Common ground for progressive conservatives and Obama

I have been a fan of Bridgett Wagner of the Heritage Foundation or many years. She is a solid thinker and a great consensus builder.

Join me in reading her thoughts on buidling on common ground with President-elect Obama.

Den

THE MORNING

BELL

WEDNESDAY, DEC. 3, 2008

Change We Believe In

On Nov. 4, Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) narrowly outpolled challenger Jim Martin (D), 49% to 46%, triggering a runoff election held yesterday. This time around, Chambliss crushed Martin by a margin of 57% to 43%. Why the difference? The New York Times reports:

Many voters interviewed Tuesday said the balance of power in the Senate had been an important factor in their choice of a candidate. "If you can't have a little back-and-forth arguing between the parties, then the party in power will make mistakes," said Ron Zukowski, a computer expert in

Atlanta

who voted for Mr. Chambliss. "This was my chance to say no, and I said no."

Clearly the American people want change built on common ground between liberals and conservatives, not a one-sided remaking of the

United States

. In the spirit of identifying that common ground, The Heritage Foundation begins a series of policy memos this week called Change We Believe In: Memos to President-elect Obama. The goal is to reach out to Obama on subjects where his words line up with our vision of how to solve critical issues facing

America

.

This is not the first time Heritage has undertaken such a project. Shortly after Bill Clinton won in 1992, Heritage issued 15 similar Memos to President-elect Bill Clinton on such subjects as creating jobs, reforming welfare, trimming bureaucracy, preserving military strength and expanding trade to spur growth. Heritage is proud of the cooperation that resulted from those memos and the policy victories they achieved in the form of the bipartisan welfare reform in 1996 and the passage of NAFTA in 1993.

Throughout his campaign, Obama made a concerted effort to appeal to conservative voters. He promised to "cut taxes for 95% of workers and their families," expand the Army by 65,000 and the Marines by 27,000, and enact "a net spending cut " for the federal government. Lower taxes, a strong defense and shrinking the size of government. These are core conservative beliefs. We plan to make sure Obama follows through on his promises. As Heritage's Kim Holmes points out, "During the campaign, President-elect Obama sometimes said different things on the same issue. We'll put some of those apparent contradictions on the record and ask for clarification as needed, so the American people will understand where their new president stands."

The first four memos to Obama urge him to:

• Clear up ambiguities in his position on missile defense and seek continued funding for a "dedicated and robust" system to protect America from ballistic missile attack.
• Craft health care reform that abides by popular principles of choice, affordability, stability and freedom from a standardized system imposed from Washington.
• Lower taxes for all Americans -- cutting marginal income tax rates, reducing or eliminating capital gains taxes, killing the death tax -- to promote fairness and economic growth.
• Convince Iran's leaders that the economic, diplomatic and military costs of their nuclear program threaten their hold on power -- but rule out a presidential meeting until Tehran agrees to a verifiable end to its nuclear bomb-making.

Future memos will be released regularly, leading up to Obama's inauguration on Jan. 20. They will address energy, education, border security, trade, entitlement spending, religion in the public square, civil and criminal justice reform, international organization reform, and relations with

China

,

Russia

and

Pakistan

. There is little chance we will agree on everything that comes out of the Obama administration, but where there is agreement, we look forward to working with him, and when Obama fails to live up to his promises we promise to hold him accountable.

A series of memos to President-elect Obama identifying policy areas where his words line up with our vision.

Seeking common ground, The Heritage Foundation is reaching out to President-elect Barack Obama with specially designed policy memos on subjects where his words line up with our vision of how to solve the most critical issues facing

America

. Each entry in the series, titled “Change We Believe In: Memos to President-elect Obama,” will cite the incoming president’s own words as a starting point for potential agreement and necessary follow-through.

"In a world with nuclear weapons, America must continue efforts to defend against the mass destruction of its citizens and our allies." Moving Forward with Ballistic Missile Defense Baker Spring, Peter Brookes, and James Jay Carafano, Ph.D. President-elect Obama, during the campaign you said you were committed to protecting the United States and its allies against attacks that employ weapons of mass destruction (WMD). This commitment extends to fielding defenses against such attacks that are delivered by ballistic missile systems. Your pledge is in keeping with the Bush Administration’s policy, moving the U.S. away from the Cold War strategy of relying almost exclusively on large-scale retaliatory threats, including nuclear weapons, to deter attacks. The American people should welcome this continuity because, first and foremost, they want to be protected.
"If you don’t have health insurance, you’ll be able to get the same kind of health insurance Members of Congress get for themselves." Ensuring Access to Affordable Health Insurance Stuart M. Butler, Ph.D., and Nina Owcharenko President-elect Obama, during the campaign you pledged to build a health care system in which Americans can be assured of access to affordable health insurance. You guaranteed Americans who already have insurance that nothing would change except that their coverage would be less expensive. You pointed to the health system that Members of Congress have as your model for expanding coverage. And you agreed that choice of doctor and care is a basic principle. These laudable themes struck a chord with Americans...
"We cannot allow Iran to get a nuclear weapon... And I will do everything that's required to prevent it." Yes, a Nuclear Iran Is Unacceptable James Phillips and Peter Brookes President-elect Obama, you are right that the United States cannot allow Iran to attain a nuclear weapon. Your statement during the second presidential debate indicates that you appreciate the unacceptable dangers posed by a nuclear-capable Iran . But statements like the following indicate a lack of understanding about the past record of failed attempts to negotiate with Iran ...
"I'll eliminate capital gains taxes for start-ups and small businesses, the engines of our job creation." Cutting Taxes to Promote Growth and Restore Fairness Alison Fraser and Curtis S. Dubay President-elect Obama, a centerpiece of your campaign was your pledge to cut taxes for 95 percent of American workers. Middle-class voters, especially, connected strongly with this pledge and expect their taxes to decline. Tax cuts are one key way to strengthen the economy for both the short term and long term, creating jobs and increasing wages. Targeting families, workers, and small businesses is a good starting point, but your promised tax cuts will deliver only minimal benefit to the groups you target. You must go farther if your tax plan is to promote a growing economy--something that is essential in our current situation...