Don't Run From The NRA
Dear Senator Obama,
A few days ago, Senator McCain made a campaign stop at the NRA Annual Convention. He took a few potshots at you, getting easy laughs and applause. The video is available here. But overall, the impression he gave was summed up in this live blogcast which concludes "The theme seems to be 'I suck a little, but my opponents suck more.'"
Rather than give up on millions voters, why not reach out and hear what they have to say. After all, they have been very focused on issues related to firearms for a long time - it's hard to imagine any of your advisors have a comparable level of real expertise. A high profile meeting at NRA headquarters with President John Sigler, Executive Vice President Wayne La Pierre and Executive Director Chris Cox, if not simply done as a stunt, might actually reveal some common ground and allow both parties to accomplish something useful in the next few years.
Agree to disagree on many (most) issues, but here are several areas you can probably agree on:
1) Bad guys shouldn't have guns. Nobody can argue with that, but gun control advocates think the solution is more laws, while NRA says we should simply enforce existing laws. There's probably some truth in both positions - with thousands of federal, state and local laws there are bound to be gaps, overlap, and conflicts. Get some advisors to work with NRA on legislative proposals to streamline and strengthen the nation's firearm laws in ways that are acceptable to the affected citizens, firearm owners.
2) Education is a good thing. The gun control crowd clings to an abstinence-only approach that hasn't worked so well for sex, alcohol or drugs, while the NRA has educational programs that have reached thousands of schools around the US each year. Learn about their program and see if you can endorse/promote it.
3) Gangs are responsible for most of the "gun violence." Identifying the problem is easy, solving it is going to take a long time and I'm not sure how NRA can help, but it can't hurt to get their millions of members behind a program you endorse. I hope the next president can find a way to get everyone focused on the underlying problems causing much of the violence in this country.
Reaching out to your enemies to find common ground, if done properly (please see Senator Joseph Lieberman's comments), strikes me as a good idea - one element of the "change" you talk about that could attract lots of voters, new and old. Reach out to some of those enemies close to home.
Dont know how to reach a suggestion box. TIP OF THE DAY!Obama, promise to stop the wolf killing in Al.in your first 30 days of Office and you will pick up millions of votes.
Reply to this
Unfair Bank Bonuses for Executives with Tax Payers’ Money!
Pres. Obama should push a bill that all bank bonuses are accumulated in a trust account and will be paid in the future, if and when all tax payers’ money is paid back. This would be a great incentive for both the top executives and tax payers’.
Reply to this
When filing the 2008 tax return for my elderly mother, I noticed the "qualified widow" filing status. At first this seemed like a nice gesture for someone like my mother who lost her husband a little over a year ago. However, upon reading the fine print, I found that this filing status applies only to a widow who had a dependent child living with her for part of the year! The IRS already gives a tax break to someone with dependent children. I fail to see the fairness/reason behind the IRS decision to make dependent children care a precondition for being a widow. I suspect that most widows are elderly with children who have move away from home. Hence, I think that the "qualified widow" filing status will apply to very few. In effect, it is a filing status that appeals to our sense of fairness, but is one for which few will qualify.
Reply to this