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David Brooks yesterday took up the case for Mitt Romney in his New York Times column. Ramesh Ponnuru today (mostly) seconds it at NRO.
Ponnuru adds a series of questions of which one in particular carries a lot of force.
The [Republican] party has reached a consensus on most issues.
…
3) Is that consensus correct? If not can Romney supply what it lacks?
On the most urgent economic issue of the day – recovery from the Great Recession – the Republican consensus is seriously wrong.
It is wrong in its call for monetary tightening.
It is wrong to demand immediate debt reduction rather than wait until after the economy recovers.
It is wrong to deny that “we have a revenue problem.”
It is wrong in worrying too much about (non-existent) inflation and disregarding the (very real) threat of a second slump into recession and deflation.
It is wrong to blame government regulation and (as yet unimposed) tax increases for the severity of the recession.
It is wrong to oppose job-creating infrastructure programs.
It is wrong to hesitate to provide unemployment insurance, food stamps, and other forms of income maintenance to the unemployed.
It is wrong to fetishize the exchange value of the dollar against other currencies.
It is wrong to believe that cuts in marginal tax rates will suffice to generate job growth in today’s circumstance.
It is wrong to blame minor and marginal government policies like the Community Reinvestment Act for the financial crisis while ignoring the much more important role of government inaction to police overall levels of leverage within the financial system.
It is wrong to dismiss the Euro crisis as something remote from American concerns.
It is wrong to resist US cooperation with European authorities in organizing a work-out of the debt problems of the Eurozone countries.
It is wrong above all in its dangerous combination of apocalyptic pessimism about the long-term future of the country with aloof indifference to unemployment.
Of all those candidates who have run for the 2012 GOP nomination or contemplated running, Mitt Romney is the only one who has shown any degree of skepticism about the profoundly and dangerously mistaken Republican consensus. Sometimes he shows that skepticism by refusing to join the criticism of the Federal Reserve. Sometimes he says things that reveal a truer understanding of today’s problem – when he cites poor sales, not lack of confidence, as the reason businesses do not hire. On rare occasions, he will affirmatively defy the consensus, for example, in his willingness to challenge China on its currency manipulation – a challenge that the dollar’s exchange rate against the Chinese currency should be lower, not higher.
Am I satisfied with Romney’s position on these issues? No. Do I worry that he’ll fear to deviate from party orthodoxy even after he is elected? Yes.
But I put my hope in three things: (1) Romney is not only very intelligent, but he also has demonstrated through his career a devotion to facts over ideology. (2) Romney has visibly not been caught up in the panic and rage against President Obama that has done so much to distort Republican thinking since 2009. (3) Romney has not signed up for the kind of ultra-deluded tax-cutting as solution to all ills program advocated by Tim Pawlenty and Jon Huntsman. His unwillingness to over-commit himself during the Republican primaries signals an openness to future contingencies should he be elected president.
Slender hopes? Yes. But no other Republican offers any hope at all.
rbottoms // Oct 5, 2011 at 2:03 pm
About that immigration thing.
[blockquote]
Mohamed Ali Muflahi, the first person arrested under Alabama’s strict new immigration law, is actually residing in the United States legally, his attorney proved on Monday.
Muflahi, a 24-year-old born in Yemen, was arrested Friday during a drug raid in Etowah County, Alabama, along with two other Yemenis, the Gadsden Times reported last week. According to local Sheriff Todd Entrekin, the three men were taken into custody for obstructing a government operation, and upon processing at the jail, only Muflahi was unable to produce documentation of his legal status.
This is a misdemeanor violation according to the new Alabama immigration law that went into effect late last month, and, Entrekin told the Times last week, the first arrest carried out under the new measures.
But it turns out that Muflahi is not in the U.S. illegally, as some had suggested. His attorney provided documentation of his legal status on Monday, Etowah County officials told the Associated Press.
The controversy could put a kink in a recent push by Alabama state senators, local NBC affiliate WSFA reports. Earlier this week, the publicity surrounding the arrest prompted several Alabama state senators to draft a letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder calling for the Justice Department drop its ongoing lawsuit against the law. But that letter never saw daylight.
