The biggest spending bill in the history of the United States... that is what was passed this week by the Democratically controlled Congress. The stimulus 'bridge' is the legacy of the Bush Administration and the signature plan of the Obama Administration all at the same time. It was a foregone conclusion that the bill would pass and the only true anticipatory factor was how many Republicans would sign on, which turned out to be very few - three to be exact. Key questions still remain of course - For example, is the amount of the bill too big or too small? David Axelrod, today's first guest, seems to feel that in the midst of that argument the size is just right [insert a gut tightening 'we'll see' here].
A Republican concern, most loudly voiced last week by Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, is that the largest spending bill in our history is being passed to quickly and we should slow down - scrutinize every part. That's simply not going to happen. But now that it is passed, the concern is that the money won't be spent quickly enough to make a difference. This is one of the truest examples of the modern American mentality. Should we borrow the money, we don't know... is it too much?... Oh my God...but now that we have it, we can't spend it fast enough.
If it isn't one thing, it's the other
What we do know is that we need spending to spur the economy and the government is the only entity capable of doing so at the this point... so, they must. This is according to most economists. Mr. Axelrod stated that they are a number of ready projects that have been 'cleared and vetted.' (Obama Administration Personnel Note: Stay away from that word, 'vetted,' or any form of the word 'vet' for a long while. It hasn't been working out for them lately.) He was also asked to defend against editorials that stated that we would see tangible job results from the stimulus until the 4th quarter of 2010. We'd like to jump in here and defend this one instead...
That is about 20 months from now, less than two years. Given the size of our country and the amount of people affected (everyone), the fact that this is a world-wide crisis, and the amount of dollars that need to be delegated, that is a relatively short time. Remember the Japanese economy in the 1990's with zero growth - they called that the 'Lost Decade.' In that context, less than two years is quite fast... Imagine a full recovery in three years. Most people would take that situation if they were 100% sure that in three years time, jobs would back and the economy was going really well. "Yeah, I can gut it until then... I can make it happen," everyone would say. But don't hold your breathe because you will die. We are talking about the U.S. government, President Obama or no President Obama, it still remains the U.S. Congress in control of things and it is going to take much longer than people think or think they know.
A program recommendation: We'd like to point out that it's a good idea to watch any interview on any program when the guest is David Axelrod. If you want to gain an insight on the Administration's train of logic and priorities, then always listen to the chief advisor. The only way to have vaguely understood President's Bush's true modus operandi was to get a statement from Karl Rove - rare as those were.
On the other hand, you still have Vice President Dick Cheney making statements of hyperbole with regard to the 'war on terror,' which David Axelrod on today's program properly called out as irresponsible. And frankly, this column agrees with that assessment The former Vice President would blatantly continue to stoke a culture of fear for party political gain (that's the definition of terrorism by the way) at this juncture serves no constructive purpose.
And unfortunately, stoking fear has not dissipated in the Republican minority of Congress.
It reminds us of the Steven Wright joke: If 'pro' is the opposite of 'con,' then what is the opposite of 'progress?'
The Republicans were crying for more tax cuts - $2.5 trillion over the next decade - to be the center piece of the stimulus package, which is more of the same Bush policy, for which the track record is not good. But John McCain, earlier in the week, said that growing the deficit would put the burden on future generations, which is unacceptable. The tax cuts do exactly the same thing and aren't even a firm fixer.
As Washington Post columnist, Eugene Robinson, aptly summed up, "There aren't any deficit hawks in unemployment lines." Today's panel consisted of National Journal's Ron Brownstein, the aforementioned Mr. Robinson, Politico's Roger Simon, and The Wall Street Journal's Kimberley Strassel. With the exception of Ms. Strassel, it was a seasoned group to be sure, veterans who know how to create useful sound bites like the one above or what Mr. Brownstein termed 'generational theft.' We mentioned this because Mr. Gregory at times seemed to be that kid that was trying to get his opinion in, more waiting to talk, or as moderator - insisting, rather than listening. Three of the four on the panel have appeared with Mr. Russert numerous times in the past and Mr. Gregory still needs to work on his management of personalities when it comes to the biteheads.
And we concur with Mr. Brownstein's insistence that we keep things in perspective, three weeks into the man's Presidency and they are sitting there discussing the possible end of Citibank and GM. These two giants are just a few small examples of what is at stake and to do nothing would change from 'possible' to 'inevitable' very quickly.
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