Obama defines the election as a choice between social Darwinism and citizenship.
Dems: This is How Dems Do It
HAROLD MEYERSON SEPTEMBER 7, 2012
The third and final night of this weeks Democratic Convention may have lacked the fireworks we saw on the first two. Michelle Obama and Bill Clinton were eloquent in different ways, and werent matched by Barack Obama or Joe Biden on the conventions closing night. Thats not to say that the closing night wasnt effective, however. By focusing above all on two of Obamas decisionsto save General Motors and Chrysler and to send in the Seals to take out Osama bin LadenObama and Biden emphasized the two most politically potent contrasts, especially on the latter point, they could draw with Mitt Romney and used those contrasts to make their most telling attacks on Romney yet.
They also did more than that: They set up the election as a choice between a nation run on market principles and a nation subject to the dictates of fairness and inclusivity. Combine Obama and Bidens speeches with Clintons the night before, and the party almost arrived at a governing credo: fairness and inclusiveness are not only right in themselves, they produce a more prosperous nation than a nation run on the narrow calculus that has shaped Bain Capitalsand much of corporate Americaspriorities.
Osama bin Laden is dead and General Motors is alive is a pretty good campaign slogan, not just because it touts Obamas most obvious successes but also because it enables Democrats to talk about the cramped, market-driven worldview of Mitt Romney, the Republican Party and (though Democrats pursue this delicately) American business. Heres Biden contrasting Romneys response to Detroits crisis to Obamas:
When I look back on the president's decision, I think of another son of an automobile man Mitt Romney. Mitt Romney grew up in Detroit....His dad ran an entire automobile company, American Motors. In spite of that, he was willing to let Detroit go bankrupt. I dont think he's a bad guy. Im sure he grew up loving cars as much as I did. I dont think he understood that saving the automobile worker saving the industry what it meant to all of America. I think he saw it the Bain way. I think he saw it in terms of balance sheets and write-offs. Folks, the Bain way may bring your firm the highest profits. But its not the way to lead our country from the highest office.
When things hung in the balance, the president understood this was about a lot more than the automobile industry. This was about restoring Americas pride. He understood in his gut what it would mean to leave a million people without hope or work if he didnt act.
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http://prospect.org/article/dems-how-dems-do-it