From WSFA:
The letter was set to be released to the media Tuesday morning, but the news conference was cancelled for unspecified reasons. The letter requests that Holder launch an investigation into how a citizen of Yemen settled in Alabama without detection or documentation.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/05/mohamed-ali-muflahi-alabama-immigration_n_996101.html
[/blockquote]
The clown car party strikes again.
Russnet // Oct 6, 2011 at 2:51 am
And?
Velocity // Oct 6, 2011 at 3:12 pm
Don’t forget your papers when you go to Alabama.
Sinan // Oct 5, 2011 at 2:45 pm
Good luck with changing the GOP David. Perhaps you could start by doing a piece on a real Republican, Ike. Here is what the last great Republican said:
The worst to be feared and the best to be expected can be simply stated.
The worst is atomic war.
The best would be this: a life of perpetual fear and tension; a burden of arms draining the wealth and the labour of all peoples; a wasting of strength that defies the American system or the Soviet system or any system to achieve true abundance and happiness for the peoples of this earth.
Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.
This world in arms is not spending money alone.
It is spending the sweat of its labourers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children.
The cost of one modern heavy bomber is this: a modern brick school in more than 30 cities.
It is two electric power plants, each serving a town of 60,000 population. It is two fine, fully equipped hospitals.
It is some fifty miles of concrete pavement.
We pay for a single fighter plane with a half million bushels of wheat.
We pay for a single destroyer with new homes that could have housed more than 8,000 people.
This is, I repeat, the best way of life to be found on the road the world has been taking.
This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron. These plain and cruel truths define the peril and point the hope that come with this spring of 1953.
This is one of those times in the affairs of nations when the gravest choices must be made, if there is to be a turning toward a just and lasting peace.
It is a moment that calls upon the governments of the world to speak their intentions with simplicity and with honesty.
It calls upon them to answer the question that stirs the hearts of all sane men: is there no other way the world may live?
Russnet // Oct 6, 2011 at 2:54 am
Obama is toast. Spare us the violins.
think4yourself // Oct 5, 2011 at 3:11 pm
I don’t dislike Romney (or Huntsman for that matter), but I also voted for McCain in the 2000 primary cause I thought he really was a GOP Maverick, when he just ended up being a panderer as his latest Senate campaign showed.
Romney as President would go where the Tea Party led him so long as they are the loudest voices in the room. That clip posted in here from the Daily Show convinced me. The Romney who was Governor of MA, had a chance of winning my vote (but not the GOP primary). The Romney of today may win the primary but I don’t think the election.
As to flip-flopping. All I can say is if you continue to straddle a fence for 10 years, eventually you won’t have any balls.
Dragonfly // Oct 5, 2011 at 3:41 pm
Romney was the only one who had balls during the last GOP presidential run – during one of the debates, when asked about GITMO, the other candidates blew with the liberal wind and said they’d close it, while Romney said he’d double it. And how about Obama – he also blew with the liberal press wind saying he’d close it, but he didn’t, which goes to show that not only does Romney have balls, he has brains – he knew of its usefulness.
And while governing in a liberal state he could have just went along for the ride, but he didn’t. On his own, by his lonesome, he went against the liberal tide and trained his State Police to do the right thing – and he was ahead of the curve – ahead of Arizona – they modeled after Romney – see for yourself;
http://whyromney.com/joe_arpaio_praises_mitt.php
Velocity // Oct 5, 2011 at 3:55 pm
Oh please. Romney is the only quasi-sane one in the Republican field, I’ll grant you that, but there is no candidate, Democrat or Republican, left or right, who bends to the expedient political winds like Romney does:
http://www.theatlanticwire.com/entertainment/2011/10/jon-stewart-revisits-mitt-romneys-shapeshifting-career/43332/
“Even if Republican voters know who the real Mitt Romney is, Mitt Romney doesn’t.”
