Illogic on The Right

Republicans insisted that no-one in their party proposed "doing nothing" to repair the nation's fragile economy. Admittedly, the recovery bill was primarily a Democratic creation, but amendments and provisions were added or subtracted to attract GOP votes. Yet not one Republican in the House and only three in the Senate voted for the package. The truth is that by voting "no", most Republicans did in fact vote to "do nothing". Thus was the serious business of creating legislation overwhelmed by partisan inflexibility and celebrated with virtual standing ovations by party leaders and right-wing pundits alike.

During debate Republican speechifying honed in on tax cuts and real-estate sales. The suggestion, for example, that tax breaks for new home buyers would nudge the real-estate market towards its former glory days seemed to represent a magic bullet that would halt plummeting home values. It was postulated that, if the collapse of the housing market was at the core of the financial breakdown, new purchases would launch a recovery.

The problem was, of course, that providing the wherewithal for new purchases was hardly a prescription for a housing-market recovery. Too many people had lost jobs or equity, and banks were wary of issuing credit that could turn suddenly toxic. Besides, even among home-owners who were keeping up with their payments, mortgages had often outpaced the value of people's homes, so the thrill of ownership wasn't quite what it used to be. Call it what you will, and bailout serves, the banking system had to be rescued no matter how ineffective and indeed profligate some of its proprietors had been.

And so, hateful as it may be in the eyes of many ordinary Americans, it has become government's task to shore up credit markets. Republicans expressed great pride that they had held the line against the second round of bank bailouts and the recovery bill, in an apparent failure to comprehend the depth of the country's financial predicament. Without a healthy banking system the economy cannot rebound and without a forward-looking recovery program the American people will continue to face financial adversity.

In Congress, resistance was led by House Minority Leader Boehner who gets high marks for dramatic presentation. His wild-eyed assertion that the final bill arrived too late to be read before a vote was the phoniest of the indictments leveled at the legislation. As one Democratic lawmaker remarked, people who say they don't know what's in the bill and then criticize its particulars are being a bit inconsistent. But it was becoming clear that, while ideological differences exist between the parties, the real purpose of Republican defiance was to destroy Obama's credibility and make political points.

It could be argued, as conservatives do, that a quick fix fueled only by shovel-ready projects and across-the-board tax cuts are what's needed. They fear new government-inspired programs will endure and become a socialistic nightmare. The contention that the economy would recover on its own in time, however, is challenged by today's global interactions and the fact that our country no longer has the manufacturing base that once propelled it to the top of the world's economic order - - one reason for developing new alternative fuel technologies. The resulting jobs, facilities and environmental benefits would be home-grown and an ongoing source of economic vitality. Such projects, however, tend to be angst inducers for Republicans who object to ‘futuristic' ventures.

Many Republicans say "We know it won't work" about the recovery legislation, although no-one really knows for sure what will or will not work. Meanwhile, their rhetorical confederates concoct ridiculous ad hominem attacks. Sean Hannity's Friday guest was the always sour Bernie Goldberg, former CBS reporter and self-styled whistle-blower about purported media bias. His new book is The Slobbering Love Affair, starring Barack Obama, a "torrid romance between Obama and the mainstream media." The two engaged in an absurd, insulting discussion about how "liberal women" are sexually attracted to Obama and how journalism is "dead", apparently because it fails to pass Hannity-Goldberg standards, highlighting once again their mastery of hyperbole.

In closing, Hannity said his poll showed 81% of respondents would rather have a beer with him than with the president - - something of a relief since we know how things turned out when a lot of voters decided to elect a president with whom they'd like to have a beer. Voters are guilty at times of making frivolous matters part of the political debate. Last week, Republicans' "do nothing" vote showed their lack of seriousness about crafting solutions to alleviate the country's economic distress.