Midterm Election: Who Stinks Less?
The lead up to these midterm elections has provided a dismal glimpse of Washington today. The latest RCP generic congressional vote has Republicans at 44.7 percent and Democrats at 41.4 percent. The presidents approval is hovering at 46.7 percent. In recent years and certainly this midterm it seems inaccurate to say that the winner is the better party. According to the current polls the best you can say is that they winner is the less sucky party. That being said, we have two parties gearing up, one with a plan, one without one, and both equally misguided. We can all be excited that Democrats have a plan. No, not for the economy. Not to help the American people. They have a plan for the recess. Each week they will feature a new talking point beginning with their “Make It In America” manufacturing initiative, to be followed by Social Security, consumer protection, small business, troops and veterans, and jobs and the economy. This looks suspiciously like a bait and switch effort to hide that the administration hasn't done much the American people like. The audacity of hoping this scheme works is tacit admission that Democrats think the American people are stupid. If they think they can promise and obfuscate their way into office like in 2008 they are sorely mistaken.
Republicans have cozied up to the idea of laying low and letting Democrats hang themselves. Without any concrete plans there is little for Democrats to attack without dragging Bush out of the woodwork. Democrats should be wary that the Bush pinata has already busted and another round of bashing is unlikely to provide much candy. Democrats can also drive home the message that Republicans are the “party of no” but considering the dissatisfaction with the Obama agenda, the “party of no” might be the preferable side.
That being said, Republicans cannot become the party of “no plan.” This election season almost makes you long for the days of Gingrich and the “contract with America.” While no plan may limit the ways Republicans can be attacked it is also a far cry from the decisive strong leadership Americans crave. Furthermore, in the coming years Republicans will need to continue their war against the Obama agenda. The best way to counter Obama is with strong, developed, and coherent ideas. Without these they risk falling into the same trap Democrats did in 2008 when they ran on open ended vague concepts. Health Care reform was part of Obama's platform but was so loosely defined (or differently defined depending on the rally) that the American people projected their beliefs on Obama's blank canvas. When the actual painting began a storm of Americans felt betrayed. Republicans need to articulate ideas rather than pulling an American problem out of a hat and adding the word reform on the end. Outside of Paul Ryan the GOP is desperately lacking idea men. When people don't know exactly what they are voting for they are bound to be disappointed.
The current problem the GOP is determined not to address is the Bush tax cuts and more specifically the tax cuts for the top income earners. As of today it appears that the majority of the Bush tax cuts will stay in place while Republicans still allow themselves to be pummeled for the Bush tax cuts. If they were such a bad idea then why are Democrats extending the majority of them. The other issue is that the tax cuts often get lumped in with Bush policy, which gets lumped in with the recession, which had next to nothing to do with tax cuts. When you look specifically at the tax cuts for the rich a study by the treasury department in 2007 showed that 75 percent of top income earners filed a portion of their taxes as a sole proprietorship, partnership, or S corporation. Those are all job creators. Taxing job creators more when we need jobs is the opposite of job creation. Besides partisan bickering over the numbers, this is the real issue. Promoting tax cuts is having faith that the American people know how best to spend their money. Wanting to tax others is saying that government knows how to spend your money better. With the dismal failure of the stimulus most Americans just don't have faith in a more government approach.
The sad truth to all this observation is it doesn't matter much. This term both parties are more focused on being in power than doing what is right for the country. Republicans don't want to draw out a plan and limit the effect of Obama's failure by giving Democrats ammunition. Democrats have found that no one likes what they have done so they devised a marketing scheme for the recess in an attempt to cover their failings. The lead up to these midterm elections has certainly provided a dismal glimpse of Washington today.
Tyson Bam
July 27th, 2010