Velocity // Oct 6, 2011 at 3:16 pm
A video compilation showing Romney contradicting himself over and over again is “liberal crap”? God no wonder you guys are so confused.
balconesfault // Oct 6, 2011 at 5:29 pm
Particularly given that the portion of their campaign against Kerry that wasn’t just sleeze-bucket Swift Boating was that Kerry was a flip flopper.
Will they be bringing their sandals from 2004 to Tampa next September?
Dragonfly // Oct 7, 2011 at 12:46 am
Velocity,
Romney’s record as governor, CEO, business owner, and as head of the Olympics is outstanding.
Romney took Massachusetts’ deficit of $1.5 Billion and turned it into a $600 Million surplus without raising taxes. Romney took the Olympics’ $300 Million deficit and turned it into a $100 Million surplus – the most successful Olympics on record, and just after 9/11 when there were major security concerns and needs. Bain created over 200 companies – 200 companies, not individual businesses, but 200 companies, and many spurned from them to feed them.
Sure, you can say in 1982 he said, then in 2001 he said, liberal talking point crap that went nowhere then and will go nowhere now.
This may help solve some of your concerns with where Romney really stands on issues;
http://whyromney.com/
But, what about Obama the true flip-flopper – he said he would end the wars – nope – we’re in 4 now and he took Bush’s 30k in Afghanistan to 100k – he said he would close GITMO – nope – still open – he said he would be bipartisan and work across the aisle – nope – locked the door and they said we would know what’s in the Bill after they pass it – he said he would unite the country through less rhetoric – nope – he’s divided it even more and leads the charge on the rhetoric – he said his Trillion dollar stimulus monies would bring down unemployment and help the deficit – nope – one could go on forever with what he said and what actually happened.
Obama’s record?
Unemployment at a true 20%, along with millions on furloughs (less hours with less pay), and millions who haven’t seen a raise in a few years because of the economy, yet Obama and all his aids got nice fat raises and added perks.
And what about under Obama seniors not getting a Social Security COLA for a few years now? And his intimidating them about not getting their checks if he didn’t get his way with the last Bill, as well as the military’s pay?
This was said some time ago:
“Obama inauguration, when the accrued debt was $6.307 trillion, to the end of fiscal year 2013, when the debt is projected to reach $12.784 trillion. Yes, more than the previous 43 presidents.”
BUT, we are actually approaching $15 Trillion – Obama is worse than projected.
If you look at national debt, look at it before the Dems took over the majorities in Congress on Jan. 2007, then compare to beyond that, especially after their rubberstamp became president.
Dragonfly // Oct 6, 2011 at 5:15 pm
Velocity,
Romney did a good job with everything he did – it’s on record.
Obama? He will go down on record as one of the worst presidents this country has ever seen – right along with Carter – a one-term loser.
And if Clinton didn’t have the good fortune for most of his tenure to see a Republican-controlled Congress, he’d be joining them.
Elvis Elvisberg // Oct 5, 2011 at 3:44 pm
Goodness gracious, David. Your greatest hope for the GOP is that, even though the frontrunner is saying a bunch of insane shit, he’s probably lying?
Are you familiar with the phrase “soft bigotry of low expectations”?
And the entire raison d’etre of his friggin campaign is the lie that Pres. Obama is running around apologizing for America, which is something that never happened in real life. So if Romney has avoided the Obama Derangement Syndrome that’s afflicted the other 99.997% of the GOP, he’s sure got a funny way of showing it.
http://www.theamericanconservative.com/larison/2011/09/26/romney-and-the-apology-tour/
Let’s face it: Republicans are wrong about pretty much everything. We have to hope that Romney is lying when he says false things. Therefore, it is the duty of every patriotic American to deprive the Republican Party of power.
SpartacusIsNotDead // Oct 5, 2011 at 5:00 pm
“Your greatest hope for the GOP is that, even though the frontrunner is saying a bunch of insane shit, he’s probably lying?”
I’ll be pleasantly shocked if I read a better than that one anywhere this week!
