Breaking news: Republican Party has no plans, no ideas and no balls.
"If the starting point for this meeting is the job-killing bills the American people have already soundly rejected, Republicans would rightly be reluctant to participate," Boehner and Cantor wrote.
Translation: Oops! We already looked like idiots once this week when Obama met with the House Republicans. Better not try that again.
One number from among the many results of the latest Marist poll:
62% of registered voters still believe today’s current economic conditions are mostly inherited from the Bush Administration while 29% say they are a result of Obama’s own policies. 9% are unsure. These proportions are relatively unchanged since Marist’s last survey.
This little nugget reinforces my belief that the Republicans are vulnerable on the economy in the 2010 election for the same reasons they were vulnerable in 2008.
Here is the Republican Party's 10-point plan for the economy, implemented in the year 2000 and continuing to the present day:
- Cut taxes for the wealthiest Americans.
- Create a gigantic budget deficit.
- Create an economic mess.
- Take no responsibility for the economic mess.
- Blame President Obama for the economic mess.
- Obstruct the passage of any legislation designed to fix the mess.
- Blame President Obama for failing to fix the mess.
- Blame President Obama for the deficit.
- Propose more tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans.
- Create more budget deficits, so you can blame the Democrats for the deficits.
Actually, this is being too charitable. The Republican Party's 2010 Economic Plan can be reduced to three basic ideas:
- Ruin the economy
- Do nothing to fix the economy
- Blame the Obama Administration
When you're busy trying to run the country, conduct foreign policy, overhaul the nation's health care system and fix the worst economic slump since the Great Depression, it's easy to allow the opposition party to define you and to define itself.
David Plouffe says he wants to change that.
Though Plouffe insisted that each campaign will be unique, it is clear he feels strongly that Democrats have done a poor job in drawing contrasts with Republicans, and in making sure that voters know what a GOP majority in the House or Senate would mean for the direction of the country.
"Republicans right now are just sitting back and slinging arrows," Plouffe said. "We need to infiltrate their camp and shine some light over their side of the fence."
How does Plouffe frame the argument to voters? He says that Democrats have spent the past two years trying to fix problems while Republicans are asking voters for the chance to wheel a "Trojan horse" into Washington -- out of which will spill bankers and health insurance executives.
He's right, but too wordy. The American public requires short, punchy, easy-to-digest phrases that can stick in their memories - like, "government-run health care." The best part, especially if you're a Republican, is that these little catch-phrases don't even have to be true! In fact, it's often better if they're not, because then you can just make things up and repeat them endlessly until people start to believe they are true. That's how you run a country!
But, as I've said before, the Democrats don't need to resort to anything but stating the facts to get their message across to the public. The Republican Party left a "paper trail" of historic proportions for the whole world to see.
After President Obama took office, he and the Democrats chose not to continually remind the public of the Bush administration's incompetence and stupidity, out of a desire to promote bipartisanship. It was an admirable thing to do.
It was also a colossal waste of time. Does anyone out there believe the Republicans would have done the same had the situation been reversed?
Obama and the Democrats need to be sharper, shrewder and tougher. Getting Plouffe involved again is a good idea. But it's just a first step.
Obama's call for a public health care forum with the Republicans is another smart move. Give the Republicans the opportunity to demonstrate that they have no real solutions beyond the ones we've been hearing about for thirty years - that is, the same ones that have gotten us nowhere fast.
Voters also need to know this: The Republicans are banking - no pun intended - on the economy not improving enough between now and election day to convince voters to stick with Obama and the Democrats. The worse off the economy, the better it is for them.
They are not working for you.
They are not working for you!
They are not working to improve the economy. They are not working to fix our health care system or to create a clean-energy economy. Or even just to help you get a job.
They are working to get back in power. Period.
And when they do...well...How were things for you during the Bush Years? Were you better off in 2008 than you were in 2000?
I'm not an economist, but all signs seem to point toward the economy looking much better by late summer. If so, that should make the fall extremely interesting.
UPDATE: Notice the use of the phrase "job-killing bills." Short, punchy, memorable, completely dishonest. The perfect Republican catch-phrase.
Also, note the use of the phrase "...American people soundly rejected." Also a good phrase. Also untrue. Nothing has been "soundly rejected" by anyone. The public is disgusted with the process, not what's actually in the bills. Mostly, they are confused about what is in the bills due to the incessant Republican attacks on them.
(Republicans, you see, have never, ever made a back-room deal with anyone before, and they are appalled that something like that could be occurring in our government - though I seem to remember the nation's entire energy policy being created by Dick Cheney and his industry friends.)
This much seems to be indisputable: when the public is asked about the individual measures contained in the bills, there is widespread support.
As Kathleen Sebelius said yesterday:
When you talk to people... about what are the elements that are in both the House and Senate bills, there is overwhelming support for those measures to be enacted. When people watch up close and personal the activity of Congress, I think they tend to be not only confused but sometimes disgusted with the whole process and they don't want anything to do with it. And they think that whatever is going on can't possibly be good for them or their families.
The Republicans are wining the PR battle, but not the legislative war. Which is why they continue to lie and to obfuscate, and why now, in their latest act of political courage, they are trying to avoid publicly proposing anything that can be objectively compared to what's already in the legislation.
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