Put Some Chicken on That Chest--A Note to David Axelrod

David--

When a girl I once knew (and liked quite a bit) first saw my bare white torso, she giggled and told me to "put some chicken on that chest."  That admonition has stuck with me and served me well over the years.  When something I'm given feels, well, a little too ethereal or theoretical, I ask for a little more chicken on the chest.  When you're running a national campaign, the advice is free and plentiful.  Here's mine:  put some chicken on that chest. 

Let's do this:

Reverse the race-based spiral we are in with a blockbuster speech on affirmative action and class mobility, as only your guy can deliver it.  Here's how I would play it--go to Wheeling and remind America of multi-generational rural white poverty and how the stories from Harrington's "The Other America" are now 45 years old and yet conditions in many of the places he documents are virtually unchanged a half-century later.  We are now a nation of strivers and strugglers, and this may better define us and serve your man's needs than the racial, ethnic, and linguistic tags once easily assigned us.  The difference, he should note, is that outcomes today are often not a matter of race and ethnicity but of simple geography and access to those ladders of upward mobility.  He should once again establish his own bona fides in this regard--BHO's own forebears were strugglers, who chased opportunity across the continent, etc.; he and MRO are strivers who have gained the credentials and tools to ensure better lives for their children. 

Policy prescriptions--

1)  Class-Based Affirmative Action Pilot Projects  Begin with three regional US Dep't of Education pilot grants to road-test state university admissions based on household income--under $50k would be my recommendation--and parental attainment (dedicated slots set aside for first generation college students of any race who meet the income requirement).  This is a small first step, not significant enough to cause great consternation among civil rights leadership but fraught with great symbolism for those vulnerable to HRC's class-based appeals. 

2)  Establish universal broadband access as a tool of upward mobility and a matter of rural/regional empowerment.  Small towns are dying and it's not just Walmart and deindustrialization that's squeezing the life out of them.  It is access to knowledge, technology, and creative capital that keys to economic survival for small towns. Universal broadband is an equity issue for small towns and rural areas.  It is the 21st century equivalent of rural electrification and the TVA--without it, small towns can't attract and retain talent, rural hospitals lack real-time access to expertise and health information, schools can't prepare fully prepare students to function in a global economy, and professionals and small businesses can't flourish.   

3)  Propose a DOE grant program to establish Green Tech incubators at decommissioned industrial sites.   Don't just talk in broad terms about 5 million "green jobs" the campaign is touting, go to Goshen, Indiana to the StarTrans plant where hybrid shuttle buses are being assembled for the North American market and talk batteries and drive trains.  Talk about the transformative promise of these technologies, as the race's only true 21st century candidate can.  What BHO has and neither of his competitors can touch is a firm grasp of the future.  Plug-in hybrid vehicles for the mass market will be available in the 2009 model year.  Heavy duty all-electric delivery trucks with a 120 mile cruising range will be rolling off an assembly line in Long Beach by the end of the year.  The future is here.  BHO should embody it.

What he must do is talk about how government can till the soil and help create favorable conditions on the ground for targeted investment by green manufacturers.  This includes grants for cleaning up brownfields, assembling land, and improving transportation to idled industrial sites. Changing government procurement policies to encourage purchase of domestically-made hybrid, electric, and clean fuel vehicles; re-incentivizing domestic production in key industries through changes in tax policy; and supporting community college training programs in clean energy and green technology all support this vision.

Go to it.  And put some chicken on that chest.