Elvis Elvisberg // Oct 5, 2011 at 6:04 pm
Ha, thanks SpartacusIsNotDead, glad you liked it, but I really was feeling more exasperated than self-amused when I wrote that…
I’d felt bad when I returned late to a thread last year in which you’d nominated me for a Pulitzer Prize & I’d never said anything about it, so, thanks for that comment too, I thought it was pretty funny. http://www.frumforum.com/department-of-self-correction#comment-156006 (Easy to find; only one hit at Frum Forum for “Kevin Kolb”).
Russnet // Oct 6, 2011 at 2:57 am
Hey Elvis, two words: PRESIDENT ROMNEY.
Anonne // Oct 6, 2011 at 2:50 am
That’s about as concise a statement of the problem as we’ll ever get. Brilliant, Elvis.
jjv // Oct 5, 2011 at 5:30 pm
If the Romney slogan becomes “Romney-he will keep spending and raise taxes” he is doomed. I suspect his inability to breach 25% in polls is because most of the Republican electorate believes Mr. Frum is spot on.
Russnet // Oct 6, 2011 at 2:58 am
pardon moi
ottovbvs // Oct 5, 2011 at 6:18 pm
One wonders when Frum, who allegedly is the “balls” of the Republican party, is going to actually acquire some cast iron gonads. Basically this entire original article says my party’s platform is crap, Romney is our only marginally sane candidate and “might” ignore the general lunacy of our party platform so therefore I support Romney. Jeez. What a recommendation. I see the CBS poll out today has Romney the alleged “front runner” level pegging with Cain for godsake. Face it David, the GOP is deeply f***** up. There is only one viable candidate for president next year. And it’s the incumbent.
Dragonfly // Oct 5, 2011 at 7:04 pm
ottovbvs,
are you on Obama’s payroll? It’s the only explanation for your endless trolling in the Obama interest.
A real 20% unemployment under Obama, along with millions on furlough (less hours with less pay), and millions without a raise in a few years because of the rotten economy.
More debt accumulated under Obama than 43 presidents combined.
A horrendous poverty level under Obama.
ottovbvs, it’s very obvious that you are backing a major LOSER.
Sinan // Oct 5, 2011 at 7:10 pm
The fact that you use these issues to frame your views on Obama show you to be woefully ignorant of current affairs and our current economic crisis. Rather than spew endlessly here online, perhaps you could make better use of your time by reading some non-fiction books. Start with “The Quants” then “Too Big to Fail” and if you want partisan faire “The Shock Doctrine”. I find folks like you to be the bane of our existence for what you think you know is actually more harmful than what you do not know.
Dragonfly // Oct 5, 2011 at 9:02 pm
I know the truth hurts, Sinan, but it will set you free if you accept it.
balconesfault // Oct 6, 2011 at 10:18 am
More debt accumulated under Obama than 43 presidents combined.
Again, Dragon repeats this idiotic lie.
Unfortunately for him, this forum is not like the GOP debates, where blatant lies go unchallenged.
When Obama took office, the Federal Debt was $10.6 trillion.
For Dragon’s claim to be true, the Federal Debt today would need to be $21.2 trillion.
It’s not.
You know who DID accumulate more debt than all the previous Presidents combined?
Ronald Reagan!
Doesn’t that make you proud to be a Reagan Republican?
Dragonfly // Oct 6, 2011 at 11:59 am
This was said some time ago:
“Obama inauguration, when the accrued debt was $6.307 trillion, to the end of fiscal year 2013, when the debt is projected to reach $12.784 trillion. Yes, more than the previous 43 presidents.”
BUT, we are actually approaching $15 Trillion – Obama is worse than projected.
kuri3460 // Oct 6, 2011 at 12:10 pm
And 2+2 = 6.
balconesfault // Oct 6, 2011 at 6:30 pm
Obama inauguration, when the accrued debt was $6.307 trillion
Except that the accrued debt at the time of Obama’s inauguration was $10.6 trillion.
Anyone who tries to tell you that the debt was only $6.3 trillion is assuming that the US could simply default on all Social Security and Medicare obligations on January 23, 2009.
Is that your final answer?
