Talk about political timing. On a week when Democratic Senator Barack Obama will start a two week economic tour underscoring the role of the economy in his campaign for the White House, there’s yet more bad news about a “pocketbook issue” — and one that hasn’t not come up before in such an economically grim context.
It’s an issue under the political radar — but one that could impact many voting Americans. Every day.
It’s a (true) cliche that people vote their pocketbooks in election. Now, as if it wasn’t enough that many Americans are being laid off, face foreclosures on their homes and nearly have to take out a bank loan — if they can qualify one — to fill their gas tank..as if it wasn’t enough that reports suggest some Americans trying to trade in or sell their SUVs find there’s no market for them….now there’s this:
The cost of school lunches is now zooming nationwide — and parents will start feeling the pinch this fall:
When America’s schoolchildren return to class in the fall, they will learn a painful lesson in economics: Higher food and fuel prices are forcing up the price of school breakfasts and lunches across the country, by as much as 50 percent in some districts.
This will be yet another pocketbook issue likely to inspire many voters who aren’t hardcore political partisans to see Elections 2008 as a chance to implement the Big Broom theory of politics: they will want to sweep those in power out, and bring in a new crew and to see what they can do.
If voters find they have to cut back due to soaring gas prices, can’t get home equity loans, struggle with credit card debt, worry about their jobs, see headlines about teacher layoffs and school funding cutbacks AND have to pay extra for their kids’ lunches it can’t help those who are effectively saying “stay the course but just make a few course corrections”.
The cost of staples that make up the backbone of school meal programs has soared in the past year, far outstripping federal subsidies. While inflation has driven up the price of milk by 12 percent, cheese by 15 percent and bread by 17 percent, the National School Lunch Program has increased what it pays local school districts to feed 30.1 million schoolchildren by only 3 percent.
The news that parents will start to find they have to pay substantially more for the kid’s school food comes against this backdrop:
The “Change that Works for You” tour is to launch Monday in North Carolina, a state he hopes to make a battleground in the fall with Republican John McCain.
According to his campaign, “Obama will travel across the country, talking to Americans about how the economy affects their everyday lives,” in events with voters “where they work and where they live.”
…..“The middle class has always been the engine of prosperity in this country—but for nearly eight years we’ve had an administration that tells working people ‘you’re on your own,’ ” Obama said in a statement.
“Not when I’m President. I’ll reform our tax code to benefit the middle class instead of the big corporations. I’ll make sure that quality health care is affordable and accessible for every American. And I’ll provide real relief from the housing crisis by creating a foreclosure prevention fund, providing a tax break for homeowners, and cracking down on fraudulent lenders. Those are the kind of solutions that will make a difference for working Americans—and that’s the kind of change we’ll be discussing on this tour.”
Another part of the political context is the fact that Senator John McCain is gingerly trying to distance himself from Bush on the economy.
And in some cases, not quite so gingerly:
Republican Sen. John McCain’s top domestic policy adviser derided President Bush’s knowledge of the economy, saying in an interview published today that Bush knows nothing about the economy except taxes.
Doug Holtz-Eakin, who has been McCain’s top adviser and spokesman on economic issues, made the comments as he attempted to distance McCain’s economic policies from those of the president.
“The only thing that he shares in common with President Bush is the understanding of good tax policy,” Holtz-Eakin, a former director of the Congressional Budget Office, said in an interview with Bloomberg. “Sadly, it seems that is all President Bush understood in the economy.”
White House Press Secretary Dana Perino focused on the first sentence in Holtz-Eakin’s statement, saying that “We agree President Bush’s tax cuts have greatly benefited the economy — they brought us out of the recession he inherited in 2001 and led to 26 consecutive quarters of economic growth. And we agree that the tax cuts should be made permanent.”
After all, spin is spin…. But longtime conservative columnist Bob Novak cut through all of the niceties.
Novak lambasted the McCain advisor’s claim that Obama’s economic plans would be a third Bush term:
That is the silliest thing I have ever heard! And I won’t even dignify how stupid it is.
But Novak also said many Republicans wouldn’t hold it against him if McCain was trying to get away from Bush and slamming Bush.
The question is whether that will work for the GOP in this election.
If Americans feel their pocketbooks are nearly empty or tattered due to paying for gas, school lunches, food and even the privilege of having their (remaining) credit, quite a few may be willing to push happy-talk spin and even what some may consider to be logical arguments aside…and the Big Broom theory of politics could come into play.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.