Congressional Republicans Fiddle While Economy Burns

Apparently, GOP leaders still don’t get it.

The events of last Fall should’ve been enough failure, enough repudiation for even the most stubborn to take a step back and rethink their world view, re-evaluate their approach.  Rational people might think that the continuing unwinding of the economy should be enough to appeal to Republican lawmakers’ sense of patriotism and push them in favor of government investment in jobs and the future.  On the contrary, President Barack Obama’s stimulus bill received not a single Republican vote in the U.S. House and is only moving in fits and starts through the Senate.

Notably, one Republican amendment which passed the Senate last night added $19 billion to the bill.

Today, in the Washington Post, Obama made a direct appeal to Washington in an op-ed piece.  Two things stand out form me in what the president wrote.

First, he reminds political Washington about the ‘fierce urgency of now.’

What Americans expect from Washington is action that matches the urgency they feel in their daily lives — action that’s swift, bold and wise enough for us to climb out of this crisis.

We are in historic times, perilous times in fact.  At this point it doesn’t matter why we’re here, what matters is what moves us forward.

Second, Obama illustrates the stakes and describes the solution:

Because each day we wait to begin the work of turning our economy around, more people lose their jobs, their savings and their homes. And if nothing is done, this recession might linger for years. Our economy will lose 5 million more jobs. Unemployment will approach double digits. Our nation will sink deeper into a crisis that, at some point, we may not be able to reverse.

That’s why I feel such a sense of urgency about the recovery plan before Congress. With it, we will create or save more than 3 million jobs over the next two years, provide immediate tax relief to 95 percent of American workers, ignite spending by businesses and consumers alike, and take steps to strengthen our country for years to come.

As the fundamentals of the broad economy begin to turn positive and unemployed Americans go back to work and those with jobs shed their anxiety, we can rebuild parts of the system and have all of the big government/small government arguments from a position of economic security.  The time for Democrat v. Republican is not suited for this stage of the game.  We’ve tried trickle down tax policies as an economic engine and the horsepower just isn’t there for where we need to go today.  Barack Obama and the Democrats have the ‘hemi.’

Prediction: Schwarzenegger Runs for Senate as Democrat in 2012

I really found it hard to believe that the Governator came to Columbus, Ohio in the waning days of the presidential campaign to stump for John McCain.  After all, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, R-CA, is often at odds with his own party and their wedge issues platform.

Democrats will be in trouble again if more Republicans talk – and act – like Schwarzenegger.  During a week where the dominant political story seemed to be all about how Republicans will climb back to relevance, Schwarzenegger spoke some truth to his party’s powerbrokers on ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopolous:

SCHWARZENEGGER: (…) Remember that so many times there’s dialogue about, you know, we have to go back to our core values.

What is that? What is core? How far does core go back in history in America, the word core? Does it go back 30 years? Does it go back 50 years? Because we know that Teddy Roosevelt talked about universal health care. So they’re off the core for a long time ago already. He has talked about protecting our environment. So they’ve been off for a long time on that.

I mean, let’s be honest. Ronald Reagan — let’s go to Eisenhower, for instance. Eisenhower has built the highway system in America and he’s poured billions of dollars into infrastructure. Where Republicans today say, well, that’s spending. We shouldn’t spend. That’s not spending. That’s investing in the future of America.

So there’s a lot of things that they have been off on, if they want to go and talk about the core values. But maybe their definition of core values is maybe different.

But I mean, so I think it’s all nonsense talk. I think if they just talk about one thing, what do we need now?

Now, America needs to be rebuilt, because we haven’t really rebuilt America for decades. So we need to rebuild America, fix the bridges, fix the highways, fix the buildings, tunnels and all of those kind of things we need to do. And then we have to go and create great relationships with our partners overseas, with the world, and to build those relationships again. And we have to take care of health care. We have to take care of our environment. And we have to build an energy future. Those are the things that people want right now.

Schwarzenegger also discussed his proposal for a 1 1/2 percent state sales tax in California to deal with the state’s projected $11 billion budget shortfall.  California, like Ohio, is dealing with the ill effects of the soon to be official U.S. recession – shortfalls in state revenue.  Rather than take the stance of the idealogue, Schwarzenegger is pragmatic about taxes:

STEPHANOPOULOS: You don’t want to do it.

SCHWARZENEGGER: I don’t want to do it. I hate taxes. I hate the word “taxes” and all of those things. But there’s certain times when you have to forget about the ideology, and, you know, all of this, and fix problems…

STEPHANOPOULOS: That is…

SCHWARZENEGGER: Because people want their fixed problems.

A look at just a few of the issues Schwarzenegger has taken the lead on in California over the past year shows a fairly progressive agenda: tearing down dams on the Klamath River, numerous alternative energy projects, school-based health centers, reform of the emergency medical care system and state infrastructure improvements.  Although far from being an endorsement, in the quote above, Schwarzenegger is the first Republican I’ve heard to evoke the memory of Teddy Roosevelt and the Rough Rider’s ruminations on universal healthcare for Americans.  Usually when contemporary Republicans speak of TR it’s bombastic and centered on their one-dimensional understanding of history and Roosevelt – “Bully” and “Gunboat Diplomacy” come to mind.  Schwarzenegger seems to understand that TR was a reformer and a progressive.

So, I am predicting today that the GOP has created a monster that will drive some of its stars to become Independents or Democrats.  Their party’s base has been given over to the social conservatives, culture warriors and theocrats.  Finally, most of the country seems to be rejecting this brand of conservatism and beginning to understand that every breath wasted on wedge issues while we’re mired in two wars and in a state of economic decline is foolishness.  The country which has set the standard and created the future is now getting left behind.

