I wasn’t sure whether I would ever see this. Where was this fighting spirit over the last 8 years when the Republicans wasted money like drunken Democrats and cowered for cover under the nearest rock?
House Minority Leader John Boehner and GOP Whip Eric Cantor (keep an eye on Cantor — he’s good) have instructed Republicans to vote against the stimulus package, which is a big bunch of giveaways and useless pork.
Obama wants to meet with Republicans to try and bring them over to his side. Not to incorporate any of their ideas like, oh, say — tax cuts — but to get them to cave in to the Democrat plan. That’s what bipartsanship means these days — conservatives surrendering to liberals. Think of the Vichy French as a bipartisan government.
Obama’s strategy
There’s a strategy behind this. Obama wants Republican cover if the plan fails to stimulate the economy. If pork and giveaways do not stimulate the economy, and they won’t, then Obama and the Democrats cannot blame the Republicans for its failure. If two years pass without a major improvement, the Democrats can kiss their majority goodbye.
Obama does not need the support of Republicans to pass this bill. If Obama is so sure that it will work, why would he want Republican support? If it’s absolutely, positively guaranteed to work, then Obama should not want the support of Republicans. That way, he can point to himself and the Democrats as the saviors of America.
This is not a stimulus plan. It is a plan to gain government (read Democratic) control over as much of the US economy as is possible.
Should conservatives vote for the plan because it would be a good political move?
The answer is no. The rationale behind this thinking is that the economy will get better on its own, which it always does when left to the free-market system. If the economy recovers on its own, the Democrats will get the credit.
However, the current economy is different. Banks simply are not making loans, and I don’t blame them. They were forced by the Democrats to sell mortgages to people who could not possibly pay them off and they aren’t going to have any more of that nonsense. House prices are still falling.
This is not a mere recession, it is an adjustment of the value of assets. In the parts of the country hit by the housing bubble, the value of the house was not based upon its true value, but rather the amount of money that the next boob would come along and pay for it. Most of what homeowners assumed was value was pure speculation. Same with the dot-com stocks of the 1990s. Stock are being revalued as well. Not only that, but the situation in the Middle East is dire. War — even nuclear war — could erupt at any moment.
My wife and I were blessed enough to get out of the market before it cratered. In a normal recession, I would say that this is the perfect time to get back into the stock market. I do not expect a true Depression, though it is possible, but the evidence is overwhelming that we have not hit bottom yet. Or, if we have hit bottom, we may well spend another 2 to 4 years years here.
Obama needs Republican cover. But we don’t need Obama’s stimulus plan.
