The Small Biz Debate That Wasn’t
Inc.:
The U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce has a dream: to get the presidential candidates to address issues specific to small businesses, particularly Hispanic small businesses. And the organization thought it finally had the means: it signed on to co-host a debate among the Democrats on Jamuary 15th.
By the end of the debate, it was clear that two hours wasn’t enough to devote to all the issues at hand. Partly this was because the moderators, principally NBC’s Brian Williams and Tim Russert, spent too much time reviewing non-Black-Brown issues, like the Iraq war, encouraging the candidates to pointlessly retread familiar ground.
The phrase “small business” was not uttered once during the debate, and when the candidates brushed on the relevant topics (health care, immigration and taxes came up briefly; trade did not), they always did so from the most general perspective. But in truth I can’t begrudge them for sticking to broad themes when speaking to a national audience. It may be blasphemy to say it here, but small business is in fact a special interest — albeit a very large one.
At the last moment, though, one candidate, at least, did try to sound like an entrepreneur — or at least a particular species of entrepreneur. Senator Hillary Clinton wrapped up by saying, “You know, we’ve got to get back in the solutions business in America.”
Photo by MSNBC.
Koyo Rau on January 22nd, 2008 8:55 am
Is this really surprising? Even with small business being the backbone of our economy, it seems that it is irrelevant to all political parties. Who do ALL politicians really represent? Themselves of course.
If any politician feels that they can pull more votes from a group, of course they will bring up the concerns of the group. The primary thing here is follow through not just the usual rhetoric.
Maybe it’s time for all small businesses to pull together and become more self-reliant ( I know we can do this) and not look for the government to be our safety net.
Please realize the more the politicians ‘argue’ on the stage the less they have to really answer any questions that matter to the voters. Whay don’t they have real debates? All that is happening during these sessions is entertainment and not honest, real answers to the voters!
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