women and children in an effort to boost the economy.

Of course, Senator Race does not favor Cap and Trade.

Senator Race spoke about spending money we don't have with big government programs, but failed to mentioned creating or extending tax cuts and incentives without Federal funds to cover those tax reductions.

Senator Race spoke about Businesses not being able to get cash to expand, but never spoke about how to loosen tight credit without sacrificing financial reform and risking another deep recession.

Senator Race wants to extend the expiring tax cuts and incentives which have the potential of adding over 6 trillion dollars to the national deficit and will certainly increase the national debt because the economy is not expected to make a quick recovery.

Senator Race stated that despite tax increases, the government income never exceeded 20% of the GDP.

Senator Race stated the the limit on interest rates yields a profit not worth risking via loans to businesses. He failed to mention how higher interest rates would be devastating to the housing market and to small businesses.

I agree with Senator Race when he stated that health reform should include tort reform and the ability to buy insurance from a firm in another state.

But I disagree with not extending unemployment compensation. This act will only drive more people onto welfare; hence costing the states and the Federal government a lot more than extended unemployment benefits would.

In conclusion, Obama's efforts to tag the Republican party as the 'no' party won't work for this 2010 election.

However, the immigration issue will win Obama the Hispanic and Mexican vote which might spell victory in 2012.

The Republicans recognize the anger against Wall Street and the global financial firms, but Senator Race failed to address that anger.