This was a no brainer. The polls numbers are there. Even if the Obama tax cuts didn't pass, you would have looked like you were fighting for the middle class.
I think that the only thing left that the President could try now to get his tax program off to any kind of start is to go down to each Congressional Democrat's office with a rolled up newspaper and shout, "Do I need to use this on you?"
I keep hearing over and over the words of the late Ron Silver, when he was on "The West Wing" as political strategist Bruno Giannelli.
"We all need some therapy because somebody came along and said liberal means soft on crime, soft on drugs, soft on Communism, soft on defense. And we're going to tax you back to the stone age because people shouldn't have to work if they don't want to. And instead of saying 'Well, excuse me, you right-wing reactionary, xenophobic, homophobic, anti-education, anti-choice, pro-gun Leave it to Beaver trip back to the '50s'. We cowered in the corner and say, 'Please don't hurt me'. . . . Let's have two parties. . . ."
Ron Silver as Bruno Giannelli in the episode "Gone Quiet" from "The West Wing"
I know, Ron Silver campaigned for Bush in 2004, but at least he got this right.
What we witnessed today is why we don't have the public option. Why financial reform got watered down. Why the stimulus was too small.
The Senate refused to step up and lead the charge on President Obama's tax plan, just like they did with the rest of the bills proposed this year. (At least they are consistent.) The House had the public option, but the Senate balked. The House had strong reforms for the finance bill, but Chris Dodd watered it down. The President's stimulus started at $1 trillion, but Sen. Evan Bayh led the aptly nicknamed ConservaDems to cut it to just under $800 billion.
Mark Zhandi, a conservative economist and McCain supporter in the 2008 election, and Alan Blinder, former Vice Chair of the Federal Reserve, analyzed in a recent paper about the end of the recession. The N.Y. Times did a summation of that paper.
the economists argue that without the Wall Street bailout, the bank stress tests, the emergency lending and asset purchases by the Federal Reserve, and the Obama administration’s fiscal stimulus program, the nation’s gross domestic product would be about 6.5 percent lower this year.
In addition, there would be about 8.5 million fewer jobs, on top of the more than 8 million already lost; and the economy would be experiencing deflation, instead of low inflation.
The paper, by Alan S. Blinder, a Princeton professor and former vice chairman of the Fed, and Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, represents a first stab at comprehensively estimating the effects of the economic policy responses of the last few years.
"While the effectiveness of any individual element certainly can be debated, there is little doubt that in total, the policy response was highly effective," they write.
"In Study, 2 Economists Say Intervention Helped Avert a 2nd Depression"
N.Y Times July 27, 2010
They also say that the stimulus alone would not have been able to stop the bleeding, as it were.
If the fiscal stimulus alone had been enacted, and not the financial measures, they concluded, real G.D.P. would have fallen 5 percent last year, with 12 million jobs lost. But if only the financial measures had been enacted, and not the stimulus, real G.D.P. would have fallen nearly 4 percent, with 10 million jobs lost.
In other words, the stimulus could have used some more cash. $200 billion could have taken care of the deficits of every state in the union. More teachers, police officers and fireman and women would be working today if the stimulus was like the House version.
Remember lowering the Medicare enrollment age to 55? Well, here is another profile in courage.
What happened when a chance for a vote for this came up? Joe Lieberman voted it
down.
How could this have helped? Because we are now hearing of people who are going into retirement early because they know that their chances of finding a job are probably slim to none. However, if they could enroll in Medicare now instead of waiting for a few years until they turn 65, this transition becomes a lot less painful (and perhaps even painless) because they won't have to pay as much for health insurance.
The ultimate irony is this. As forecast on this website, the chances right now of the Senate falling into the Republicans hands is around 1%. The House is not so lucky.
Now I see why the President went around the Senate and appointed Elizabeth Warren as special assistant or whatever her title is. She can start work right away and he doesn't have to put up with the wussies in the Senate, lead by Chief Wussie Senator Chris Dodd.
Looking at this non-action from the Senate, I frankly have to give the President even more credit. He got so much through with this bunch of pansies that I frankly think the last two years borders on a miracle.
People respect those who keep trying to do the right thing. Even if there are setbacks, if you keep trying people will notice you. The Senate tonight quit. We need fighters, not quitters.
For those of you who have been bashing the President, I fail to see what you are seeing. He has been out there, pushing the agenda. He is not a dictator. He is not an Emperor. He has to work with this bunch of idiots every single day. A bunch of fools who just don't like to get a little dirty.
The fault is with the Congress. More specifically, the Senate.
The House still has a chance to do something on this. They are wavering to, but that one is not done yet. Also remember, the Senate said that they weren't going to vote on health care early this year, but they were forced to after Anthem Health Care said that they were going to raise their rates by 40%.
So, what do we do? Don't say not vote. That's just what the Senate has just done. You need to vote. Period. Did you read the new "Pledge To America" that the Republicans unveiled? Even Eric Erickson called it dreck. For once, he and I agree on something.
We need to contact the House and the Senate. We need to show up at town hall meetings next month and call them out. We need to send them pictures of a rolled up newspaper with the caption....
"Do I need to use this on you?"
We still have a little time, let's see what we can do.