It has always fascinated me how Republicans can effortlessly take ANYthing and turn it into something it's not, just to make it look good for them. For example, the other day I watched dumbfounded as Sarah Palin announced that she was ending her term as governor early, because sticking it out 'til the end would be the "easy way out" and something that "a quitter would do." So essentially: quitting is the tough way out, while sticking it out to finish the job her constituents elected her to do would be taking the quitter's route?! Uh, OK.
Democrats, on the other hand, seem to have at their disposal a complete arsenal of potentially lethal arguments and talking points that they could use to defend themselves or rail against Republican blunders (Ensign, Palin, Sanford, Bush - take your pick). Yet they do not seem to be able to form a coherent argument or execute a potent talking point - even if their political life depends on it.
Lately John Boehner has been beating his drums against the effectiveness of Obama's stimulus package. And from the other side, I hear crickets. And again, I am dumbfounded.
Anyone with half a brain understands that there is more than meets the eye with the stimulus. Much of the money that was dispensed went toward preserving jobs that had already existed. On the plus side, this keeps jobs in place, but this aspect is difficult to offer up as proof that the stimulus is working - because basically nothing changed. In addition, much of the stimulus money was allocated toward programs designed to hit the consumers, but first needs to filter through financial institutions, service industries, and retailers before it benefits the consumer. Will it help? Sure. Again, the negative is that this will take some time.
Enter John Boehner. With recent polls indicating that the public's patience is beginning to wear thin on the economy and the impact of the Stimulus package, Republicans smell some blood in the water and are seizing on an opportunity to do what they do best - attack. In case you haven't seen it, watch his little commercial here:
Boehner on Stimulus.
And it isn't that John Boehner's video is all that effective in itself, but the media sure seems to have gotten a hold of it with little retort from Democrats. To give some credit where credit is due, this morning I saw clips on CNN of Biden speaking in Boehner's district, explaining how they received stimulus money there and that it has saved jobs. An I was impressed to see that CNN had gone the extra mile in seeking out federal employees and officials who were able to retain their jobs as a result of the stimulus money.
Skeptically understanding how the stimulus is supposed to work, i can't help but think that Boehner's logic similarly follow's Sarah Palin's back-assward logic. To make this brief, let me point out the obvious for Democrats to begin using as talking points:
- It took anywhere up to eight years for the previous Republican administration to create this economic mess. They expect someone else to be able to fix it in four months?!
- The fact that they are expecting blatant signs that the economy would recover so quickly from such a stimulus package is a clear indication that they do not understand how economics works at all.
As stimulus money makes its way through the system, i suspect there will be more evidence that it is working. Or at the very least helping. But am I the only one who thinks the Democrats can do a little bit better PR job than they are doing?