Democrats squandering their advantage
James Forsyth 6:28pm
There hasn’t been much good news for the Republican party in recent years. But David Brooks, who is hardly a partisan, argues in his column today that the Democrats are throwing away their chance of a permanent majority in much the same way that the Republicans did:
Obama, for all his stylistic moderation, is on most issues to the left of the American political spectrum and he is being dragged further leftward by Congress. In a way, one suspects that Obama might be a more successful president if his leftist instincts were curbed by a Republican Congress.‘We’re only in the early stages of the liberal suicide march, but there already have been three phases. First, there was the stimulus package. You would have thought that a stimulus package would be designed to fight unemployment and stimulate the economy during a recession. But Congressional Democrats used it as a pretext to pay for $787 billion worth of pet programs with borrowed money. Only 11 percent of the money will be spent by the end of the fiscal year — a triumph of ideology over pragmatism.Then there is the budget. Instead of allaying moderate anxieties about the deficits, the budget is expected to increase the government debt by $11 trillion between 2009 and 2019.
Finally, there is health care. Every cliché Ann Coulter throws at the Democrats is gloriously fulfilled by the Democratic health care bills. The bills do almost nothing to control health care inflation. They are modeled on the Massachusetts health reform law that is currently coming apart at the seams precisely because it doesn’t control costs. They do little to reward efficient providers and reform inefficient ones.
The House bill adds $239 billion to the federal deficit during the first 10 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office. It would pummel small businesses with an 8 percent payroll penalty. It would jack America’s top tax rate above those in Italy and France. Top earners in New York and California would be giving more than 55 percent of earnings to one government entity or another.
Nancy Pelosi has lower approval ratings than Dick Cheney and far lower approval ratings than Sarah Palin. And yet Democrats have allowed her policy values to carry the day — this in an era in which independents dominate the electoral landscape.’
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TGF UKIP
July 21st, 2009 7:12pm Report this commentHo, ho, ho! Nothing quite like being able to say "Told you so!"
And after the 53-47% election defeat, didn't I, and a number of other Coffee Housers, counsel you and a number of other GOP headless chickens in the transatlantic media, to stop panicking and trying to destroy the GOP by "cameronizing" it, and just wait for the headbangers in Congress to present the US electorate with every reason to ache for the return of conservative values and conservative common sense.
As for that Great Media Darling, Obama, nowt to worry about there either. Not only will it not take the voters to get his number but it will not take long for his greatest strength to unravel. Great orator? Well, up to a point but I predict his highly stylized oratory will begin to grate, really grate before too long.
What the GOP could really do with finding is a comedian who can do a Tina Fey on him.
And following all the screwing round with Gitmo, "torture" and the CIA over recent months, if there is another terrorist attack there will be a popular mass movement to draft Dick Cheney, let alone Jeb Bush, for 2012.
Pedro Erik
July 21st, 2009 7:12pm Report this commentIt is really interesting to read something not so positive about Obama in the NYT, but, I still think that Brooks try to save Obama, arguing almost in the sense that it is Dem Congress fault (because they do not fear Obama). It is Obama fault, he is a far-left radical and shows incompetence to deal with, mainly, economics and international relations.
TrevorsDen
July 21st, 2009 7:19pm Report this commentWrong headline - it should read -- "Democrats Reverting to Type"
"They are modeled on the Massachusetts health reform" --- "Massachusetts" the epitome of dyed in the wool liberal lunacy. The place that would elects the Kennedy's cat if it was nominated.
Pelosi? The acid queen.
mitch
July 21st, 2009 8:01pm Report this commentHahaha didn't take long for the messiah to be exposed as a mk1 tax and waste lefty like the bunch of muppets we have.
All those lofty words about change hiding the same old failed wonk ideology.It doesn't work, never has, never will, you cannot tax your way to wealth.
logdon
July 21st, 2009 8:16pm Report this commentI subscribe to the Pajamas Media and Family Security Matters sites where this is big news.
For a non gushing appraisal of where Obama is at, they really are invaluable.
Pro Israel. Anti Jihad. Pro small government. Anti socialistic America. Pro West. Anti Islamic supremacism.
Often a lone voice amongst the hysteria and fact bending of the MSM, these sites are sober reflections as to how the US is shaping up under the 'One'.
It seems that the mindless abandonment of the caution of caveat emptor in favour of the empty promises of a young, black president is begining to create an atmosphere of buyers guilt in the States and reading this posting confirms that trend.
