6.3.12: What's Fair Game

In this week's critique, some would say that it's an utter failure that this latest jobs report only shows 69,000 jobs created, but we would contest that people's perspectives are out of proportion.  If this is an utter failure, what do you call losing 2.6 million jobs in the last year of your term as it did when George Bush was in office.  Anyone, reading this column that would criticize that line of questioning, would most probably say that you 'shouldn't look backward, bringing up President Bush is a tired strategy,' or it's simply 'unfair.'  Kevin Madden, Mr. Romney's senior adviser used this defense in today's round table discussion saying that Democrats are using the same Bain attacks on Romney today that they did in 1994 when Mr. Romney ran against Ted Kennedy.  Additionally, the unemployment rate ticked up a .10 of a percent to 8.2.  The reality of which is that more people are re-entering the workforce looking for work, but understandably this is overshadowed by the unemployment number going up, and means that enough jobs haven't been created, and enough hasn't been.  The stock market drop is more of a product of the uncertainty of Europe's fiscal problems, not ours.

With that said, the overarching (non)debate issue here is if Mr. Romney's time at Bain Capital is fair game, and for that matter is his religion.  Bain Capital is completely fair game.  Governor Deval Patrick (D-MA) noted that Bain was very good at creating wealth, not jobs.  Whether you agree with that statement or not, it's right to debate that merits of that when the person responsible is seeking the office of the President.  If Bain Capital also created a lot of jobs, then the debate should also be, something that is not discussed, is what kinds of jobs are those? If creating only jobs that pay the minimum wage, what kind of future is in that?  All of these things should be on the table.  With regard to Mr. Romney's Mormon religion, it would only be appropriate to debate it if he is making decisions solely based on his religion, theocratic policy making which goes against the Constitution.  Otherwise, America is all about believing what you want in terms of religion.

Mr. Patrick brought up another good point that Governor John Kasich (R-OH) took exception, in which is that the President hasn't done enough according to Republicans, the same people that say that the government should do less.  Translating Mr. Kasich's argument, the President hasn't done enough to get out of the way and the examples he cited were the over-regulation of the financial industry (Dowd-Frank), the uncertainty of tax policy, and the over-zealous EPA.  In the face of such rhetoric, the Democrats are soft in poking holes in the Republican argument.  Dowd-Frank was enacted because the financial industry, left to its own devices, made bad bets and never considered the larger repercussions as the money rolled in.  Governor Kasich, in regard to tax policy, said that we should cut taxes and eliminate loopholes in the code, but the reality of what Republicans want to do, or won't allow to happen, is in fact the closing of tax loopholes because they have been indoctrinated with the idea that closing loopholes is a tax increase.  To this point, Governor Patrick is correct in that Republicans' ideology is being placed ahead of what is the overall good for the country.

And lastly, we feel that Republicans simply don't understand the necessity of the EPA and the longer-term win we would have with the EPA playing a vital role.  The EPA should regulate hard to keep our air and water clean, which would translate into lower long-term healthcare costs, and over-time save us money.

Contrary to a prominent American, corporations are not people, and the United States should not be run like a business, and here's why - it's pretty simple.  In the Constitution it says that the United States government is to provide for the general welfare of the people.  Corporations have no such obligation - the obligation for them is to their shareholders, hardly the general welfare. And corporations are not democracies.  So running the United States like a corporation will essentially violate the Constitution in that it will cease on trying to achieve one of its central mandates, providing for the general welfare. 

Governor Kasich really had no answer for Mr. Gregory with regard to the fact that Mr. Romney didn't support the auto bailout.  Mr. Kasich honed the message as best he could in that he said that there were only 1,800 direct jobs created in the Ohio auto industry sector.  The key word there is 'direct.'  He's referring to how many jobs the auto makers themselves created... probably.  But its the part suppliers and makers, the repair and body shops that have also benefited from the bailout. 

Evident in the views of Governor Patrick and Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed (D) are that government can do good by investing - yes stimulating - in the economy, specifically in infrastructure.  However, it is unrealistic that it can be done without any way to finance it.  If Republicans truly favor closing loopholes, then we should do that and with the money set up an infrastructure bank - something where there could be consensus, unlike the auto bailout.

Mr. Kasich said that what he's seen during this campaign is that because President Obama doesn't have a plan, he resorts to just attacking Mr. Romney.  He went on to say that he was not happy with how the Republicans blew up the budget when he left Congress, but there needs to be an executive in the White House.  But George Bush was to be that executive and failed because he tried to run the United States as a business and not a country.  Republican strategist Alex Castellanos, during today's round table, answered ever question in these terms, and explained that the President is pitting Americans against each other, but that's not the case.  It's really about the unfair influence that big corporations have on our politics.  It's what former Senator Bill Bradley was talking about at the end of the program.  'Corrosive' is the word he used, but what it doing is destroying the democratic ideal and transforming our system from what is now a shadow corporatocracy into an overt one.  When Governor Kasich says that Washington is dysfunctional, it's not because of Democrats, it's because of the lobbied and monied interests that have unequaled influence in the Capitol, which by the way the Republicans vociferously defend.  And we'll just say it right now, because Mr. Castellanos said it twice today, do not use Moses and Mitt Romney in the same sentence.  That analogy is disgustingly flawed on many levels, especially when you think that Moses lead his people out of bondage, then applying this analogy in contrasting Mitt Romney to Barack Obama? Please.


Romney Senior Adviser Kevin Madden, Republican strategist Alex Castellanos, President of the Center for American Progress Neera Tanden, and Atlanta’s Mayor Kasim Reed (D).