Russnet // Oct 6, 2011 at 3:03 am
Excuse moi!!
Listing Starboard | disinterruption // Oct 5, 2011 at 9:51 pm
[...] list of everything wrong with the current Republican consensus on the economy in a piece on why he likes Romney best. On the most urgent economic issue of the day – recovery from the Great Recession – the [...]
NRA Liberal // Oct 5, 2011 at 10:59 pm
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: How is there any difference between you and a conservative Democrat, Frum?
Your Canuck heritage is showing.
Primrose // Oct 6, 2011 at 8:34 am
Conservative democrats are not actually democrats so that it is not as telling a remark as it seems.
nhthinker // Oct 6, 2011 at 6:56 am
Both Frum and Jon Chait have vacillated as to Romney’s chances with the Republican Primary. Both secretly hold out hope that Romney will tack closer to their points of view, musing that Romney will become a Keynesian once he is elected.
Both are sadly mistaken.
Romney believes in reducing the size of government: neither Chait nor the new Frum could stomach the reduction in the size and scope of government. Bring back the “Dead Right” Frum.
ottovbvs // Oct 6, 2011 at 8:58 am
“Romney believes in reducing the size of government:”
I guess that’s why he expanded the size of the MA government. But then perceived inconsistency is why much of the Republican party doesn’t like him. Given that in that latest CBS poll Romney is being beaten by no hoper Cain what does this tell you about the enthusiasm level amongst Republicans should Romney be nominated. When you have basically hardcore Republicans like Frum writing stuff like this and a party obviously pining for some new magic bullet candidate like Christie there is obviously something deeply wrong in the GOP.
nhthinker // Oct 6, 2011 at 10:44 am
Massachusetts is a liberal nutcase of a state. Romney tried to get it under control. The Dems voted for by the liberal electorate of Massachusetts overloaded RomneyCare. Much to your chagrin, the anti-federalist message Romney is using for RomneyCare versus ObamaCare is playing reasonably well with a sufficient portion of the Republicans. Liberals hate states rights trump federal rights messages.
Frum WAS a hardcore Republican when he wrote “Dead Right”…Since then he has become a hardcore Israel defender and a big federal government to solve all problems socialist- you think that makes him a “Hardcore Republican” ? …hardly. Frum would go third party in a minute if he thought it would be good for Israel.
Joe Lieberman is probably Frum’s view of an ideal candidate.
Three years ago, liberals and Obama were all pointing to Europe and the EU as a model for the US to emulate… You don’t see liberals now pointing to how the EU has all the answers anymore now do you?
balconesfault // Oct 6, 2011 at 11:07 am
Three years ago, liberals and Obama were all pointing to Europe and the EU as a model for the US to emulate
Really? How exactly were “liberals and Obama” pointing to the EU as a model for the US to emulate?
Concrete examples, please.
nhthinker // Oct 6, 2011 at 11:29 am
I think this article covers it pretty well…
http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/07/obamas_european_love_parade.html
[i]More than 200,000 Germans turned out in Berlin on July 24 to hear a carefully stage-managed Barack Obama tell them exactly what they wanted to hear: If he becomes US president, America will become a whole lot more like Europe.
Amid roaring applause, Obama told the assembled masses that he shares Europe’s utopian globalist worldview. The junior senator from Illinois promised to beat American swords into European plowshares, and American spears into European pruning hooks. Obama declared that the world should be rid of nuclear weapons, the war in Iraq should end, and that the world should join together to confront global warming, reject torture and welcome immigrants. Under Obama, nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.
Obama was also careful to indulge German narcissistic anti-Americanism by criticizing the United States on foreign soil: “I know my country has not perfected itself,” he said. “We’ve made our share of mistakes, and there are times when our actions around the world have not lived up to our best intentions.” Germans are loving it.
And especially the German news media, which has taken upon itself the task of elevating Obama into a cult-like figure. The leftwing magazine Der Spiegel says Obama would make a good “President of the World.” The mass circulation tabloid Bild calls Obama a “political pop star.”