I’ll further refine the prediction by saying that in 2012 the Governator will be running for the U.S. Senate from California as an Independent or a Democrat. 

I think that Arnold’s water carrying for whichever Republican is running for president will be coming to an end.  He’s eventually got to realize that the dinosaur party needs him and his star power much more than he needs them.

Sunday Papers – November 9, 2008

New York Times Magazine

• After the Imperial Presidency– Jonathan Mahler
• Payday Lenders, Check Cashers – Redeemed?– Douglas McGray
• Deprogramming Jihadists– Katherine Zoepf

New York Times

• Obama team weighs what to take on first
• Harsh words about Obama? Never mind
• Citing workload public lawyers refuse new cases
• How Merrill fell
• Pelosi, Reid want aid for U.S. automakers
• Op-Ed, Frank Rich: It still felt good morning after
• Op-Ed, Al Gore: The climate for change
• Op-Ed, Thomas Friedman: Show me the money
• Op-Ed, Nicholas Kristof: Obama and the War on Brains
• Rice visits West Bank
• U.S. electricity project in Afghanistan
• Back home, Palin finds landscape changed
• After push for Obama, Unions seek new rules

Washington Post

• Preparing for the Obama era
• Reid, Pelosi urge Treasury to extend aid to automakers
• Self-sufficiency evades Iraqi security forces
• Obama positioned to reverse Bush actions
• Medvedev calls Obama; Kremlin describes call
• Congressional Democrats say economy first priority
• Op-Ed, Rich Lowry: The right needs to get centered
• Op-Ed, Joseph Stiglitz: More pain to come even if he’s perfect
• Op-Ed, Ron Suskind: U.S. has power – it could use authority
• Op-Ed, David Broder: Governors know best
• Op-Ed, George Will: Democratic ironies and Republican Afflictions

Los Angeles Times

• Democrats set sights on Texas
• Public works on the table once again
• Obama relies on a close-knit inner circle
• Op-Ed, Norman Ornstein: The GOP’s deep hole
• Op-Ed, James Rainey: Right-wing media feeds its post-election anger
• Political blogger be nimble, be quick
• Election leaves gay couple feeling isolated

Will Kevin DeWine be first ORP Chairman to Switch Parties?

Kevin DeWine sounded for one day like he might be a Democrat.

In a surprisingly frank, candid interview with Joe Hallett of the Columbus Dispatch, DeWine, soon to take the helm as Ohio Republican Party chairman, nailed the reasons for Republican decline right on the head. In fact, if you were to turn around the issues he blames on GOP demise, you might end up with the current-day Democratic Party.

DeWine’s comments are the first intellectual honesty I’ve heard from any prominent Republican, locally or nationally, for months. Here’s a list to sum up what he said are the reasons the Ohio and national GOP are ailing:

• The party has become distracted and fixated on social issues.
• The GOP has drifted away from its core conservative message of fiscal responsibility and limited government.
• Republicans aren’t talking about issues that matter in people’s everyday lives.
• A tired message has turned off younger voters, ages 18-29.
• The party is not leveraging new media and fundraising opportunities on the Internet.
• Then there’s Iraq, ethics concerns and an unpopular Republican president.

Then DeWine gets to the heart of the matter:

“We have to exchange a fiscal message and economic message in for a social message that has dominated the messaging of this party for the last decade. We have to re-engage the middle class, step up with an agenda that solves problems and puts people first.”

An “agenda that solves problems and puts people first” — Hmmm, sounds like Bill Clinton, Ted Strickland or Barack Obama.

I’d like to introduce Mr. DeWine to some friends of mine I’ll just call the Democratic Party. We’re not fixated on social issues; we prefer to stay out of folks’ bedrooms and uteri. Recent history shows that the last president in a generation to achieve a budget surplus was a Democrat. Here in Ohio, Governor Ted Strickland has brought accountability and efficiency to state government through regulatory reform, procurement reform and the strongest ethics policies of any governor. As for party organization and leveraging the World Wide Web for communication and fundraising, Barack Obama just finished what Howard Dean started – a new standard has been set.

If Kevin DeWine and the Ohio Republican Party are about good stewardship of public resources and putting people first in an agenda to solve problems, I’d suggest they just join the Democrats – we’re already there.

Thursday A.M. Read – Sick Days, Dimora, Uninsured, Brunner, Marc Dann!, Russia v. Georgia, Rice, McCain, Energy Policy

Ohio News

• Editorial: Sick Leave Fight May Require a Power Play by Strickland – Cleveland Plain Dealer
• Number of uninsured in Ohio may be higher than report shows – Cleveland Plain Dealer
• Political party leaders spar over election rule – Cleveland Plain Dealer
• Prominent Dems want Dimora out – Cleveland Plain Dealer
• By 2042, minorities to be majority – Columbus Dispatch
• Anniversary: Largest blackout in US history – Columbus Dispatch
• Dann had rejected favorite for Academy – Columbus Dispatch
• GOP Fear: Voting too soon – Columbus Dispatch
• GOP pushes Cordray to return money – Columbus Dispatch
• Editorial: Full Accounting on Factory Farms – Columbus Dispatch

National/International News

• Russian forces begin pullout from Gori – VOA
• Rice says Russia faces isolation – BBC
• Bush squares up to Putin – Times of London
• Russia rejects West’s call to recognize Georgian sovereignty – The Guardian
• Op-Ed, John McCain: We are all Georgian – Wall Street Journal
• Now is the key time for energy in presidential race – NY Magazine
• Insurgency’s scars mar Afghan main road – New York Times
• GOP in House at risk in NE – New York Times