Netanyahu has just given Mr Miracle the finger on East Jerusalem and his approval rating in Israel is down to around seven percent.
His non action on Iran is the antithesis of all America stands for.
His spending is driving the nation into appalling debt.
His health plans are unravelling.
Reasons to be cheerful? It ain't over 'til it's over, but the signs are that this will be a one termer.
Lucky America. We've had twelve years of this national suicide.
Still, we'll at least be rid of this sovietisation before they are.
jo joe jim jim III
July 21st, 2009 9:11pm Report this commentHe's a freakin socialist! thank god he is blowing it. The world needs a poster boy to advertise once and for all:
SOCIALISM DOES NOT WORK!!!!!
All the past adverts for this were in countries small enough for Brown and Obama to ignore. But Their failure will be remembered for decades if not centuries.
rmh
July 21st, 2009 9:56pm Report this commentThe public always finds a way to find an opposition.
The SNP is Scotland is a case in point. Labout had what 60% up there in the 80s and 90s and then what.
Salmond, a pariah for years becomes "boss". Magic.
The problem for the GOP is finding a credible voice, maybe Romney is it, Palin isn't.
The shifting demographics do not help the GOP, so they will need to shift a bit to the centre and be a bit more inclusive and less Limbaugh.
Hysteria
July 22nd, 2009 1:17am Report this commentjo joe jim jim III (get a smaller name mate!) - but yes - I echo your comment - Socialism and focus on equality of outcome has not and will not work - you GOTTA focus on the inputs - equality of opportunity, then get the hell out of the way and let the individual get on .......
Andy Leeds
July 22nd, 2009 8:44am Report this commentToo right Socialism doesn't work. In its various mutations it has murdered over 100 million people in the 20th Century, so how anyone can believe in this evil creed is a mystery.
John Levett
July 22nd, 2009 9:31am Report this commentYour list omits the suicidal Cap & Trade bill recently passed by Congress.
john miller
July 22nd, 2009 9:53am Report this commentErr, did they not vote for "change"? And are they not getting it?
Dave-o a Dave-o
July 22nd, 2009 10:12am Report this commentAlso not reported on these shores that likes to propoganda that Obama is the messiah is the little fact that his poll ratings are not only lower than his predecessor at the same stage in his presidency, but lower than any president in modern history.
It is very hard to imagine anything more Obama and is cronies could come up with to have managed a worse job in fact thinking about it.
If you look at all the "czars" that he has created, who are completely unelected and unaccountable, all the B.S. about transparency and change ect. ect. ad nauseum espoused is shown up for the joke it always was.
You also missed off the disasterous "cap and trade" proposals going through the senate which if passed will plunge the U.S.A. even further into debt and thirld world status on top of medi-care. medi-aid, bail-outs ect. the total amount America is now liable for tops $24,000,000,000,000, yep, thats twenty four trillion so far and rising.
The U.S as far as I can tell from over here is absolutely sick to the back teeth of the administrations almost endless apology tours around the world that doesn't indear them to others but makes them look a laughing stock.
Ian C
July 22nd, 2009 11:19am Report this commentGovernement does not work - whether in the heands of big gov't lefties or small gov't conservatives. That is the American way - proving that those with power find the shortest route to screwing up.
That is why the best gov'ts in the US have always been mixed - one party in Congress, t'other in the White House. If Obama is lucky enough to get that from Nov 2010 he will get his second term. If not, he will be a one term wonder and the left will be out forever - but at some considerable short term cost. But hey, the world's screwed for the next few years anyway.
So pray for a Dem. victory in the 2010 elections.
Sheila
July 22nd, 2009 12:30pm Report this commentJames Forsyth, you and David Brooks might have lots of back-pedalling to do, but - as you can see - not so your readership.
Dirty Euro
July 22nd, 2009 2:38pm Report this commentPlease can i put this fact out.
Andy Leeds
Communism may have killed 100 million but right wing imperialism killed far more. Look at the Belgian empire, or the Spanish, French,. British, the slave traders of the USA.
Verity
July 22nd, 2009 3:52pm Report this commentDirty Euro - Numbers, please.
You seem to be historically illiterate. Please note that the slave traders were Arabs and Africans. The Africans caught their own people and sold them to Arabs, who transported them to America, until the British Navy put an end to it. The facts don't quite jibe with the windmills of your mind, do they?
And in drooling on about "imperialism", you forgot to mention the Dutch in Indonesia. You're a historical illiterate.
