Honoring Our Veterans

STRATEGY

• Polling shows President Obama leads Republicans on national security and veterans issues, indicating new strength in this area we should highlight.
• Strength on these issues also helps inoculate progressives against traditional conservative critiques when we debate funding for domestic programs. 
• Thus, the more we highlight achievements on behalf of veterans under Obama and contrast them with the GOP's approach, the better. 

CORE MESSAGE

Serving our veterans as well as they have served us.

Connect: The brave men and women who serve in our Armed Forces are risking their lives to keep us safe and free.

Define: It's time to honor our nation's heroes and renew our commitment to serving those who have worn the uniform of our country as well as they have served us.

Illustrate: From the expanded GI Bill and incentives to hire wounded warriors, to record-breaking investments in the VA, support for America's veterans under President Obama has never been greater.

Affirm: At the same time, the President would be the first to say it's not enough. That's why he's committed to doing even more.

Contrast: Mitt Romney slashed support for Massachusetts veterans in his first month as governor and now he wants to slash programs for our veterans nationwide.

Values: In the military, officers eat after those under their command and no man is left behind on the battlefield. It's no wonder Romney's struggling with veteran voters.

Share: http://bit.ly/KXJl6T | Facebook   | Twitter

ATTACKS AND RESPONSES

ATTACK: "Veterans are not being well served today because of the Obama administration."
RESPONSE:

• Obama's critics should try saying that to all the veterans who've come home from war under his leadership -- and who'd be sent back to war indefinitely if Mitt Romney was in charge.
• Actually, from the expanded GI Bill and incentives to hire wounded warriors, to record-breaking investments in the VA, support for America's veterans under President Obama's leadership has never been greater.
• At the same time, the President would be the first to say the progress we've made is not enough. That's why he's committed to doing even more.

ATTACK: "Mitt Romney will keep our nation's promise to our veterans."
RESPONSE:

• Mitt Romney slashed support for Massachusetts veterans in his first month as governor and now he wants to slash programs for our veterans nationwide by $11 billion.
• In the military, officers eat after those under their command and no man is left behind on the battlefield. These aren't the values we see in Mitt Romney's actions or his vision for the country.
• Mitt Romney's famous for trying to be on every side of an issue just so he can tell you what you want to hear. So can our veterans, or any voter really, trust anything he promises anyway?

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

• One in ten Americans over the age of 18 is a veteran, and almost 20% of Americans have served in our Armed Forces or have a family member who is in or has served in the Armed Forces.
• If the election was held now, President Obama would win the veteran vote by as much as seven points over Mitt Romney.
• President Obama is keeping our nation's commitment to our veterans and their families:
• He ordered the raid that took out bin Laden, brought all our troops home from the war in Iraq, and is winding down the war in Afghanistan.
• Making jobs for veterans and their families a top priority, the President pushed for and signed into law more tax incentives for companies to hire veterans; recently announced a new Veterans Jobs Corps; and secured a commitment from the private sector to hire or train 100,000 veterans and military spouses by the end of 2013.
• The President implemented and improved the most comprehensive educational benefit for veterans since the original GI Bill of 1944, allowing 600,000 veterans to go to school on the Post-9/11 G.I. Bill.
• The Obama Administration is making record-breaking investments in the VA. As a result, by 2013 over 500,000 veterans previously denied care will now be eligible for VA health care.
• The Obama Administration is on track to meet its goal of ending veteran homelessness by 2015. In fact, according to one indicator, the number of homeless veterans on a given night has declined by almost 60% since the President was sworn into office.
• But we still have lots of work to do: 33,000 Americans were wounded in action in Iraq and Afghanistan alone; 300,000 post-9/11 veterans suffer from PTSD or major depression; 320,000 may have experienced traumatic brain injuries; and veterans are 25% more likely to be homeless.
• However --
• Mitt Romney wants to send our troops back to Iraq and keep them in Afghanistan indefinitely.
• The Ryan-Romney budget would cut $11 billion from veterans care.
• Romney proposed privatizing the veterans health care system, until he was forced to walk back from his plan after condemnation from veterans groups.
• Mitt Romney wants to eliminate the programs that combat veteran homelessness, rolling back the significant progress the country has made.

 
We develop messaging by aggregating, analyzing and distilling polling, tested messaging, and expert recommendations, and monitoring the media to identify what is and isn't working. See here for some of the experts and organizations we draw on.