The country is in a recession, bordering on a depression. Americans are desperate for change. President Obama has significant majorities in both houses of congress. As such, Obama's stimulus package is GUARANTEED to pass and to be signed into law. It makes sense that those Congressmen and women who support the bill will be able to claim responsibility when America emerges from these dark financial times.
So why would anyone vote against a stimulus package that is designed to save our economy from another depression?
The GOP is voting against Obama's stimulus plan because they are betting that it will fail.
Here is what is going on in their chicken brains:
- The stimulus plan will pass.
- The economy will recover, it's just a question of when.
- If the economy does not rebound by 2010, then GOP congressmen voting for stimulus are outcasts as the GOP "team" gloats about continued crisis and the expanding deficit. If the economy does not rebound by 2010 and they stick together against stimulus, they can campaign on the continued crisis and the expanding deficit, betting that Americans have a short memory and little patience.
They lose as a team if the economy recovers by summer 2010, and the GOP brand of unified but negative naysayers will appeal only to the Limbaugh crowd. Of course, any individual GOP congressmen who supported the stimulus could take credit for helping America and maybe even get re-elected, but don't expect too many Mavericks.
The GOP is playing a crass political game, with nothing short of the lives and prosperity of Americans at stake.
They are betting that in 2010 the economy will still be mired in the pits the last 8 years of Republican Rule have left it in, and they want to be able to say that they did not vote for a plan that "did not work".
They are "shorting" America's future, betting that unemployment will be out of control, that homelessness and hunger will abound, and that desperate Americans will be in tent cities outside Obama's White House.
It's a risky bet. What if the stimulus plan works and we are on the road to recovery before the elections in 2010? Good question....
How does a crooked referee or player insure their bets? They do everything they can to make sure that their bet pays off. Crooked players make plays that help the other team. They are traitors.
What will GOP congressmen do to make sure their callous bet pays off? Being in the minority, what can they do? Well, firstly, recovery takes time. They are playing the (good) odds that it will take more than a year for the stimulus package to pay off. And in the meantime, they can stall and filibuster and go on TV to cry about condoms and art and debt. Their Republican-leaning corporate sponsors can sit on their TARP money and slow walk new hires, and delay big projects- what is a few more months to a CEO when they get a bonus regardless?
The bright side of discovering that the GOP is unified in treason, is that this ploy is a desperation move that signals the GOP brand is NEARING DEATH. This is a desperation move to save that brand, as much as a continued assault on our economy.
What to do
If you live in a GOP district, call your congressperson and ask him or her to go to the table with Obama and the Democrats to craft a plan they could sign to help America recover. If they stay opposed to recovery, ask them why they hate America so much they would bet against its future.