QOTE
Today, Politico wrote a long article detailing how President Obama (and even to some extent the Dem-controlled Congress) has been able to pretty much ignore the usual effort by the GOP to make everything a Dem says or does into the betrayal of the century. In fact, it seems from here that although the usual loud and wrong cable and radio suspects are still doing their ill-informed thing, very little seems to stick.
So if the usual wedge politics issues for the GOP are played out — what does that mean for them? When do you see their credibility suffer? Certainly the 28%ers will always BELIEVE, but will Independents and the Media recognize the damaged credibility?
Here are some wedge issues:
unemployment at almost 10%
Bankruptcy/Loss of two major car makers
quadrupled national debt
trillion dollar budget shortfalls for years
Democrats run the country, let’s see the results.
Right on cue — Mr. Shallow Bench.
Yep, we sure have a mess to clean up after all those years of Republican rule.
Yes, I do think their credibility is shot. I guess that happens when you cry wolf so many times. Now their attacks just keep getting more and more ridiculous (we’ve already skipped communist, straight to fascist). The Republicans also aren’t helping themselves by being the party of no and transparently rooting for failure.
Even their outrage is outraged. The Republican Party suffers from political ADHD.
But when does that lack of credibility become a structural feature of their reputation? I’m thinking of the kind of labels Dems lived (and still live with deservedly) with like hapless, and circular firing squad, disorganized, out-of-step. When does even their media coverage reflect the fact that no one thinks that they have anything to add to the conversation?
Perhaps this could be a reason that people don’t take Republicans seriously anymore? Glen Beck expresses feelings of erotic joy for cutting down trees and hunting on Earth Day.
I also wonder, why did Republicans become the party of hating the environment?
As their numbers shrink the list of things they hate grow. Looks like a winning combination… for us!
Mike,
Surely, you jest. Like the great depression, republican economic philosophy got us into this mess and democratic philosophy will once again get us out of it.
For fun, let’s start with the Clinton presidency. The facts are he presided over the largest economic expansion on record (yep, bigger than borrow and spend Reagan), the fastest income growth most workers had experienced in a generation, and the disappearance of the federal budget deficit. When he came into office in 1993, the federal budget deficit was $290 billion and was projected to be $455 billion by 2000. Clinton made it his number one goal to reduce the national debt. He did so by raising taxes on the wealthy and cutting taxes for the poor. By the end of his presidency, he had eliminated the federal deficit. In 1999, he recorded a federal budget surplus of $122.7 billion. In 2000, he topped his own record with a federal budget surplus of $230 billion. He also made huge gains in the national debt. In May 2000, he made a $216 billion payment on the federal debt, the largest debt paydown in American history. The federal government’s long-term debt in 2000 was $2.4 trillion lower than it was projected to be when Clinton took office in 1992. In September 2000, he explained that the $5.7 trillion national debt had been reduced by $360 billion in the previous three years. He reduced it by $223 billion in 2000 alone. At the 2000 rate of debt paydown, the US was expected to have paid off its entire debt by 2010.
Enter George Bush and a republican controlled Congress.
At the end of George W. Bush’s presidency, our national debt was $10.8 trillion. Nice jobs boys. We owe $5 trillion of that to China, a communist country we don’t like and who doesn’t like us. We have made absolutely zero payments on our national debt during Bush’s presidency. ZERO. Instead, Bush has nearly doubled our national debt. The economy is weaker, the dollar is weaker, and we’re further in debt than we ever have been before. We continue to pay for the war and reconstruction in Iraq despite the fact that the Iraq government has a $79 billion surplus earning interest in banks in New York. This is the epitome of fiscal irresponsibility and the epitome of the GOP. Where was your outrage then Mike?
As for the automotive industry, surely the fall of the American automotive industry (should it happen) can’t be pinned on a guy whose been in office for three months. That’s just laughable. Besides, that’s all you got? Most republicans would be happy if they can break up the unions by allowing the industry to fail. What Obama did do was force the industry to make more cuts before the federal government would lend them the money. Are you opposed to that kind of tough love Mike?
In 90 days, the Obama Admin passed the largest middle class income tax reduction in history. Over 95% of Americans had their taxes reduced.
Saved hundreds of thousands of jobs by providing the states with 200 billion for education, health care, infrastructure and green energy. Republican governors who initially whined, took the money. After all, refusing the money would have led to financial ruin and rampant unemployment in the states. It was the right decision. And rather than having the federal govenment spend the money, they passed it to the local governments. You know, Mike. States rights. Government closest to the people who would know how to best spend the money……………….the states.
Provided billions to repair the nation’s roads and bridges and billions in an attempt to create a green economy. The former was long overdue and unlike wasting billions in Iraq, at least we will get something out of it in the long run. The green economy may or may not work, but it is worth a shot.
Reversed failed Iraq policy by putting forth a plan to get out of Iraq and renew the battle against Al Qaeda in Afghanistan where the perpetrators of 9/11 reside.
Passed the stem cell bill twice vetoed by Bush that hopefully will save or improve the live of living Americans.
Began the process of making the American government more transparent. Unlike the secret Bush Admin where transparancey was an evil word, the Obama admin. is making incredible strides in accountability and transparancy. They are not there yet, but it’s night and day compared to the prior admin.
Reversed much of the Bush Admin (lack of)environmental policy.
Not a bad start.
Sing it, Justice.