Nancy's 100 hours

While the members of Congress do their thing to position the Democratic Party for more of the same in 2008, including continuing appeal to independents and moderates, we out here in the hinterlands need to keep fighting the good fight that underlies it all – to make more and more people understand that most of liberalism or progressivism, whichever you prefer, after 26 years of right-wing dominance of the agenda, is in these times right smack in the mainstream of the American people.

But the new Congress can send the right messages, too. First, a major increase in the minimum wage will be huge. The biggest they can get away with -- perhaps (if necessary) $7.50 in two steps, $6.50 now, $7.50 in a year, with built in cost-of-living adjustment after that. Do it immediately. The public wants it – 76% in a conservative state like Missouri for its $1.35 increase in the minimum wage, 80% among those with incomes under $50,000 – and the public will not forget who brought it into being. With bottom incomes going from $10,000 to $13,000 or $14,000 overnight, and lower middle-class incomes being pushed up from the bottom in response, and with the infusion of money penetrating upwards generating enough new business and improved productivity to offset the immediate additional cost for many employers, it will be a new “era of good feelings” that was caused by – that’s caused by, not correlated with – the Democrats, period.

Another domestic initiative: start hearings with maximum possible publicity and the theme, “What Is the Best Thing to Do on Health Insurance?” That’s acknowledging it’s a tough problem, considering we have to unwind from what we have now to something the American people will want. Everybody knows that, and “having a plan” that everyone can attack before the groundwork is laid, as Kerry had in 2004, lacks credibility. We found out how easily trying to adopt a plan without letting it build public support can be shot down. So let Hillary gain integrity points by declaring that she learned an important lesson from her efforts in the 90s, that it must be simple to explain, with the minimum possible bureaucracy to make it work. Force C-Span to cover it, and when a clear direction starts to emerge from the testimony of the experts, the Democratic leaders should do all the talk shows like Larry King, Charlie Rose and Tavis Smiley. It doesn’t have to be absolutely perfect by election time in 2008, but the essential shape of it -- whether an extension of Medicare to everyone (i.e., a single payer solution) or government re-insurance of major medical, or some uniquely American combination of all the good ideas -- must be capable of being shown clearly in 10 words or less (all simple words, and preferably less than 10 words). It must stick to a single purpose: making sure that nobody in America can ever lose a life savings because of a health problem (with the powerful economic side benefit, a gigantic jobs engine, of lifting the yoke of covering employees’ unpredictable medical costs off the backs of American business). It must be close to being “signature-ready” for the first 100 days of the new administration. The message: here’s what we can have if the Democrats are given the authority to do it.

Obviously, there are other issues. Some are hard to solve, but need to be attacked anyway. But these two alone can demonstrate to the American people what Democrats are really all about.