Don't stay in bed, unless you can make money in bed. - George Burns

The Bipartisan Skirmish

by Hal_10000

I have to agree with Matt Welsh:

I guess it helps to not have an electoral dog in the hunt, but this focus on the politics of stimulus opposition strikes me as bizarre. First of all, it’s January. There is no election anytime soon. Secondly, while polls for the stimulus have been more favorable than they have been for the always-unpopular bailout, the numbers ain’t that great for this giveaway, either. And I guess what I’m more interested in is whether throwing $819 billion (not including interest) at various pet projects, localized bailouts and targeted tax breaks is actually good policy. On that, I find House Republicans more convincing than the Dems, even if (as Larison and others rightly point out) it also reminds us of “how gutlessly the Republican leadership acquiesced to whatever the Bush administration wanted and how they only managed to discover some interest in resisting massive expenditures when someone from the other party is in the White House.” Better late than never, etc., especially if you don’t confuse newfound opposition with anything like reliable principle.

The other factor at play here, which Democratic ears seem unable to detect, is that Obama is skillfully turning the meaning of the word “bipartisan” into “the coalition that agrees with my magnanimous self.” All this “political suicide” talk serves his conscious goal of peeling off enough scared and/or squishy Republicans to turn his already impressive majority into something positively Reaganesque. So that he can even more smoothly carry out the urgent bipartisan business of installing Big Labor in the West Wing.

Republicans told us for years that Democratic opposition to War on Terror legislation would cripple them in elections.  It didn’t quite work out that way.  Even if an economic recovery is on the way, it will not be obvious until at least late 2009 and possibly not until 2010.  It’s possible that there will be little political price to pay even if this goes badly for the GOP.

Moreover, just focusing on the politics, the Republicans need to set a tone early in this administration of principled opposition.  They have to put some space between themselves and the Democrats, especially on fiscal issues.  If America gets to 2010 or 2012 and is faced with an electoral choice between Democrats and Democrats, they’ll vote Democrat.  That’s not to say the GOP needs to be nasty or pointlessly oppose the President, as the Democrats did with Bush.  There are issues on which they can work with the President.  But there’s a huge difference between working together and rolling over.

For me, opposing the stimulus is simple.  I think it’s lousy legislation that has the potential to create $300 billion in new spending constituencies, federalize education and healthcare and tighten the people’s relationship with their government.

Cooperating could, possibly, pay off in 2010.  But long term, it’s a strategy that will only serve to further empower the Democrats and bury the idea of limited government for good.

I can not countenance that.  I think we’ve enough of short-term thinking from this party.

Comments

Posted by mikeguas on 01/31/09 at 08:02 AM from

Cooperating could, possibly, pay off in 2010.  But long term, it’s a strategy that will only serve to further empower the Democrats and bury the idea of limited government for good.

Exactly, and for every new well intentioned program that gets invented, there are very few that ever go away later. We have enough government programs, and intervention of every aspect of our lives, and Obama’s will be no different in waste, ineffectiveness and unfortunately permanence just like all those made before him Republican or Democrat.

The Republicans spent 8 years helping expand the government, not ranting like a crazy uncle against it. Unfortunately we have to rely on them to try to stop spending and harmful programs now. It may look hypocritical for now considering their behavior of the last several years, but there is really no other choice. I’m glad you’re here to post a more logical view of things.

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