Obama is Not a Lightweight

A number of articles around the world have suggested that Obama’s charisma and ability to inspire come at the expense of specific policy proposals; Clinton, indeed, has been using this “fact” to draw a favorable contrast with her opponent.

However, Germany’s daily, Die Welt, disagrees strongly, and almost claims the opposite:

Hillary Clinton’s election campaign is characterized by a “policy based on facts”. Obama opposes this approach with a strategy that even includes specific projects.

The article crams examples:

He wants to fight the national housing crisis with tax credits that cover ten percent of the mortgage interest payment every year. Furthermore, he plans to create a database for property credits and institute heavy penalties for mortgage fraud. Obama suggests having every worker enrolled in a direct deposit retirement account that places a small percentage of each paycheck into savings. Workers would be able to retain this account even if they changed jobs. In addition, he wants to introduce middle-class tax cuts. Companies that shift jobs overseas will lose tax breaks. Bridges, streets, and harbors would be reconstructed with the help of a National Infrastructure Reinvestment Bank that would invest $60 billion over the next ten years. Every child and the majority of adults would have health insurance

As if to emphasize the seriousness of the approach, Die Welt suggests,

Barack Obama does not befriend everyone with his proposals. As early as April, he irritated the left wing of the Democratic Party by strongly hinting toward possible military operations against al-Qaeda in Pakistan. But to befriend everyone is not his objective. Obama wants to create the new “coalition of the willing” – a coalition of the left center, as comprehensive as Ronald Reagan’s right-wing majority or Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal. The new coalition needs specific objectives, but especially a lot of dedication.

The claim that he is not trying to befriend everyone is perhaps especially strong given that of all the campaigns, Obama’s has superficially, at least, the greatest claim to being populist. And I think this may be the first time I’ve seen such a direct parallel drawn with the political approach of Reagan or Roosevelt.

But the column is hardly contrarian:

The strategy’s strength, however, comes from the heart and the soul.

Just as we expect!

Read the whole article here on WATCHING AMERICA.com, (along with ongoing foreign coverage of the US elections)