Obama Gets “Vision,” Richardson Doesn’t

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In my recent article on Bill Richardson, I wrote, “Richardson articulates a platform, not a vision.” The New Mexico governor has a habit of listing policy proposals—including incredibly obscure and tiny policy proposals—without explaining how they fit into a narrative or theme that makes the case for his presidency.

I want to provide an example of a campaign that avoids this mistake, to better illustrate what I’m saying. At a event in Bettendorf, Iowa, yesterday, Barack Obama proposed the following things:

  • A middle class tax cut of up to $1,000 for working families.
  • Elimination of income tax on retirees making less than $50,000 per year.
  • Guaranteeing paid sick days and family leave days.
  • Doubling funding for after-school programs and giving a $4,000 tax credit to college students.
  • Cracking down on mortage fraud and predatory credit card policies, ending abusive payday lending practices, and reforming bankruptcy laws.

In all of these areas, Obama matched concrete policy proposals with an explanation of how they will make the lives of everyday Americans more stable and more prosperous. He discussed taxes, retirement, family issues, education, college affordability, and housing, all within the context of what Obama called a “plan to reclaim the American dream.” The whole speech was about the American dream, and about how, under Obama’s leadership, it will get easier, not harder, to achieve.

That’s policy matched with vision. And that’s what Richardson lacks.

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THE FACTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES.

At least we hope they will, because that’s our approach to raising the $350,000 in online donations we need right now—during our high-stakes December fundraising push.

It’s the most important month of the year for our fundraising, with upward of 15 percent of our annual online total coming in during the final week—and there’s a lot to say about why Mother Jones’ journalism, and thus hitting that big number, matters tremendously right now.

But you told us fundraising is annoying—with the gimmicks, overwrought tone, manipulative language, and sheer volume of urgent URGENT URGENT!!! content we’re all bombarded with. It sure can be.

So we’re going to try making this as un-annoying as possible. In “Let the Facts Speak for Themselves” we give it our best shot, answering three questions that most any fundraising should try to speak to: Why us, why now, why does it matter?

The upshot? Mother Jones does journalism you don’t find elsewhere: in-depth, time-intensive, ahead-of-the-curve reporting on underreported beats. We operate on razor-thin margins in an unfathomably hard news business, and can’t afford to come up short on these online goals. And given everything, reporting like ours is vital right now.

If you can afford to part with a few bucks, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones with a much-needed year-end donation. And please do it now, while you’re thinking about it—with fewer people paying attention to the news like you are, we need everyone with us to get there.

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