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Republicans need to stop whining
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I'm getting tired of hearing people complaining about the stimulus package not working fast enough to suit their purpose.
I'm also tired of Republicans complaining loudly enough about it to suit their political purpose. The latest spin is that the administration's economic stimulus plan is not doing enough and that the administration didn't "misread" the economy as Vice President Joe Biden put it, but "miswrote the stimulus bill."
In the most recent GOP weekly radio address rebutting the president, Minority Whip Eric Cantor wanted to know: It's been six months; where are the promised jobs? "Unemployment at 9.5%," said Cantor, "is already higher than the 8.5% the administration promised as max. The stimulus bill was larded with pork. We can't afford all this spending and borrowing."
Eric Cantor needs to shut up along with whoever else gets appointed as official party spokesperson of the day of political consultant talking points, and let's face it: They've got talking points for everything.
Conservatives will tell you that joblessness has steadily increased in the midst of the recovery. Attention blowhards: EVERYONE said unemployment would remain high into 2010. I love how guys like Cantor wag their finger and say, "But they promised only 8.5 percent."
None of these Republicans were griping when, in 2006, costs for the Iraq went soaring beyond expectations. I didn't hear Mitch McConnell complain about spending the country into debt when, by 2007, it was clear the Iraq war would cost at least 10 times what we were promised by Donald Rumsfeld in 2003.
The war will cost us a trillion dollars easily when it's all said and done. Rumsfeld's projection: $50-60 billion.
So let's cut the crap, Mr. Cantor.
Does a 9.5 percent unemployment rate mean the stimulus isn't working? No, but to declare that it's a failure is disingenuous. First, things would have been a lot worse without the stimulus while second, no one is declaring it a success yet since 90 percent of the nearly $800 billion in stimulus funds hasn't been distributed.
There's plenty of stimulus in the pipeline. The conservatives complaining that the jobless rate has steadily increased in the midst of the recovery. What they're not explaining is that the jobless rate is actually slowing down. Fewer and fewer people are getting pink slipped is slowing. Last week, the Labor Department reported that total applications for jobless benefits was down to 565,000 --that's not an insignificant number, but it's the lowest since January. The number of pink slips handed out each month continues to fall. What's happening is that we're not replacing the jobs as fast as we're losing them.
With only 10 percent of stimulus money distributed thus far, it's a little too early to say the stimulus isn't working or demand, "Where are the jobs?"
Cantor's problem is a problem with a lot of Americans: We're impatient. Why do we need to spend this money in a hurry? Spending it too quickly doesn't guarantee quality results. Remember, after 9/11, they were in all kinds of serious hurry to spend money, and like that effort, when we've done these hurry up and spend things in the past, there's been fraud, waste and abuse. It seems a little slower but let's hope they take their time and get it right rather than just fire it out there.
It took 30 years of policy to get us where we are today; getting out of a recession isn't going to happen in the same time it takes to solve a crime on prime time television.
So when Cantor and Company talk about 60 votes and "it's all Obama's problem now," uh... no Congressman, it's your problem, too, and maybe you can work towards distributing this money where it's needed in your state rather than griping to score political points. I mean, which is it: Have you decided not to govern so your party can return to power and govern as badlly as it did in the previous administration? Or have you decided to stop being an American citizen? Shall we deport you?
Do the country a favor: Stop working for your party and start working for the country.
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