Obama’s Berlin speech followed weeks of controversy surrounding the appropriate venue. German Chancellor Angela Merkel successfully prevented Obama from using the symbolic Brandenburg Gate for “electioneering” purposes. Her thinking is that only sitting presidents should be afforded that honor; anything else would be presumptuous rather than presidential.
As a result, Obama ended up delivering his address at the Prussian-era Siegessäule (Victory Column), a militaristic monument that celebrates the founding of the German Empire in 1871, as well as the concomitant conquest of other American allies in Europe.
Are there any historians among Obama’s 300-plus foreign policy advisors? The Siegessäule was moved to its current location by Adolf Hitler in 1939 to make way for his planned transformation of Berlin into the Nazi capital “Germania.” Hitler saw the column as a symbol of German superiority.
Or did Obama deliberately choose the Siegessäule venue because in recent years it has served as ground zero for the Love Parade, an annual dance festival/political demonstration for love, peace and international understanding?…[/i]
balconesfault // Oct 6, 2011 at 1:38 pm
First off, what’s basically an op-ed piece in American Thinker, penned by a virulent Islamophobe, isn’t usually going to be immediately persuasive to anyone who doesn’t already agree with what you’re saying.
Second, I note that nowhere in the bit you cite does Obama mention the EU, which makes your response … well … unresponsive.
Third, if you believe the quote “I know my country has not perfected itself. We’ve made our share of mistakes, and there are times when our actions around the world have not lived up to our best intentions.” represents Anti-Americanism, you are pretty much an idiot, preferring rabid jingoism over any honest discussion.
Which come to think of it – does a good job of summarizing the positions you usually take here.
Balloon Juice » Not Like Ronnie // Oct 6, 2011 at 7:17 am
[...] Frum lists off 13 ways the Republican party is wrong, and ends with this one [...]
Assorted links — Marginal Revolution // Oct 6, 2011 at 12:47 pm
[...] I agree with most of David Frum’s list, and wisdom from Josh Barro on Occupy Wall [...]
balconesfault // Oct 6, 2011 at 1:37 pm
posted earlier.
nhthinker // Oct 6, 2011 at 4:33 pm
balconesfault…
What a joke you are…
Here is Obama and Biden Campaign literature if you don’t believe the quotes in the American Thinker…
http://www.scribd.com/doc/6245758/Barack-Obama-Joe-Biden-A-Stronger-Partnership-with-Europe-for-a-Safer-America
“Barack Obama and Joe Biden believe in a strong U.S.
partnership with the European Union. The Bush administration’s policy of “divide and rule,” splitting Europe into those who were “with us or against us,” has been counterproductive. The United States has an interest in a strong, united, and peaceful Europe as a partner in global affairs. Barack Obama and Joe Biden will continue to support Europe’s strategy of enlargement, which has been history’s most successful democratization strategy and has brought peace, stability and prosperity to millions. They will maintain an open economic relationship with the European Union, thus preserving the largest trade and investment partnership in the world and creating millions of American jobs and export opportunities. ”
“To renew American leadership in the world, I intend to rebuild the alliances, partnerships, and institutions necessary to confront common threats and enhance common security. Needed reform of these alliances and institutions will not come by bullying other countries to ratify changes we hatch in isolation. It will come when we convince other governments and peoples that they, too, have a stake in effective partnerships.”
Barack Obama, Foreign Affairs, July 2007
Here we have the NYT agreeing with American Thinker on Obama and the EU…
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/25/us/politics/25assess.html
Europeans admire Mr. Obama’s political skills, and welcome his apparent readiness to respect opposing points of view. For many here, that raises the prospect of a sharp break with the policies of the Bush administration, especially in its first term, when the United States chose to ignore the Geneva Conventions at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, rejected the Kyoto accord on global warming and invaded Iraq, starting a war that some of America’s European allies opposed.
“Will we acknowledge that there is no more powerful example than the one each of our nations projects to the world?” Mr. Obama asked in his speech, then added pointedly, “Will we reject torture and stand for the rule of law?” The huge crowd applauded and waved American flags.
