Nicholas Goldberg: In the election struggle between ‘kitchen-table issues’ and the fate of democracy, which side won?
A small-town election in a state where both sides are fighting for a place on the ballot is not the best venue to determine the future of the American republic.
But it may be the only one in which we can learn how the public really feels about President Barack Obama and the Republicans. Because the town was a small liberal college town, the political campaign there has been unusually low-key, and the election results are quite predictable.
President Obama got to the ballot because he won the presidency. If he has his way, the Republicans will win, and if they do, it won’t be a liberal victory.
The GOP’s victory will be because the people of the town voted for “kitchen-table issues” as opposed to the issues that will define the future of America. And the Republican victory will be because the people of the town voted for the Republicans because they are the “kitchen-table issues”!
Is this true?
The simple answer is yes. And that includes the following:
1. The tax breaks for the rich
Obama is now negotiating for passage of a law that will allow his wealthy friends in the insurance industry to continue a tax break that the average middle-class family can’t afford. Will the tax breaks for high-income earners be extended to the wealthy?
We’ll soon find out, but we already know that it is true that the rich will receive the tax breaks, and the middle-class will be the losers.
This was the central promise of the president, and it is the central promise of all his policies. And it is an issue that has been neglected by reporters in the middle of the election campaign.
2. The health-care reform that will give insurance companies too much power
This law raises the cost of insuring all the uninsured people and the price that small businesses pay to insure their workers.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has said that Obama’s reform will lead to 24