 | | Debbie Bosanek (left) with Laurene Powell Jobs. (Reuters) |
Washington, Jan. 25: Every once in a while a country produces a symbol of its yearning for change. Like the unarmed man who bravely blocked the advance of Chinese tanks sent to clear pro-democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square on June 5, 1989. Even if change bypasses a nation, that symbol endures and becomes a part of its conscience. Last night, America, caught between its millionaires who have become emblematic of capitalist greed and "Occupy Wall Street" protesters who claim to represent the country's 99 per cent of those without privileges, produced an office secretary who may become the mascot for Barack Obama's re-election as President in November. First Lady Michelle Obama had this woman, Debbie Bosanek, seated in her "box" next to Laurene Powell Jobs, widow of Apple founder Steve Jobs, at the President's last State of the Union address of his current term. Bosanek is secretary to billionaire investor Warren Buffett who has supported Obama's claim that very wealthy Americans pay less tax than their ordinary compatriots like clerks, secretaries or teachers because the US tax system favours the rich. She is the most populist example of the need for change on which Obama plans to pivot his re-election effort. Last night's State of the Union speech was for all intents and purposes the unofficial launch of Obama's campaign for a second term. In an email to his registered supporters addressing each one of them by first name, Obama, in fact, admitted as much, just before he left for Capitol Hill to deliver his address. "Tonight, we set the tone for the year ahead," he wrote. While television cameras focused on Bosanek during the President's prime time speech, Obama borrowed the Marxist idea of class struggle without, of course, acknowledging Karl Marx. "Right now, because of loopholes and shelters in the tax code, a quarter of all millionaires pay lower tax rates than millions of middle-class households. Right now, Warren Buffett pays a lower tax rate than his secretary." He added: "Washington should stop subsidising millionaires. In fact, if you are earning a million dollars a year, you shouldn't get special tax subsidies or deductions…. Now, you can call this class warfare all you want. But asking a billionaire to pay at least as much as his secretary in taxes? Most Americans would call that common sense." Obama's broadside against the wealthy could not have been better timed politically. His likely opponent in November, Mitt Romney, had been forced this week to reveal his tax returns. Romney, a very wealthy venture capitalist, paid 14 per cent tax during his last assessment year while the average American wage earner paid up to two-and-a-half times that figure. Newt Gingrich, Romney's main challenger in the Republican primaries, would appear to have been doing Obama a service. Having discovered during his successful South Carolina primary last week that wealth and taxes are Romney's weak spots at a time of economic distress for most Americans, Gingrich yesterday called his main rival in his party names that Obama would probably shrink from. Gingrich said Romney is a "predatory capitalist" who took away people's jobs as he "restructured" the companies he acquired and sold them off for huge capital gains in small parts, effectively closing them down. That picture was in jarring contrast to Obama's claim last night, amidst applause from Democrats on Capitol Hill, that his administration had facilitated the creation of more than three million jobs in the last 22 months. If Democrats had made the charge against Romney, many Americans would have received it with scepticism. But here was a Republican, that too one who is mobilising anger in his party over America's economic decline, accusing Romney in language strikingly similar to Obama's camp followers. Romney retaliated by describing Gingrich as "zany". He and another Republican challenger, Rick Santorum, revived memories of how Gingrich, as Speaker of the House of Representatives, had forced a shutdown of the US government in 1995 and 1996 in his fight against President Bill Clinton. The government shutdown by Republicans led by Gingrich in the US Congress angered Americans and was a factor in Clinton's re-election to the White House in 1996 although the President was relatively unpopular until Gingrich pushed the country into a crisis. Democrats hope and Republican fear that Gingrich's antics during the ongoing presidential primaries may enable another unpopular Democrat to be re-elected to the White House, repeating history after 16 years. The high-profile appearance last night by Buffett's secretary as representing average American taxpayers who are at a disadvantage over their richer compatriots was carefully choreographed for maximum effect with the public. Although it may arguably have been the most important day in Bosanek's life, she did not dress ostentatiously when she was honoured with a place in the First Lady's box. Instead, she wore an appearance that ordinary voters could relate to. Seated next to the well-coiffeured widow of Steve Jobs, the contrast came through with telling effect. The presence of Laurene Jobs was meant to convey Obama's message that his administration was not against private enterprise or business success. Republicans on Capitol Hill reacted predictably to Obama's populist re-election pitch last night. One of them, Congressman Paul Broun tweeted as Obama was speaking of class warfare. "Mr. President, you don't believe in the Constitution. You believe in socialism," read his tweet that was typical of the response on the opposing side of the aisle. As it happens in every election year, Obama attempted to resurrect the bogey of outsourcing American jobs. An element of realism was injected into this act of populism by Scott Paul, executive director of the Alliance for American Manufacturing, who responded to the President's call to return jobs to stateside. "A speech alone won't change policy, but it can lay the groundwork," Paul said. | 
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