“On the positive side, we can expect somebody who reasons the way we do in Europe,” said Pierre Rousselin, the foreign editor of Le Figaro, a French newspaper, after the speech. “That said, on climate issues, the economy and world politics there are still questions. There will be a difference, but very quickly Obama will be faced with concrete questions, like Afghanistan.”
Eberhard Sandschneider of the German Council on Foreign Relations said, “The Obama who spoke tonight did not put all his cards on the table.” Mr. Obama “tried to use all the symbolism of Berlin to indicate that as president he would reach out to Europe,” Mr. Sandschneider said. “But between the lines he said very clearly that Europe needs to do more,” especially on Afghanistan and Iraq.
—
I can’t wait til Obama says we need to bailout Europe prior to the Presidential election.
balconesfault // Oct 6, 2011 at 5:19 pm
I shall simply repeat my previous question, and allow you to search through the things you post to see what actually may be relevant as a response to the question.
How exactly were “liberals and Obama” pointing to the EU as a model for the US to emulate?
Good luck with that!
JoeWalton // Oct 7, 2011 at 12:44 am
These are slender hopes indeed. I question how willing Romney will be to displease the base whose active support he needs to be elected and re-elected. Romney may prove less willing to oppose the Republican base than Obama has been to oppose the Democratic base.
It’s possible that a second-term Obama will do a better job than a first-term Romney in delivering on the sensible economic policies David Frum favors. This is partly because Obama will not need to run for re-election, partly because Obama has already demonstrated a willingness to displease his base, and partly because the policies Frum favors lie closer to the center of the Democratic opinion than Republican opinion. They are not so much a stretch for a Democrat.
I have to wonder why David Frum is trying to put a party into power whose consensus positions on today’s most important issues he considers downright harmful. (And Frum didn’t even mention the GOP do-nothing positions on climate change, financial regulation, and universal health care.)
Dragonfly // Oct 7, 2011 at 1:06 am
WRONG – the Republicans will hold the majorities in Congress and Obama will be as useless to the betterment of the country as he is now. The only difference will be that he won’t be able to continue causing as much harm as he has up to this point.
balconesfault // Oct 7, 2011 at 3:44 am
nhthinker // Oct 7, 2011 at 7:45 am
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[...] had in mind items like this blogpost, in which I enumerate the ways the GOP is wrong about the present economic [...]
balconesfault // Oct 7, 2011 at 3:46 am
But, what about Obama the true flip-flopper – he said he would end the wars – nope – we’re in 4 now and he took Bush’s 30k in Afghanistan to 100k
He actually said that he would increase the number of combat troops in Afghanistan, and he committed to the Status of Forces Agreement withdrawal schedule in Iraq – it looks like by the end of 2011 we’ll be down to about 3,000 trainers, advisors, and embassy guards. And I do hope you’re not counting Libya as a “war”. What’s #4?
– he said he would close GITMO – nope – still open
He is a President – not a dictator – and Congress refused to fund him moving detainees from GITMO to any US prisons. I suppose he could have had his Justice Department draft internal memos to give him the ability to ignore Congress on this somehow, but I’m kind of glad that he didn’t, since it demostrates his respect for Constitutional limits on the power of the Presidency.
– he said he would be bipartisan and work across the aisle – nope –
How do you be bipartisan when your opposition has declared their primary goal is to make you fail, no matter what the immediate consequences to America?
locked the door and they said we would know what’s in the Bill after they pass it –
Gibberish.
he said he would unite the country through less rhetoric – nope – he’s divided it even more and leads the charge on the rhetoric –
Again, by these standards, Lincoln was the greatest failure in American history, since he failed to persuade the Confederate States from seceeding from the Union.
he said his Trillion dollar stimulus monies would bring down unemployment and help the deficit – nope –
Trillion dollar stimulus monies? You might start by being accurate. Second, just about every economist acknowledges that unemployment is lower than it would have been without the stimulus. Third, he never said that the stimulus would bring down the deficit in the near term. But as a matter of fact, much more of the deficit has been caused by plummeting tax revenues thanks to the Bush economic collapse, than to any spending program increases by Obama.
one could go on forever with what he said and what actually happened.
