The Progress Report wrote:
Political Posturing For Personal Gain
From: The Progress Report [progress@americanprogressaction.org]
Sent: Monday, February 23, 2009 9:47 AM
To: tomc2322
Subject: Political Posturing For Personal GainTomorrow night, President Obama will deliver an address to Congress discussing the economic challenges that lay ahead. Senior Obama adviser David Axelrod told the the New York Times that Obama plans to “present a road map for ‘how we get to a better day.’” “The country is looking for a clear sense of direction. This is an opportunity to talk to the nation about that,” Axelrod continued. Gov. Bobby Jindal (R-LA) will offer the Republican response to Obama. As House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) explained, Jindal will argue that the Republican party is not “simply the party of ‘opposition,’ but the party of better solutions.” As Jindal attempts to raise his national profile for a possible presidential run in 2012, his message to the nation will be hampered by the extremely transparent attempts of a number of prominent conservatives to “have their cake and eat it too” when it comes to the economic recovery policies offered by the Obama administration. Indeed, while conservatives in Congress made a show of opposing the recovery package, many are now touting its benefits. Likewise, conservative governors (Jindal included) are rejecting portions of stimulus funding to score points with the radical right at the expense of their residents. Instead of debating the possible pros and cons of the Obama administration’s economic policies, commentators like CNBC’s Rick Santelli are staging ill-informed “rants” on live TV and being rewarded for it. As Center for American Progress Vice President for Economic Policy explained, the recovery package is geared toward breaking “the downward spiral that is currently consuming the economy,” and “the bill includes very little overall that isn’t good public policy.”
This isn’t striking or breathtaking that there are Republicans out there that oppose stimulus from the government. One has to only remind oneself of the Republican mission: to gain power, hold that power, dissolve the government then create a laissez-fare economy.
Of course the recovery package is overall good policy. It is a step in the right direction. That is why they don’t like it. It isn’t good enough for the corporations. Once America is fully out the post hypnotic suggestions of Reagan and Bush 41 and Bush 43, once we get the sleepy out of our eyes and can we can see clearly, only then sill we start to move forward once again.
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