General Discussion

robertpaulsen

(8,632 posts) Mon Sep 28, 2020, 07:44 PM Sep 2020

For a closing speech debate knockout, how about using Reagan's words to destroy Trump?

It was almost 40 years ago, October 28, 1980, that Reagan used the closing speech in a debate to frame a litany of complaints within the "Are you better off than you were four years ago?" context to draw contrast with President Carter. I think you could make the exact same argument and the impact is much worse against Trump, because he's a much worse president than Carter. Or Bush. Or Nixon. Maybe even Buchanan.

Here is a letter I sent to the Biden campaign with my recommendation:

Dear Team Biden,

We all see the polls tightening down to 4-10 percent undecided among registered and likely voters in swing states and across the nation. How best to guide them over to our side? I believe the best way is through the appeal of historical analogy as presented in this speech Joe Biden should give in the closing speech at one of the debates:

In October of 1980, Ronald Reagan stood before the nation and asked, "Are you better off than you were four years ago? Is it easier for you to go and buy things in the stores than it was four years ago? Is there more or less unemployment in the country than there was four years ago? Is America as respected throughout the world as it was; do you feel that our security is as safe, that we're as strong as we were four years ago?"

Today ... I don't even have to ask. You know we're worse off than we were four years ago! Four years ago, you didn't have to stand in line to get in a store, searching for items frequently out of stock or at inflated prices, then be notified when you're about to pay that there's a national coin shortage. Four years ago, we didn't have unemployment exceeding the Great Recession or a GDP drop that was the worst in modern American history. Four years ago, we didn't have other countries preventing Americans from traveling to visit them because our leadership failed to keep them safe from the worst pandemic in over 100 years. It didn't have to be this bad.

I'm offering you a better way. A way to build back better and give state, local and tribal governments the necessary aid to get COVID-19 under control; to safely restart the economy with millions of good paying jobs that prioritize American manufacturing and clean energy. That means corporate America paying their fair share so that small businesses can thrive and carry the economy forward. That means treating American workers and working families fairly and that women are treated as equals. Key to all this is advancing racial equity - working to close the racial wealth gap, enact police reform and criminal justice reform to undo the systemic racism that has plagued our quest to form a more perfect union. We can do this! If you want it - I ask for your vote.

Please disseminate this speech to the appropriate people so that once Vice President Biden delivers it, the millions of Americans still sitting on the fence might realize electing Biden is the only way to change how bad things are right now. I am an enthusiastic supporter, have donated and will vote for Joe Biden, but I am not seeking any recognition or compensation for this speech - feel free to take any snippet or the entirety of it. Whatever you feel can help Biden win - do it!

Sincerely,
Robert Paulsen

Now I edited my list of just how bad things have become in the last four years to fit a closing debate speech. I think there's potentially a list long enough to talk about for hours. Feel free to list in the comments whatever you think is wrong now that wasn't four years ago. Just off the top of my head:

Four years ago...we didn't lock children in cages.

In any normal time, that would be enough to necessitate a one-term presidency.