There is ONLY one surefire way that a Democratic Candidate can be assured of Victory in the November elections;
S/he must bring forth the evidence that would make her/his Republican Opponent be forced to defend her/his belief in the Bush(II) Economic Policy, where huge Tax Cuts goes to the Wealthy (with the idea being that: its undeniably positive effects for them will, HOPEFULLY, Trickle Down to the rest of us) in combination with an ever-enhanced Financial Deregulatory Environment. Tax policies much like his (which had already been previously tried-- but then subsequently, and wisely reversed on, in each case-- by his Republican predecessors, Bush(I) and Ronald Reagan) resulted in extremely weak Job Creation, stagnant Wages, and also helped to convert his immediate predecessor’s (Clinton’s) Budget Surpluses, into Deficits so large, that it doubled the National Debt between 2001 and 2008. Add this resultant Economic Weakness to the cumulating effects of his financial deregulations and their lax enforcement, and the inevitable result was the worst Recession in American History!
Very unfortunately, and TO THIS VERY DAY, his Tax Policy is STILL in effect, and is STILL serving as a DRAG on the Economy, even after President Obama’s huge Economic Stimulus, the Recovery Act. The “Stimulus” (helped by the multiple Tax Cuts to Small Businesses) was large enough to reverse the Recession’s downward effects, but unfortunately, was not quite large enough to overcome the ever-present DRAG on the Economy of the Bush Tax Policy, hence the lackluster recovery in progress ever since. The major reason why we did not immediately notice the severity of the deleterious effects of this Policy, was because we were busy living on CREDIT (Bank Credit Cards and the Rising Home Equities of the Housing Bubble).
What is instead needed for a full-blown Recovery, is a reversion to the wildly-successful Clinton policy (23 million jobs created, remember) of higher (and fairer) tax rates on, at least, the Wealthy, then to use part of that extra revenue to help pay for the rest of Obama’s Investments as detailed in his American Jobs Act, which he proposed almost a year ago.
At the very least, these declarations should engender a healthy debate among the Electorate regarding the two quite distinctly-different approaches.
By the way, on the AJA; the President has GOT TO make it into as messy a fight as possible before the Elections, because it can ONLY be a WIN-WIN! First, he WINS if he finally gets what he wants from the Republican Congress, because the Economy will almost immediately start improving as a result. But, he also WINS even if he instead loses the fight, because he will then very clearly demonstrate to everyone, by this example, the treasonous GOP Obstructionism which he has had to deal with throughout his first term, and all this while he now-finally has the near-undivided attention of the American Electorate. I repeat, it’s a definite WIN-WIN!!
The Economic Argument as stated above should always be emphasized by the Democratic contender, in each and every Ad Campaign, Speech or Debate that s/he is a participant in, over and above that placed on any other policy disputes that may arise. In other words, the Democrat MUST tie her/himself to Clinton’s Economic Policies and the Republican Opponent to (a Doubled-Downed Version of) Bush’s Tax Policy, as evidenced by their respective views of the Marginal Rates on the Wealthy!