...this President and this new Congress were elected in part to address this issue...their more interventionist stand was clear, and...they should both get the benefit of the doubt - as well as full responsibility for the consequences.-Andrew Sullivan, on the stimulus bill and the Republican tactics to stall it.
The GOP has every right to resist; but they should surely understand that they lost the last election; that they have no credibility on fiscal discipline; and that, when push comes to shove, it may be the responsible thing in a crisis like this to be a little more gracious in setting aside hardball partisanship.
Look...the situation is dire, and as such the President and the Congress need plenty of room to maneuver this bill through the economy, as well as the ability to try anything and everything if some aspects of the plan don't seem to be working. The American people demanded as much in November.
As for the Republicans...I would argue that the President has gone as far as he can. If the GOP want to remain on the sidelines, let them. Come 2010 and 2012, the American people will remember that (shades of Katrina) the Republican Party once again refused to give them an assist when they needed it most.
Time and again we've tried it the Republicans' way, and time and again the Republicans' way failed. Republican rule from 1921 to 1933 led us into the Great Depression; Republican rule from 1969 to 1977 led to gas lines and high inflation; and Republican rule from 1981 to 1993, and from 2001 to 2009 have combined to lead us into an economic meltdown fueled by shady banking and crippling debt. (The only Republican era that seemed to work was from 1953 to 1961, when President Eisenhower authorized the construction of the interstate highway system, creating loads of jobs with government spending.)
When Sen. Lindsay Graham (Republican-SC) and Rep. John Boehner (Republican-OH) stand up and rail against the proposed stimulus bill, demanding instead tax cuts and reduced spending, they really have no leg to stand on. A century's worth of American history is littered with battered economies brought on by the irresponsible hyper-capitalism of debunked Republican theory.
The Democratic majorities in Congress and the President of the United States need to put bipartisanship aside. Pull it out later if you feel you must. But the situation as it is demands action now. If the Republicans can't find it in themselves to come aboard after what can only be described as meeting them half-way, then screw them.
They lost the election in November. Americans decisively put them out to pasture. They need to remember that and then get out of the way.
