President Obama's pending jobs program hasn't even been inked yet, and we only know a few of the ideas likely to be in it because he's been talking about them for weeks. Those crumbs are enough for the GOP, and Republicans are preemptively
rejecting it. Surprise.
Obama's campaign advisor, David Axelrod, said on Sunday that there's nothing in the proposal "that reasonable people shouldn't be able to agree on"—but many fired-up Republicans are already preparing to reject whatever the president puts on the table.
"This is the seventh or eighth or ninth time we've heard the president talk about producing a plan," Republican strategist Karl Rove said on Fox News Sunday. "And each time that he's gotten around to tossing an idea out on the table, it has included only more spending, more deficit, more debt and the American people are fed up with it."[...]
[...]But many of the same Republicans who are fiercely protective of tax cuts for the wealthy have already said they oppose Obama's plan to extend the payroll tax cut for low income Americans.
"It's always a net positive to let taxpayers keep more of what they earn," Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) told the AP, "but not all tax relief is created equal for the purposes of helping to get the economy moving again."
Rep. David Camp (R-Mich.), chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, said he also opposed the 12-month tax cut because it would cost the government about $120 billion next year if it were renewed.
Note that Hensarling and Camp are Catfood Commission II members, so what are the chances of real tax increases there? Unpacking those statements, clearly they continue to argue that regular middle-class people aren't "job-creators" and would only do something useless with a continued payroll tax break like keep paying their mortgage, or buying food. The payroll tax break remains problematic for Social Security, and isn't an adequate solution to the recession, but it—like extended unemployment benefits—puts disposable income in consumers' pockets. With wages remaining stagnant, there's little else on the horizon.
But, politically, this is exactly what Obama needs—Republican obstruction on the most important issue for Americans. Now is the time for him to take the advice of many Democrats and progressives and do just what E.J. Dionne is telling him to do: "go big, go long and go global."
The federal government needs to come to the aid of state and local governments again; the budget cuts they are being forced to make are precisely what the economy does not need now. We must find ways of boosting spending as quickly as possible on roads, bridges, transit and other building projects, including a new program to rehabilitate the nation's dilapidated schools. And the administration needs to do far more to resolve the mortgage mess, which is holding back consumers.
Going big means coming up with real solutions that, in addition to being necessary, would be hugely popular. The Republicans are already positioning themselves against it, and that's where you want them, fighting against the best interests of the country. That's a battle that has to be finally engaged, and now is the time to do it.