When the Representative Eric Kantor (R-VA) says that of course Republicans could have done a better job during the Bush years when it came to spending (as he did on today's MTP), it's enough to make you rip the television from the wall. There's been a lot of talk this week about who's to blame for the financial crisis, and while most people prefer to say, "let's just move on," which is what we should do, but these types of dismissive statements by Republicans and the casual attempts to rewrite history are unacceptable. Later in today's program Katty Kay from the BBC echoed the collective indignation by pointing out that with the exception of tax cuts, the Republicans haven't offered one solid strategy to tackle the crisis. Mr. Kantor needed to step up today, but Republicans still need to establish their mouthpiece - he's not it.
It's seems like a no-win situation for the Obama situation - economists are saying that the stimulus is too small to be effective and Republicans are trying to generate a public dialogue that there is too much money being spent. It would seem... However, everyone knows what the reality is. The Government has to spend the money and more of it than they have already.
Now, before we get to ahead of ourselves, today's first guest was the Chair of the President's Council of Economic Advisers Dr. Christina Romer. Even though she's the chair, the public doesn't know too much about her so a thoughtful discussion was of the highest priority. Unfortunately, Mr. Gregory didn't get there. He asked her about the difference of rhetoric between Mr. Obama this week and John McCain during the campaign - to clarify 'the fundamentals of the economy are strong.' More time was wasted when he asked about Treasury Staffing. He justified the question by saying Wall Street is nervous about the staff vacancies and that it doesn't demonstrate confidence. The fact remains that it is a sad commentary that they can not find enough highly qualified people to fill those slots because of financial conflicts of interest.
By the time Mr. Gregory came to the real substance of the interview, asking about how the Obama Administration will address all the corporate toxic assets, all Ms. Romer could say is that the administration will be announcing a plan this week. He didn't have time to fully understand her insights into the crisis. Just a weak attempt at the end - what's the responsible thing for consumers at this time.
This takes us almost full circle. She said the President is going to announce a plan this week and then in the very next segment, Rep. Kantor says asks when he's going to see a plan from the administration. He also continued the weak Republican arguments that Mr. Obama has a lack of focus by taking on too many things at once and that there is too much spending. This is where it all completely falls apart for the Republicans because there was an obscene amount of deficit spending under the Bush Administration. When confronted with this Mr. Kantor used the Republican/Bush Administration consummate third rail - the troops. We increased the national debt for the troops - if only that were the case. The military budget has always resided outside of the annual budget... It makes one think about how $9 billion in cash was lost in Iraq.
During the panel discussion, which also included CNBC's Steve Liesman, PBS's Tavis Smiley, the aforementioned Ms. Kay, David Frum, who worked in the Bush Administration, was saying that there should be more domestic spending and that there needs to be global stimulus. Later in the program, with reference to Republican Party Chair Michael Steele's interview in GQ Magazine and his stating that abortion is an individual choice, Mr. Frum stated that this perspective should be included in the Republican platform dialogue. This illustrates that there are some Republican thinkers who see the writing on the wall when it comes to hot-button issues and where the attitude of the American people is.
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