They Fell For It.
You have to hand it to the Republicans. They are good. They know how to act as an opposition party. They have extreme party loyalty. When the Borg Queen, er ah, the Republican Leadership issues their orders, the foot soldiers all fall in line. They stick to one failed idea and ideology, and are damn proud to go in front of every camera, or go on every news show to proclaim it. There is no individual reflection. There is no dissent, except that they should stick to their ideology even more.
That strength is also their greatest weakness. For now that party unity is thwarting President Obama’s efforts to pass a bipartisan stimulus bill. You Republicans reading this are probably saying to yourselves: good! But take a step and look at the larger political picture. But loudly declaring their opposition, and taking all procedural steps available to them to block the bill, it is not President Obama’s failure to be bipartisan, it is the Republican Party’s. Indeed, with President Obama reaching out to the Republicans in a very public manner, from putting three Republicans in his cabinet (which is unprecedented), to meeting with both the House and Senate Republican caucuses, to having Republican lawmakers over to the White House countless times for dinner and cocktails, the mantle of bipartisanship will belong to Obama even if the bill passes without a single Republican vote. And likewise, the mantle of obstruction belongs to the GOP.
Obama’s Presidency will ride on whether the economy gets moving again. And to me, the smarter thing for the Republicans to do from a political standpoint is quietly oppose the bill on principle, yet allow the President to get his legislative victory. Thus, if the bill fails to stimulate the economy, the failure is on Obama and the Democrats, while the Republicans can then loudly say “We told you so.” Instead, now if the stimulus bill is delayed, or even if it fails to pass, any further economic downturn is on their heads. And it will be President Obama who can say “I told you so.”
So I give props to the GOP. You’re good, but perhaps this time you are too good for your own good.
I don’t think it will fail to pass. It had better not, because our economy is counting on it and even then it still probably won’t be enough. I’m tired of their games.
I completely agree with the statements made by Ariana Huffington on Morning Joe this morning that the stimulus package as it stands now may not be large enough. To paraphrase – we should not “prop up the old economy,” she said, we need to transform it into a completely new economy. Likewise with stabilization funds to state education agencies, for example. Sure jobs will be saved, but we will be spending just to maintain a failed system. Real, well-thought-out reforms need to be attached to the money. I feel the same about infrastructure and mass transit investments. Unless the money we invest will be transformative, reaching beyond deferred maintenance to build new capacity, we shouldn’t bother.
As far as tax cuts, well fine, but a tax credit for bank equity losses? Please. The banks are not having liquidity problems, they are insolvent and failed, in the process of being looted for bonuses right now. Completely new institutions should emerge from this.
Seriously, I’ve had it with the Republicans. I was just reading that Jim DeMint offered an alternative stimulus – stripping out all spending and changing it to permanent tax cuts. 36 Senators voted for it. Are they nuts?
The Republicans are getting a little nutty with their irrational invocations of Reagan in opposition to the stimulus.
Why did the Wilmington Trust Company get a bailout? There is a list of banks who got bailout money under Bush….why would Wilm Trust….are they like aaah super rich?
Liz – Reports are that virtually all banks were ordered to take the money, even if they didn’t want it. Wells Fargo and JP Morgan are examples of this. WTC may be as well.
Obama and his party have a majority, pass it and move on. The Republicans should not support something which result in higher taxes, higher interest rates and higher inflation.
A bad bill is a bad bill. Calling that bill stimulus is crazy and misguided. Stick to the normal appropriations process for all of the extras you want.
Savings, growth and investment are the keys to economic growth not runaway government spending.
DD wrote:
You’ll understand if we are somewhat reluctant to believe you have te GOP’s better interests at heart! 🙂
Dana…
It is what I would want the Dems to do if the tables were reversed. Indeed, it is what the Dems did during the Bush years. GOP and Bush got pretty much everything they wanted.