Don't Ignore the Baby Boomers

The US unemployment rate has hit 8.3 percent and that has to be bad news for President Barack Obama . As I've stated many times, that is the number that should be keeping him awake at night. As unemployment inches upward, the likelihood of his reelection drops.

Mitt Romney can certainly capitalize on this increasingly distressing jobless rate. He needs only to convince voters that he can help solve the problem if they will just replace the sitting president with the former governor from Massachusetts.

However, Romney needs to do something else. He has to convince the Baby Boomers - those voters born between 1946 and 1964 - that he will not attempt to significantly alter the rules for receiving social security. There were approximately 76 million Americans born during those years and those who did not lose their lives in either the Vietnam War or to more natural causes are either already receiving social security payments or are on the verge of retirement. If they believe for a moment that Romney intends to either eliminate or privatize social security, or even to raise the retirement age just when they can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel, they will vote for Obama. They have seen their investments and savings diminish in the economic troubles of recent years and they are definitely counting on social security to help pay for their food and housing during their remaining years.

The Boomers might accept slightly diminished monthly payments, if done in conjunction with an overall move to balance the federal budget. But even that would only be accepted in an atmosphere of shared sacrifice and fiscal responsibility. And they would not help elect anyone who would attempt to balance the budget on the backs of the elderly.

Mitt Romney ignores this huge voting block at his own peril. He has the unemployment rate working in his favor, but he needs to reassure the Baby Boomers if he is to win the November election.