President Obama has been sucked into the nihilistic vortex of right wing fanatics. I do not blame him for this. When economic terrorists are threatening to blow up the economy by not paying our existing debts the President has to do what he can to avert the disaster. The problem is that his opponents see his willingness to compromise as a weakness. He gave into the Republicans before by extending the Bush tax cuts for the rich when the Republicans threatened to block an extension of the tax cuts for the middle class and threatened to shut down the government. In all fairness, I must say that the President gained something from the compromise reached at that time, but the Republicans saw the concessions he made as a capitulation. The combination of the weakness they perceived in President Obama and their fear of the lunatics taking over their party prevented Republicans who know better from opposing the dangerous scheme of holding the debt ceiling as a hostage. What is all too apparent is that those tea party fanatics are so delusional they think that if they cause another depression the voters will blame it on President Obama, and they are so viscous that they are willing to create another depression regardless have how much that harms the people of this country. I am afraid that the horrible precedent set by the extortionists and by our efforts to appease them will harm the recovery we so desperately need and will pose another grave threat to our economy in the future.
It is time for President Obama to stand up to the Republicans. He cannot continue to let the destructive fanatics define the issues and set the agenda. He has to start acting like a Democrat. The real issue is about getting this country moving in the right direction again. IT IS ABOUT JOBS! That is what the voters will tell him, and that is what he must emphasize. The Republicans cynically manufactured the debt ceiling crises in an effort to accomplish what the defeated Ryan plan failed to do. It is painfully obvious that the Republicans think destroying Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security is more desirable than creating jobs and that their insistence on draconian cuts to federal spending is just another attempt to destroy those entitlement programs. While the budget deficit is a legitimate concern decreasing it will not create jobs. In fact drastic spending cuts are far more likely to increase unemployment. Greatly reducing government spending will dump laid off government workers onto the labor market and deprive private businesses of government contracts. In other words, sharp spending cuts will deepen the recession.
The Democrats have to educate the public. They need to define the programs that create jobs and the policies that kill jobs. They need to point out that it is the Democratic Party that is trying to create jobs and it is the Republican Party that is killing jobs. The Republicans have used the filibuster in the Senate a record number of times to keep the Democrats from passing legislation to encourage job growth, including a bill that would do away with tax incentives that actually reward companies for exporting American jobs. The Republicans have also opposed the stimulus bill, the loans that saved the automobile industry, and a tax break that encourages the growth of small businesses. There is not a single piece of legislation the Republicans have introduced to stimulate the economy or create jobs. Instead the Republicans stubbornly cling to the trickle down economics that failed during the great depression and failed again under George W. Bush. Enriching the rich does not create jobs, but that is all the Republicans are willing to offer – that and ill advised cuts to government spending that will only exacerbate the unemployment problem.
The Republicans have created the deficit smoke screen to mask their destructive agenda. The Democrats need to blow away that smoke screen to reveal the real economic conditions that are causing so much misery. Saying that we should take a balanced approach to balancing the budget is fine, but the Democrats cannot let the Republicans treat the deficit as a separate issue. The deficit is not a separate issue; it is simply a part of the overall economic situation. The way to avoid getting bogged down in a debate about the deficit is to put the Republicans on the defensive about the high unemployment. The Democrats need to introduce another stimulus bill or infrastructure bill in the Senate as quickly as possible. The Republicans will use the deficit as an excuse for blocking those bills, but this merely helps to draw the distinction between the party that is trying to create jobs and the party that is not trying to create jobs. Every time the Republicans scream “deficits” the Democrats should respond by screaming “Jobs!” If more people are working and paying taxes much of the deficit problem will be solved! Would you rather decrease the deficit by creating jobs or by destroying Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security? That is the real issue. There is little doubt in my mind that most of the voters will choose jobs. That is what all the polls indicate. It is also what our uncommon sense tells us. I say uncommon sense because the people who think all you need is common sense are demonstrating that they have no sense at all. They seem to think that balancing a household budget makes them economists. I suppose they think that their ability to use a knife and fork also makes them qualified to perform brain surgery.
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