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Saturday, February 23, 2013

What a Republican Leader Should say

Bill Wilson has an interesting article in Forbes in which he illustrates why Republicans are the stupid party.
 
Now, there’s nothing wrong with pointing out that Obama lied about proposing the sequester. That’s a fair point about lying by high government officials.

But then they switch roles. Obama plays his in the traditional way:
But the current debate over sequester – an across-the-board $85 billion reduction of budget authority which translates into just a $53.8 billion cut to outlays this fiscal year ending September 30 – is notable for both its unfounded hysteria as well as a surprising role reversal.

To recap, the sequester was originally supposed to total $109 billion – but lawmakers delayed its onset by two months during the fiscal cliff negotiations. Now U.S. President Barack Obama – who first proposed the sequester as part of the 2011 debt ceiling deal – wants to delay it again.

According to Obama, the sequester would represent “a huge blow to middle-class families and our economy as a whole.” Obama’s White House has also referred to the sequester as “devastating,” saying its cuts would “imperil our economy, our national security (and) vital programs that middle class families depend on.”

But the Stupid Republicans™ in the person of patsy John Boehner echoes Obama’s horribles
Where the sequester debate deviates from the norm is in its dramatis personae. Unlike prior spending debates, the sequester features Republicans attempting to shift the onus for cutting government onto Obama. U.S. Speaker John Boehner has repeatedly referenced “the president’s sequester” while decrying its “harmful cuts.” …
More to the point it highlights the extent to which leaders of both parties in Washington, D.C. are abandoning taxpayers in order to curry favor with the legacy media and special interest establishment – both of which are dead set against any reduction in the size and scope of government.

If John Boehner had just half a brain, this is the kind of statement he would make:
 
Ladies, gentlemen I believe it's time for the American people to hear the truth.
 
The President who is responsible for running up trillion dollar deficits every year he has been in office; the President who is responsible for spending over three-and-a-half trillion dollars just this year; this president is telling the American people that the world will end if the growth of government spending is slowed down just this much (makes sign with thumb and forefinger).

This is a scene we have seen played many, many times before. There is even a name for it: the Washington Monument ploy. In the past, if the ruling class in the Washington establishment did not get its way, they threatened to shut down the Washington Monument because that’s where the budget ax would fall. President Obama has taken the Washington Monument ploy, dusted it off and Supersized it.  He's telling us that if this minuscule reduction, not an actual cut, but a reduction in the rate of growth occurs we would lose our police, our firefighters, our air traffic controllers, our teachers and our baby sitters. He has sent his surrogates out to tell us that we would be waiting for hours to board planes. He and his Defense Secretary have told us that this would destroy our military. He has delayed the deployment of an aircraft carrier scaring the people of Virginia to death. Between now and March first I expect that there will be predictions of water turning to blood, fiery hail, the sun blotted out and plagues of locusts if he does not get his way.

And the ladies and gentlemen of the press have lapped up every prediction of doom and even expanded on them. Well, I’m tired of it. I refuse the play the game any longer. Let’s make something very clear. If the President does not believe he’s up to running the government on a mere $3.5 trillion dollars a year, he should resign and let’s find someone who can. If the members of the Senate and the House don’t believe that they can find a way to fund the essential duties of the government without borrowing twenty trillions from generations yet unborn, they should leave and let someone else do it. If the members of the media will not do their duty to report honestly instead of fanning the flames of fear, they should find another line of work.

The sequester is a baby step in the direction of fiscal responsibility. The one bad part about it was that it does not distinguish between programs that are essential and programs that are a waste. In that respect, it was deliberately designed to be a bad idea. It was designed by the White House, but it was passed by the Congress so we are all to blame. But here we must stop because the horrible results that the President has predicted will not come to pass … unless he deliberately creates them. His is the responsibility actually fulfill the oath of office he took. If instead, he prefers to give speeches, stumble from crisis to crisis and conduct a perpetual campaign, please step aside Mr. President and let’s find someone who can do the job.
 
If Boehner won't make it, will someone please step up and provide REAL leadership for the people outside of the Washington Ruling Class? 

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