"It's the Economy, Stupid!"

To any observer who has been paying even a cursory amount of attention to the back-and-forth rhetoric between Senators Obama and McCain in the closing stages of this Presidential race, it is clear that economic concerns are trumping all others in the hearts and minds of voters. Concerns surrounding economic relief, financial security, and cost-of-living are specifically relevant to blue-collar, working and middle class voters. These are the voters who live and think paycheck to paycheck, many of whom are struggling to feed and clothe themselves and their families during this time of financial uncertainty. Senator Obama and the Democrats have set out to distance themselves from the economic policies, particularly the tax code that has characterized the Bush Administration, while simultaneously striving to inextricably link Senator McCain and his economic agenda as one in the same with those of President Bush. Conversely, Senator McCain has bluntly characterized Senator Obama’s economic platform as “socialistic,” and as a vehicle to blindly “spread the wealth” in America. The fact that this economic disaster of unprecedented and historic proportions has occurred under the watch of a Republican Presidential administration has opened the door for the Obama campaign to attempt to bring together a wide coalition of blue-collar voters feeling the pain of the financial crisis.

Ever since the primary season began, pundits and journalists throughout the country had predicted an “October Surprise” that would throw a curveball at the two major candidates and serve as a sort of turning point. While it appears that the experts were correct conceptually, at this point, the major turning point appears to have come during the latter weeks of the summer and September with the collapse of the economy and markets. The state of the economy has, in many respects, had a unifying effect on the American electorate, and has created tremendous opportunity for Obama. While at one point in time it appeared that this race could be defined by a struggle by Senator Obama to fight back against attacks on his inexperience in government, lack of foreign policy credentials, and, as put by Senator McCain, “naivety,” the economy has driven the debate. To be clear, this is the direction Senator McCain and the Republicans likely hoped and envisioned the race going in.

A poignant and telling example of the segments of the electorate the economic climate has served to unite was recently discussed in the Detroit Free Press. A number of voters in the Detroit and greater Michigan area were interviewed, and two of the voters profiled voiced support for Senator Obama. These two individuals, Vince Leonatti, a 76 year old who twice supported the candidacy of Ronald Reagan, and Roderick Smith, a 39 year old African American, both identified frustration with the Bush Administration, particularly in its handling of the economy as their primary reason for supporting Senator Obama. Leonatti put it very bluntly when he told the Free Press "I've had enough of Republicans for the past eight years," and referring to Obama as “fresh and intelligent.”

Despite the support Senator Obama is seemingly receiving from blue-collar voters who may not be traditional backers of Democratic candidates, and despite the norm of racial equality that we theoretically have in modern post-civil rights America, Senator Obama’s race, according to many Michigan voters, has been a factor of salience in the decision making process of voters. Mr. Leonatti openly stated, “A lot of people won’t vote for him because he’s black.” This idea was corroborated by numerous other interviews conducted for this same piece in the Free Press. Even in a state, Michigan, where Obama has gotten out to a comfortable lead in the polls, and the McCain campaign has halted additional spending and campaigning, racist sentiments still abound.

In response to the support for Senator Obama in Michigan, particularly from industrial workers and retired industrial and union workers such as Mr. Leonatti who worked for Ford Motor Company, Republican groups have launched advertisements in Macomb County setting out to try and link Obama to his former Minister, Reverend Jeremiah Wright as well as a more locally significant figure, former Detroit Mayor and also an African American, Kwame Kilpatrick. The reality is that when there are white voters who are openly willing to admit that they feel that an African American might be deserving of the presidency in “100 years,” it brings into question much of the alleged progress we have made as a nation to be at the point where Senator Obama is widely looked at as the favorite to be the next occupant of the Oval Office.

In order to combat the racism, AFL-CIO union workers have been trained to “disarm prejudice” amongst fellow blue-collar voters during casual conversations. The issues, namely economic relief, are what should be dominating the discussion in the closing days and hours of this crucial election. That is what the Obama Campaign, and surrogates of all statures are trying to accomplish. Obama's closing arguments follow the theme that dominated Governor Clinton's successful 1992 campaign, "It's the economy stupid!" At this point, with current events as they are, Americans hardly need a candidate to tell them about the state of the economy.

For Further Reading:

Christoff, Chris. “Economy tops race for voters along 8 Mile.” Detroit Free Press (7 October 2008): <
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081007/NEWS15/810070356> (accessed 10 October 2008).