Should Clinton move left or right?

It’s anyone’s guess what it will take for Hillary Clinton to beat Donald Trump in November.  Criticizing Trump, both in terms of his character and his policies, is surely part of any successful campaign strategy.

Hammering away at the theme that Trump’s “temperament” makes him “unfit” for the Oval Office makes a great deal of sense, especially in light of his self-aggrandizing response to the tragedy in Orlando. 

{mosads}Attacking his bigotry toward Muslims and Mexicans must be part of the strategy.

As for the positive narrative about her vision, should Secretary Clinton just stick to her campaign themes?  How many additional changes, if any, should she make to accommodate the Sanders followers?

So should she move left for the Sanders voters?  Move right for the moderate white middle class male voters?  Stay where she is and make a strong appeal to women voters, especially older women voters?

These are large questions and everyone has an opinion about what she should do.  Moreover, the campaign from here will probably move in different directions as time unfolds.

There is one move Secretary Clinton could make that would resolve the theoretical conundrum about which way to move on the positive vision:  Clinton could expand her family policy agenda that revolves around paid parental leave and federal support for high quality child care to include a tax credit for a stay-at-home parent until a child goes to school.

This move actually moves to the left and the right at the same time. This may be the key from here.

The idea is that Clinton should support an “option” for hard-working young families once a baby is born.  She should support a choice between paid parental leave plus child care support OR paid parental leave plus a tax credit for a stay-at-home parent. And this includes families that have two moms or two dads.

This option would not take sides on the major conflict that afflicts the American middle class over how to raise children and how parents, working mothers especially, should balance work and family responsibilities.

Progressive Democrats like paid leave and child care support because it would help working women balance work and family responsibilities. Many Republicans and moderate and conservative independents would prefer to have a parent at home in the early years of a child’s life.

What if Secretary Clinton said we should give a family up to $10,000 a year in a tax credit to use for either child care expenses or a parent to stay at home if she or he quit her or his job?

Democrats have been unsuccessful at getting federal legislation for paid parental leave and for increasing the modest $2,400 tax credit for child care we have now.  Republicans like Paul Ryan are not going to budge on this agenda.

How would Clinton do in November if she supported the young family option which includes the tax credit for a stay-at-home parent?

What if she went after the vital center in a vigorous way and avoided the charge that she is a bland centrist?

This family policy is very progressive because it establishes a major federal social program.  It speaks to young couples and thus might also excite many followers of Senator Sanders.  Critically, the policy might also attract hundreds of thousands even millions of moderate voters who are independents or even Republicans who refuse to vote for Trump.

She could pay for it with a mixture of streams of income — some from a hedge fund tax and some from employer and employee payroll tax increases.

Whether a tax credit for stay-at-home parents would be the king-maker in Congress in 2017 or 2018 if Clinton wins is hard to know. But it might be.

Yet it may be worth the risk in the campaign for the general election in November for Secretary Clinton to move to the left and the right at the same time by expanding her young family agenda to include the tax credit for stay-at-home parents.

Defeating Mr. Trump will require more than motivating voters out of fear and anxiety of what will happen if he wins.  Mrs. Clinton needs to win over enough Sanders followers and disengaged independents and moderate Republicans with a message of hope and promise on basic issues about work and family.

Dave Anderson was a candidate in the Democratic Primary in Maryland’s 8th Congressional District