Hysteria
July 22nd, 2009 6:31pm Report this commentVerity - I often wonder whether to reply or not to the ravings of Dirty Euro (DES)...
On balance I think we on the right should always respond to this socialist dogma with patient rebuttal and logical argument - little by little we will win the argument.
So your post is a good one - again!
Dirty Euro
July 22nd, 2009 10:08pm Report this commentVerity - You are deeply offensive when you have no arguments to put forward as always, you make no sense. How does Arabs doing slave trading equal left wing?
The British empire killed over 100 million Indians alone with 18 million in one Bengal famine the 18th century, alone. Plus it was the British that brought over most of the slaves in the first place. Read some books, boy.
Dirty Euro
July 22nd, 2009 10:14pm Report this commentVerity. Guess who killed more communism or the British empire you will be surprised?
100 million Indians alone. Tasmanian aborigines, Red Indians of North America, millions of Irishmen, African famines and oppression, numerous wars with Spain, France, major slave traders and opium dealers.
I am not a communist. But we always here about the commies never about we did. Why is this? And we were not even the worst empire. The Spanish, NAZIs, and Japs were worse.
Paul
July 22nd, 2009 10:36pm Report this commentDitty Elbo - I think that most of the French Empire was created under the Communistic Revolutionary Republic/Bonaparte dynasty.
Andy of Leeds was pointing out what I would call the mechanisation of murder under Socialism in the 20th Century alone. You appear to be comparing this with people killed (you do not give numbers) in at least 500 years. I think that you got your knickers in a twist, and couldn't help your ejaculation.
As Verity says (because I like pointing this out) the first point of the trade were Arab and African slavers. Imperial Britain was the first country IN THE ENTIRE HISTORY OF THE WORLD to make slavery illegal.
Paul
July 22nd, 2009 10:43pm Report this commentBy the way, about Obama - America is waking up, with a huge hangover, to find that they did something completely unsavoury in the night!
This is why the Republican supporters would not lose with good grace on election night. They knew that Obama would screw their country up.
I think that I will move to America after all.
Dirty Euro
July 23rd, 2009 11:20am Report this commentDenmark and Haiti got rid of slavery first.
rmh
July 23rd, 2009 1:12pm Report this comment@ Dirty Euro
Isn't Verity a girl?
And I wonder who moderates these posts, as some I make never make it and seem harmless, yet some I read are quite "tough".
Hal
July 23rd, 2009 10:59pm Report this commentI admit I am an Obama fan and a liberal Democrat, and I think Obama isn't far enough to the left, which in turn makes me wonder if David Brooks isn't wrong. Even though it's been six months, it's still too soon to tell how Obama is faring. Do you remember during the primary campaign, in the fall of 2007, when pundits were referring to him as Obambi for his failure to attack Hillary Clinton? Obama was right in his tactics, and the conventional wisdom was wrong. Right now, he is letting the Congress wrangle over various health care plans, a tactic that may put him in a position to push one over the top. And it doesn't have to be the perfect solution -- it'll probably be too timid for my taste -- only something he can present as progress.
I have learned not to be too hasty to count him out.
Ganpat Ram
July 24th, 2009 11:06pm Report this commentVerity
You are confusing two slave trades.
On the East coast of Africa, Arabs captured or bought black Africans and took them to the Middle East. The British eventually supressed this trade for the most part - though in the Sudan, it is going on even today.
On the West coast of Africa, the slaves were captured or bought by Westerners and transported to America by them -in the infamous "Middle Passage".
Your confusion betrays absurd ignorance about key facts of history.
Go do some serious reading before becoming so opinionated.
Ganpat Ram
July 25th, 2009 9:26am Report this commentIAN C, HYSTERIa et al:
Capitalism does not work, either. The unravelling of Wall Street this year proved that.
Only drastic intervention by the State prevented economic collapse - if indeed it has.
You guys are forgetting how close capitalism came to collapse.
What we need is not socialism or capitalsm in themselves but an intelligent mix ofthe two.
Obama has a chance to bring this about in the US and thus become one of the three or four most important Presidents in US history.
Unfortunately, so far he is proving himself more charming than effective.
He is a man of first-rate temperament and some intellect (far above the low average for politicos) who allows himself to be imposed upon by third-raters like Pelosi.
Pity.
If Obama fails the US and the West have no future. Old-style capitalism is the way to the pit.
In that case, China will truly inherit the world.
Occasional Ostrich
July 28th, 2009 4:26pm Report this comment'Democrats squandering their advantage'
Is this supposed to a 'problem'?
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