A good news/bad news post. The good news, Arlen Specter, Olympia Snowe, and Susan Collins joined Senate Democrats to end debate over the stimulus bill. I admire these Senators for standing up to their party because they believe that “no action” at this point is unacceptable. I agree. The Senate version of the stimulus package is expected to pass today and then they begin the process of ironing out the differences between the House and Senate bills.
The bad news. I’ve lost faith in bipartisanship. I was a supporter, preaching inclusion, a new kind of politics, but in trying to appease Congressional Republicans, I’m afraid Obama will, in the end, sign a stimulus plan that is neither big enough nor bold enough to pull us out of the economic free fall we’re in. (And, of course, if that happens, Republicans will blame Obama and the Democrats. Could it be that it isn’t just Rush Limbaugh that is hoping Obama will fail?)
And I fear that Americans have amnesia. Most of us are not economists, and we have not lived through times as tough as these. We have to rely on “experts” to advise us, and right now, it seems, the experts are all over the board. No matter what you advocate – more spending, less spending, rewarding failing industries or jailing their CEOs, saving the banks or letting them fall – you can find an economist to who will back you up on prime time television.
I’m not an economist, but here’s what I don’t get. Congressional Republicans are saying we can fix everything through tax cuts and little or no spending (with the exception, presumably, of the wars their fearless leader started). I hear them, but I can’t believe what I hear. Have they forgotten the policies that got us here? Have we? Who are the Rush Limbaughs and Bill O’Reillys of the world talking to? Are there real people out there who’ve just plain forgotten the past eight years, as if they went to sleep one night and woke up the next morning to a crisis?
I was heartened when, last week, it finally seemed like Obama had had enough. Are they kidding? he asked in headlines everywhere, and I felt hopeful. Because, frankly, he’s danced with the Republicans long enough. The watered down stimulus bill passed by the House and supported by not one single House Republican is proof that they are not interested in bipartisanship. They are interested in maintaining the policies that led us right here to the edge of collapse.
Tax cuts will solve everything, they say, but I wonder about the millions of Americans being laid off – those people who aren’t making any money at all now. How will a tax cut help them? You know what would help them? Jobs, and the infrastructure spending and green investments that will create them. Add some investment into our educational and health care systems, and maybe, just maybe, we can actually address long-term goals at the same time.
It’s time to stop dancing. Let the Republicans be the wallflowers they deserve to be.
Wild
j,
i couldn’t agree with you more. i’m now worried, like you, about the politics that are likely underlying many of the republicans in congress. it angers me to think they are willing to gamble this country’s future to get some twisted job security, even with many republican governors pushing them to do the right thing.
i believe, as many have said lately, that the public is ahead of congress in the “i get it” department.
so i say, the hell with the republicans! barack and the dems need to go big. go bold. go it alone, cause you are not alone. 80% of america is behind you. it’s the right move. make it happen without them. call their bluff.
c
Many, many people will simply believe what they want to believe, what they have to believe – no matter how ridiculous. I remember talking to a friend of mine (former boss) during the time before Obama received the Democratic Nomination – this friend is a native of Houston, Texas. The son to a former Oil Company CEA – you get the picture. He seriously defended George Bush to me and even told me some story about a ‘secret success’ of Bush’s, in all confidence, which I believe was fabricated by the media in the South. I don’t know if his defense of the Republican Party and George Bush’s actions in the last 8 years was/is a matter of his pride or if it’s too frightening for him to give up his deep-seated beliefs that are rooted in his heritage – I just don’t know. Even the mention of names like O’Reily and Limbaugh are the reason I cannot bear to watch the news sometimes.
c, i sure hope you’re right about the american public.
carey, your comments about beliefs remind me of mac daddy’s comments about remaining ignorant because it’s more comfortable than facing your own hypocrisies…
Yes, I remember those comments now; however, I don’t think that this ‘habit’ is exclusive to any particular class or group — I think it’s a pretty common trait amongst humans in general (except in different areas). I think we all probably have a few nonsense/unfounded beliefs that we cling to in one degree or another and get our feathers ruffled when other people have differing opinions. I do not know how this James Carville and Mary Matalin can stay married (or get married in the first place!) — I truly admire their ability to tolerate each other’s differing opinions. Actually, they set a great example.
carey, i’ve wondered that too, about james carville and mary matalin. and it’s not like they’re just sort of democrat and sort of republican!