New Foundation

Obama needs a catch-phrase. I've thought this for a while. He really does have a very ambitious domestic policy agenda, rivaling certainly that of the Great Society programs if not the New Deal (and maybe, just maybe, rivaling the New Deal as well). Every time a previous progressive President has presented such an agenda, it's had a catch-phrase. Teddy Roosevelt had the Square Deal, Franklin Roosevelt (obviously) had the New Deal, Harry Truman had the Fair Deal (they weren't great originalists, but whatever...), Kennedy had the New Frontier, and Johnson the Great Society. Other than the Fair Deal, most of these programs got enacted, and they certainly made great strides toward reshaping our society. Obama's policies are just as important and major and good (in my opinion), but he doesn't have a catch-phrase. Until now.

The other day I was reading a newspaper article that was mainly about how the Administration is going to be taking tighter control of the midterm election campaigns than it had previously planned. But it also mentioned something like, "....important to the President's economic Agenda, which Obama describes as creating a 'new foundation' for American prosperity...". That phrase struck me, and continues to strike me, as a great catch-phrase. It fits the mould perfectly. It fits our times perfectly, as well, since we are at an era when the basic strengths that made us prosperous and then a superpower are starting to show how much they've crumbled, and just about everyone acknowledges this. And it also fits his agenda perfectly.

The stimulus. Hell, it was called the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The whole point was to boost GDP and job creation in ways that would also lay the, uh, foundation for longer-term prosperity and economic security. Things like infrastructure spending, energy-efficiency, alternative energy. Infrastructure is literally about a new foundation, but that's somewhat beside the point. It was about recognizing that we need to restructure our economy to ensure long-term prosperity, to ensure that the Great Depression never happens again (again).

Health care. Again, this fits perfectly. Our health-care system is, shall we say, rotting the foundation of our economy. By being a lousy health-care system, it's making us less healthy and making individuals less prosperous. By being inefficient, it's just consuming an ever-larger share of GDP, a sure recipe for disaster. It's a tremendous burden on the federal budget, and will eventually destroy the budget. And it's even putting a whole lot of pressure on those darlings of the popular right-wing, small businesses. Fix the health care system, and we'll have a stronger foundation for prosperity.

Energy. We're addicted to oil, have you heard? That's destroying the whole world, kinda, but that's somewhat beside the point. When gas prices go up, it hurts people. It causes real suffering. Almost any alternative energy would have a much more stable price, and ultimately probably a much lower price as well. And the whole "being dependent on an export of Saudi Arabia" thing is kind of problematic from a security perspective. And who can deny that energy is that the foundation of modern society? New energy sources, new foundation.

Education. I hope this is self-explanatory. Our education system, one of the most important foundations of our society, is horrid.

Financial regulation. Our financial system is screwed-the-hell up, maybe it needs some new regulations to be the bedrock of its stability. Say, a foundation?

It all fits together so well. Obama could string together his entire agenda, say in the State of the Union, by describing how each part is about building a New Foundation. That would help him explain why actually, focusing on health care is focusing on the economy. Focusing on cap-and-trade is focusing on the economy. Focusing on financial reform is focusing on the economy. It's all connected, but especially in this soundbite age Obama needs one nice short catchy phrase to get that point across. The New Foundation. If he hasn't figured out that this is his phrase, he should do. It's been a while since we've had one. Progress has been waiting long enough.