As the long Thanksgiving weekend began, commentators on the left were issuing dire warnings that Republicans in Congress would attempt to sabotage the economy.
What, again?
No, this time (the theory goes) it would be deliberate, based on the assumption that to the extent that the national economic picture improves, it helps President Barack Obama’s chances of re-election in 2012.
As Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky put it right before the midterm elections, “The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president.”
Two days after the election, Mr. McConnell doubled down. “Over the past week, some have said it was indelicate of me to suggest that our top political priority over the next two years should be to deny President Obama a second term in office,” he said in a speech at the Heritage Foundation.
“But the fact is, if our primary legislative goals are to repeal and replace the health spending bill; to end the bailouts; cut spending; and shrink the size and scope of government, the only way to do all these things it is to put someone in the White House who won’t veto any of these things.”
The best way to do that: Make sure the economy still is in the tank two years from now.
Of course, the Republicans will block economic recovery efforts, but “sabotage” is a little harsh. Their strategy falls squarely in the middle of today’s mainstream Republican philosophy: Smaller government (except for defense spending and breaks for banks and businesses) and intransigence on any issue larger than pardoning the official Thanksgiving turkeys.
A party that is dragging feet on a nuclear arms treaty and is blocking confirmation of 23 badly needed federal judges and two dozen executive branch nominees and that may be willing to imperil the nation next spring over raising the debt ceiling would have no trouble playing games with economic recovery.
The GOP’s idea of an economic recovery plan is Trickle-Down-o-Rama: extending tax cuts for the richest 2 percent of Americans at a cost of $700 billion over 10 years with minimal effect on the economy.
The economy needs another large-scale round of stimulus, but that’s a non-starter. The same GOP and conservative Democrats who support taking $700 billion off the books by extending tax cuts for the rich also utterly oppose running up any more deficits. Go figure.
There is little doubt that their intransigence will mean more pain for the middle class and working poor — higher unemployment (without any extension of unemployment benefits this time), slow growth and reduced consumer spending. More Americans will lose their homes to foreclosure.
The economy may not need the Republicans’ help to stay mired in a funk. The end of the housing bubble that ushered in the 2007-2009 recession exposed structural problems in the economy that had been building a long time. America had been living on E-Z credit at the same time the middle class was being chewed to pieces.
Corporate profits are at an all-time high. The middle class has not recovered and certainly won’t by 2012. America has entered an era of diminished opportunity.
This will yield continuing volatility in the electorate. Mr. Obama rode that volatility to victory in 2008; the Republicans did so this year. The next two years will be about affixing blame.
I'm not the only one who sees the GOP handwriting on the wall. Win at ALL costs even if that means bringing 98% of Americans closer to total ruin.
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