Many Americans appreciate a politician who is competent in the art of diplomacy and the ability to speak truthfully without actually stating the obvious if they understand the truth. Whether they cloak their message in masterful oratory or use rhetoric to get their point across, one cannot help but marvel at a politician who sends a message to the opposition without ruffling their feathers. Liberals often wonder why President Obama does not confront Republicans directly or tell the American people why economic growth is still limping along, or why the middle class is vanishing and there is no hope for upward mobility for the working poor. Whether it is because the President is wary of offending Republicans or holding out hope for bipartisanship to help struggling Americans, he appears remiss to tell the American people or Republicans how unacceptable their approach to growing the economy is.
However, every once in a while President Obama says what millions of Americans already know to be the truth about the Republicans in congress, and he is clever enough to couch it in terms the GOP would understand if they were not obsessed with defunding the Affordable Care Act, phony scandals, or giving tax cuts to their wealthy donors. On Friday the President told an audience during his education-focused bus tour that the Republican plans to shut down the government unless the Affordable Care Act is defunded is not an economic plan.
The President said, “Most recently, there’s been threats that we shut down the government unless we agree to roll back the health care reform that’s about to provide millions of Americans with health care coverage for the first time; and that’s not an economic plan. That’s not going to grow the economy or strengthen the middle class or provide ladders of opportunity into the middle class. What we need to do is focus on issues that affect all of you.” Obviously, the President is right, but what he said between the lines is that Republicans do have a plan, but it is not an economic plan, period. Doubtless, not only do Republicans not have an economic plan to grow the economy, they do not want a plan that helps the economy create jobs, strengthen the middle class, or provide ladders of opportunity into the middle class. Even though ignorant people on the right likely failed to get the President’s message, at least he made an effort to tell the people Republicans are economically clueless and unwilling to fix the economy or create jobs.
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If Americans have learned anything over the past two-and-a-half years, it is that Republicans will never pass up an opportunity to kill jobs and obstruct growth that they try to pass off as an economic plan regardless the cost to the people. It is not just the GOP’s inclination to kill jobs, it is to kill as many jobs as possible now and into the future that makes up the entirety of every Republican economic plan since they took control of the House in 2011, and it is something the President should have told the people frequently.
At the start of the 112th Congress, the big Republican economic plan was slashing the budget that economists warned John Boehner would kill 1.1 million jobs; he shrugged and said “so be it.” After killing over a million jobs as part of a ransom payment for raising the debt ceiling, Boehner bragged that he was pretty happy he got what he wanted in the GOP version of an economic plan. Included in the ransom was the devastating sequester that is already killing jobs by the tens-of-thousands, and Republicans are so happy they have rejected any attempt to stop the damage that will only get worse as time passes.
The most damaging part of the Republican plan Boehner was happy about, the sequester, cuts $85 billion in the first year of a ten year $1.2 trillion deal that is already ravaging the nation, but the damage is only beginning and it is going to get much worse; Boehner must be ecstatic. Over the next nine years, there will be a $124 billion hit every year that spells more job losses, harsher domestic program cuts, and a larger peasant class making it a decade of despair for the American people. What Republicans, Democrats, and even the President have not talked about is that with every year’s worth of job losses and program cut comes reduced revenue for the government, and of course more drastic cuts to make up the budget shortfall. All of this was part of a plan that made Boehner “pretty happy,” but not happy enough for Republicans to push a new plan to kill more jobs or they will shut down the government and refuse to raise the debt limit. Like the President said, that is not an economic plan, but it is a plan to kill more jobs and hamper deficit reduction.
Republicans are well aware that adding 30 million newly-insured Americans will be a boon to hiring in the healthcare industry and across the jobs spectrum, and the health law also reduces the deficit according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). Conversely, if Republicans are successful and convince Democrats and the President to pay the ransom of defunding the ACA in exchange for not shutting down the government or destroying the full faith and credit of the United States with a credit default, the deficit will increase by $230 billion over the next 10 years. That is not an economic plan, but it is a plan to kill jobs and increase the deficit.
It was refreshing to see the President admonish Republicans and inform them he, and most Americans, comprehend that their threats to defund the healthcare law or they will shut down the government is not an economic plan. However, it is a plan and a typical Republican plan at that because whether it regards economics, women’s choice, deregulation, social fascism, or defunding the health law, every Republican plan kills jobs and thwarts economic recovery and if they can prevent 30 million Americans from having access to affordable healthcare for the first time in their lives, Republicans call it a good plan and Republicans like John Boehner will be “really happy” indeed and likely he will tell millions of Americans losing their jobs, so be it; it’s part of the plan.
Audio engineer and instructor for SAE. Writes op/ed commentary supporting Secular Humanist causes, and exposing suppression of women, the poor, and minorities. An advocate for freedom of religion and particularly, freedom of NO religion.
Born in the South, raised in the Mid-West and California for a well-rounded view of America; it doesn’t look good.
Former minister, lifelong musician, Mahayana Zen-Buddhist.
