The "Walk and Chew Gum" Agenda

Many of the problems facing America are complicated.  We want oil and gasoline to cost less, but we also want to “get off oil”.  We want food prices to come down, but we also want to preserve family farms without handing out truckloads corporate welfare to agribusiness.  We would like to see Iraq stabilize, but we want to bring our troops out of harm’s way.  We want to secure our border without sending a message that America is not welcoming of immigrants.

If we adopt a “walk and chew gum at the same time” campaign, we can offer paired policy choices that address these issues on the short term and the long term.  The “walk and chew gum” message also carries the connotation that a McCain administration would be more competent that the Bush administration without explicitly bringing it up.

Lower Energy Costs while Planing for the Future
Conservatives want to increase domestic production of oil and natural gas to bring down the costs of these fuels.  This, however, does not address the fundamental problem of our dependence on oil, particularly since so much of the world’s oil production comes from unsavory regimes.  Fuel prices will stabilize in the short to medium term, but this will only delay the consequences of “peak oil” theory.

McCain can link increased domestic production to the elimination of subsidies for oil companies and dramatic government investments in setting the stage for alternatives, notably electric capacity and cellulosic ethanol.   We must build nuclear infrastructure including the reprocessing of nuclear fuel in order to minimize waste, we must vastly expand our research into nuclear fission technology, and we must increase research into cellulosic ethanol technology that will ease the tension between biofuels and food costs.  Funding research may not be the preferred policy of some economic conservatives, but funding research can potentially change the fundamental structure of energy markets, whereas our current tax-and-subsidize policies only mask underlying problems and create inefficiencies.

Lower Food Costs while Helping Small Farmers
Ethanol mandates must be phased out.  Any subsidies we decide to keep must be capped such that family farms qualify but large corporate producers do not benefit beyond the cap.  Tariffs on sugar and ethanol imports must be eliminated.

Win in Iraq while Bringing the Troops Home
This is the classic “return on victory” plan.  With any luck, this will be an easier sell going into the fall if Gen. Petraeus recommends further troop reductions.

Secure the Border while Normalizing Illegal Immigrants
The GOP faces a serious problem with illegal immigration.  If we reject anything that might be construed as “amnesty” and focus on completing the border fence not only will we fail to enact those policies but we will be irritating an enormous voting block.  “Comprehensive immigration reform” has been a poorly disguised push for a Reagan style amnesty.  Control the border, fund additional English language classes to aid assimilation, and create some way to normalize those already in the country.  It’s not ideal, but it may be the best we can do.  “Comprehensive” must mean actually being serious about being comprehensive.

The one-two-punch approach strikes a balance between having a concise and complex message.  Selling it as being able to walk and chew gum at the same time shows confidence in the competence of a McCain administration.  Having two messages in one policy proposal may also allow targeted language to appeal to more than one demographic group at the same time.  This approach should be replicated for healthcare, job creation, and other issues that arise as the campaign progresses.