By my standards, my
uncharitable posting yesterday on the fearful mood of American Republicans went
viral. It generated comments that were both challenging and rhetorical:
"In 2006, they should have been
worried. Instead, they were recklessly optimistic and their leadership drove
the country into the rocks." I have no doubt that you believe what you are
saying, but it would be helpful (for the reader) if you would provide examples
of what you are talking about. :)”-Jesse
Rebel
“In 2006, Democrats gained a majority
in both houses of Congress. Coincidence?”-Unknown
“2005 they _were_ worried, nimrod.
McCain and Co. warned of the coming meltdown, and Bawney (sic) Frank and his
buds insisted it was no problem and carried on. How do we get this narrative
that it was somehow the Republican's fault?”-Unknown
“We won't heal from anything. Obamacare
will destroy what's left of the economy and the out of control spending will
eventually collide with reality”-Christian
“Is this guy for real?”-Unknown
Jesse asks fairly what were
the unaddressed worries of 2006?
ABC/Washington Post found that in 2006 only 20 percent of Republicans feared for the
future. I still find this startling. There were plenty of important problems to
worry about: the Iraq War was costing a fortune, no resolution was in sight,
and it was enfeebling America’s influence everywhere; oil prices where steadily
cutting into consumer’s purchasing power; and, of course, the real estate and
financial sectors were overheating. Those were just the ones that mattered to
Republicans. Others that didn’t—like climate change and declining healthcare
coverage for American workers—should have.
It is useless, 20/20
partisan hindsight to insist now that Republican leaders, with the blessing of
their supporters, could have taken all necessary and unpopular actions to avert
the financial crash and the Great Recession that arrived the following year.
Nevertheless, they were doing the driving. They constantly talked down
government intervention and talked up the American economy—and it crashed.
References to Barney Frank
and other Democrat congressional leaders are beside the point. They didn’t have
the votes, inclination, or power to change George Bush’s tax regime; end the war
in Iraq; cool oil prices, housing, and stock markets; or—as Republicans are wont
to do—impeach the President, and fire the Chairman of the Federal Reserve.
My intention, however, wasn’t
to re-fight the last decade or to argue that Democrats are smarter or that in
the spring of 2007, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi could have averted the Great
Recession. What’s important to recall when Republicans say today that the
country is heading for ruin is that their ability to anticipate events is
rather shaky.
Christian’s insistence that
“nothing is healing” is contradicted every day in the job market, in the auto
industry, in the housing industry, and in stock and bond markets and exchange
rate reports.
It’s a harmless tautology to
say, “uncontrolled spending will eventually collide with reality.” However,
it’s not compelling as a forecast.
Let’s lighten up and carry
on.
ABC/Washington Post’s poll merely confirms
what Machiavelli and every objective historian of politics has witnessed ever
since politicians were free to scare other people or puff them up: the ‘ins’
talk differently about the future than the ‘outs.’ The extraordinary 50 percent
souring of Republican expectations since 2006 reflects their diminished circumstances—not America’s.
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