Addendum to post on Jobs, Jobs, Jobs

I live according to a journalism rule: no truth until multiple sources. So when not one but two trustworthy sources asked me today about my 'unsolicited advice to Barack Obama' and told me it sounded far too partisan -- well, I have to make amends.

The truth is, the post is about two things:

1. Marketing is based on truth. Take Sen. McCain's nonsense about socialism. As a marketing campaign, the message has no basis in truth. It is purely an assertion. We can look at Sen. Obama's words and his record and, if we are interested in living in reality rather than pure character assassination, conclude that Sen. Obama's proposals are not about socialism but rather are about making capitalism work better. Now, we can disagree with what makes capitalism work better, but we can't with any truth to our words accuse Sen. Obama of proposing socialist policies. So when I talk about Jobs, Jobs, Jobs I am first and foremost talking about how to market political change to a public that is economically worried.

2. From a substantive rather than purely marketing perspective, with the words Jobs, Jobs, Jobs I am reacting to current discourse about a 'credit crisis.' If we want our capitalist system to work better -- and I do, and so many Americans desperately do -- we must think about more than credit. We must create jobs that have incomes, security, and long-lasting reasons for Americans to believe again in the American Dream.

In sum, then, Jobs, Jobs, Jobs represents a synergy between marketing and substance: Americans want, and America needs, jobs.

Sen. McCain has chosen to market himself on propaganda (i.e. the socialist thing). He has looked at his environment, and decided that his best chance within the current context is to attack his opponent in this way. Perhaps he is right. President Bush has not left his party much to work with. Well, Sen. Obama can choose a different path. He is not encumbered by President Bush in the way that Sen. McCain is. Sen. Obama can find that synergy between his need to market himself and America's need to create jobs for ourselves.

I tell people I am a liberal Republican. I think that covers all my bases. But ideology ain't the point. The country's need for Jobs, Jobs, Jobs is.