By the way – making a wrong prediction is not “flip flopping”. Changing your fundamental positions on issues in the absence of new information except for voter preferences in your party is flip flopping.
balconesfault // Oct 7, 2011 at 3:59 am
“Obama inauguration, when the accrued debt was $6.307 trillion, to the end of fiscal year 2013, when the debt is projected to reach $12.784 trillion. Yes, more than the previous 43 presidents.”
Do you believe that on January 23, 2009, the US should have defaulted on all obligations under Social Security and Medicare?
If not, then the $6.3 trillion debt figure right wingers keep throwing around is a lie. It only represents debt held by non-Governmental sources, and ignores the $4.1 trillion that Government had borrowed from the Social Security Trust Fund.
The Public Debt is a useful tool for evaluating the implications of interest rates and bonds as the Government has to seek outside capital to fund operations. It is a poor tool for evaluating what the US has to do to regain solvency, unless you consider immediately stopping Social Security benefits to be a reasonable part of the solution.
You know who DID double the REAL debt of the US Government while they were President? Ronald Wilson Reagan.
Dragonfly // Oct 7, 2011 at 10:04 am
balconesfault,
No, I know the debt was different – it was posted to make a point about how someone felt at the time and how things turned out – worse – under Obama things turned out worse – ain’t no doubt about it.
Regardless of the numbers being precise in the quote, it does not excuse Obama of having accumulated more debt than hella anyone and everything. We’re nearing $15 Trillion.
Now, if you want to see when it really started to climb, do your homework – you will find that after the Dems took control of both houses in Congress it started to climb, then when their rubberstamp, Obama, got in it went out of control,m and here we are today with the worst debt in the history of the nation.
Now Obama is running around with another SPENDING Bill while telling everyone they have to pass it or we are ………….. the sky is falling………….. blah, blah, blah. And now the Dems in Congress are throwing him under the bus to save themselves – Reid won’t let Obama’s Bill come to the floor to be voted on.
The sooner the Dems are out of the White House, Congress, and every elected position in the country, the sooner America can get back to real business and bring the country back on track.
The Dems have made a mighty, mighty mess of things – ain’t no doubt about it.
Dragonfly // Oct 7, 2011 at 10:23 am
http://blog.heritage.org/2009/02/12/true-cost-of-stimulus-327-trillion/
Elect me president and I will stop the wars, I will close GITMO, I will repeal the Patriot Act, I will end the division in America, I will work in a bipartisan manner, I will give amnesty to illegal aliens, I will embrace gay marriage, I will require employers to provide seven paid sick days per year, I will reduce the threshhold for the Family and Medical Leave Act from companies with 50 employees to companies with 25 employees, I will develop an alternative to President Bush’s Military Commissions Act on handling detainees, I will Increase the minimum wage to $9.50 an hour, he gave a ‘they have rights too’ speech and now he’s taking them out with drones, he promised to end the wars and we’re in 4 with 70k more in Afghanistan than when Bush was in, and blah, blah, blah I promise I will do……..
He had all the majorities, crammed ObamaCare down our throats for the health insurance companies and AMA, spent a ton of taxpayer dollars for the union bosses calling it stimulus, but all those things he promised? NOPE.
OBAMA DID THE OPPOSITE OF ALMOST EVERYTHING HE RAN ON.
Yes, he flip-flopped on just about everything he ran on – ain’t no doubt about it.
balconesfault // Oct 7, 2011 at 1:06 pm
Dragonfly // Oct 7, 2011 at 4:50 pm
Notice how it skyrocketed from 2008 on – the chart makes the case for the Dems being the culprits – thanks.
dbtexas // Oct 10, 2011 at 11:18 pm
I visit and read on many of these forums. Have rarely encountered someone so resistant to facts as “Dragonfly.” Keep up the good work “blaconesfault.” I assume you are a Texan. Always good to find a sensible Texan.