How to Excite Democratic Voters

What President Obama's Labor Day speech yesterday cried out for, more than anything else, is massive, Blue-Dog-crushing follow-through.

Susie Madrak has some suggestions:

Dear President Obama,

We've had our differences. But because we're looking at a major disaster for the Democrats in November, I'm hoping for once you're willing to look for advice that doesn't reinforce what you and the other DLC-Third Way fetishists already believe.

If you preside over massive electoral losses in November, you have no one to blame but yourself. But you have some options, and if you're willing to take some bold steps that excite Democrats and independents, you can still mitigate your losses. When in doubt, ask yourself what FDR would do -- and do it! Talking like a real Democrat got you the White House. Acting like one will help you keep it.

1. Announce that you're going to allow everyone over 55 to buy into the Medicare program. More important, make Medicare the primary payer for the employed middle-aged:

The large health care expenses that many older adults incur raise the costs of employing them and may reduce their employment options. Employers who provide health benefits face higher insurance costs from older workers, and age discrimination rules limit their ability to offset these costs by paying lower wages. As a result, employers may prefer younger workers, reducing the demand for older employees.

One way to lower employment costs for older workers and perhaps improve their employment opportunities would be to raise the share of health care expenses paid by Medicare. Under current rules, Medicare is the secondary payer of health care costs for most workers ages 65 and older with employer-sponsored insurance. Employer-sponsored insurance reimburses health care costs first, while Medicare pays only for Medicare-covered services that it does not cover. But the available evidence suggests that making Medicare the primary payer for older workers would not substantially improve employment options for older adults, because the savings for employers would amount to only a small share of total employment costs.

What a great relief this would be, to so very many people right now. And short of funding WPA-style work programs, this would be the single best way to get people back to work.

Read the whole thing.