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Posted on 01/12/2003 11:14:14 AM PST by Wait4Truth
Bold Bush did the right thing
The boldness of President Bush's economic stimulus plan has been greeted by surprised gasps and unsurprising partisan carping. But given the challenges we now face, would a less ambitious plan have been appropriate? This economy is caught in an atypical recovery following an atypical recession. The stock market has fallen for three straight years. The weak holiday retail season raised concerns that consumers may finally be curbing their spending. And we're fighting radical Islamist terrorism worldwide and preparing for war against Iraq.
In our times, bold is the best policy option.
But you wouldn't know that from watching the Democrats. Instead of recognizing and responding to the fundamental changes facing our economy and nation, the Democrats have offered up a stimulus lite plan that would maintain the status quo. And they've offered up the same tired arguments in support of their same tired ideas on the economy.
First, they attacked the President for focusing too much on the war against terror and not enough on the economy. As I've written, the two issues are not mutually exclusive. Further terrorist attacks on domestic soil are one of this country's biggest economic threats.
The Brookings Institution estimates a biological attack in a major urban area could cause $750 billion in economic damage. Politics and economics can't be separated.
Then, the Democrats accused Bush of irresponsible spending and deficit creation. However, Robert Reich, Bill Clinton's former labor secretary, recently wrote, "These Democrat deficit hawks have it all wrong. The economy needs a fiscal stimulus right now, which means the federal government has to run large deficits."
Now the Democrats are using the class warfare tactic, the line of attack that successfully sank Bush's father's reelection attempt - a bitter defeat that continues to instruct this President.
However, the core of the Bush package eliminates dividend taxes, which benefits the nearly 70% of voters who invest in the markets and many seniors who rely on dividend income. And the plan targets working families, small businesses and the unemployed.
But Bush's boldness could still backfire.
A debate has already begun over whether the President's plan is less a stimulus package and more a long-term restructuring of the tax system. If it turns out to be the latter, voters may not feel much better about the economy by the time they go to the polls in 2004.
And that leads to what could be the President's biggest challenge. By introducing such an ambitious package, he raised expectations that fiscal policy can stimulate the economy at a time when so many variables still exist, such as a war against Iraq or higher oil prices.
Rumblings from McCain
There's also the problem of Republican unity. Already, Sen. John McCain, who is making a career out of being a malcontent, is rumbling about more middle-class tax relief. While Republicans enjoy a majority in the House and the Senate, that majority is slim and still could splinter.
And Democrats also can look back and learn from the 1992 presidential election cycle. The Democrats' relentless pounding on the economy's problems pushed Bush senior's approval rating down to 29% from 89% in just 17 months, even though the economy was growing.
Democrats will try to work this message again if the Bush plan does not work relatively quickly. Bush needs a stronger recovery between now and Election Day. He's chosen a bold plan to make that happen. But that shouldn't come as a surprise.
Given the challenges facing this economy and the nation, and given the history of the first President Bush - did he really have a choice?
Even though they won't all show up when your reply is posted, they are all there and the appropriate people will see the article when they pull up "My Comments."
Just make a list of people you wish to see articles like this, separating each name by a semi-colon. Then whenever you want to flag everyone, you can simply copy the list and paste it in the box, and everyone will be pinged!
Ann Coulter has stated in Slander that ALL Republican Presidents (post WWII) have been crticized as being just plain dumb. Then, about 20 years after they leave ooffice, it's discovered that they weren't so dumb, after all.
Admittedly, McCain isn't a president, nor is he ever likely to be. Yet his pronouncements strike me as being surprisingly "Jocelyn Elder-like." The guy simply isn't very smart. Oh, well. Depite the positive vibes the hit TV show, JAG tries to leave vis a vis the military, I guess not every ex-Navy pilot can be the brightest bulb in the chandelier.
Then, despite the Democrats efforts in 1992, icluding the help from Ross Perot, Bush would not have lost if he had not been suckered into the tax increase that broke his most important promise. Despite this amazing Lou Dobbs article, there are one or two wrong conclusions in it.
You don't have to be if Daddy is an admiral.
Bush 41 lost that election because he made it obvious that he didn't want it. He was totally disengaged.
Lou Dobbs is famously, and very openly, Republican. :)
We are seeing a lot of NY snowbirds in Florida now.....easy to spot their cars....they still have American flags flying from their windows.
9-11 changed everything! I think many Americans are finally aware that while Bill fiddled with Monica (and she fiddled with him) terrorism was spreading like a plague.
Most Americans realize that GWB has inherited that legacy and that he is definitely 'The Right Man' for these perilous times!
Clinton never got the majority of the vote in either of his Presidential elections, he got a plurality, with the help of Ross Perot.(In fairness GW in 2000 didn't get a majority either, but GW's 48.9% was much higher than Clinton's 43% in 92)
Perot in 92 was there to "help" Clinton, no doubt about it to me. Add in Lawrence Walsh's "October surprise" and infromation being controlled and spun by the mainstream liberal media(i.e talk radio only starting to mature and no internet network available cheaply to the general public), voila, a Presidency that stained the institution of the Presidency, the Bill and Hillary freak show.
Agreed.
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