The House Republicans brought over their own economic stimulus plan, which was nothing but tax cuts galore, for the bipartisan meeting between President Obama, his economic team, and the Democratic leadership.
It seems they haven't learned that supply-side economics have led to one of the greatest economic crashes in recent history. Their little trickle-down theory did not work--the proof is right in the pudding in front of their fat, florid faces--and yet, they insist on repeating the same old mistakes.
I guess you can't show new ideas to a Republican.
Elana Schor, over at Talking Points Memo, has more on the Republicans' antics at the bipartisan congressional economic meeting:
Instead of a tax credit for individuals making $75,000 or less or families making less than $150,000, Republicans would like to reduce the tax rate by 5 percent on those Americans in the lowest tax brackets, from 15 percent to 10 percent and 10 percent to 5 percent.
House Republican Leader John A. Boehner and his no. 2, party Whip Eric Cantor, pitched the plan to Obama during the Friday morning meeting. Boehner tapped Cantor to come up with ideas, and this plan is the result of that work.
Boehner, in remarks on the White House driveway, warned that "government can't solve this problem."
Now, once again, let's see what President Obama said in his inaugural speech on January 20th, 2009:
What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them — that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply. The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works — whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified.
And apparently after hearing the Republicans rant during the economic meeting about their tax cuts-loaded economic "stimulus," President Obama had enough, and he said point-blank, "I won."
This exchange between President Obama and the Republicans brought to mind the documentary I watched last night on the History Channel about each successive Presidency. There was discussion about Bill Clinton's presidency, and the government shutdown by Newt Gingrich. Bill Clinton had to come to the realization that he had to stand firm against Newt Gingrich, and did so by forcing Gingrich to shut down the government. This helped turn the public opinion against Gingrich and his followers during that budget battle.
I'm glad that Obama knows when to draw the line, and to hold firm, because he'll need to do so in this coming year. He can't allow the false amity of "bi-partisanship" to torpedo needed solutions for our present social ills. That was Bill Clinton's problem in his second administration in ceding policies to the Republicans which helped lay the foundation for today's economic collapse.
UPDATE: Politico reports that the White House Press Secretary Gibbs just said in his presser that "Obama plans an unusual weekend economic event Saturday; "I will endeavor to get you guys a little better guidance."
What do you guys this 'unusual weekend economic event' could be?