Forward Into The Repug Past

I think that, unintentionally of course, David Brooks did us a favor in his New York Times column today (here).

Not because he actually provided a reasonably intelligent analysis of the issues we currently face and how the two individuals running for president would address them (hey, this is BoBo, remember?). And not because he decided to view the state of things generally with his eyes wide open, casting aside for the moment the prism of conservative dogma through which he interprets just about everything.

No, I think Brooks’ real contribution here is the fact that he gives us a glimpse of the right-wing strategy (if you can call it that) for at least the next four years. Don’t worry, though; there’s really not much to see because it’s merely a sequel of the bad “movie” we had to endure in the 1990s.

You see, BoBo is preparing for the very real likelihood that Barack Obama is going to win this presidential election and the Democrats will build on their congressional majorities. I say that not in a spirit of triumphalism, but with guarded optimism, particularly concerning the matter of electing Senate Dems to the point where we can establish a 60-vote majority and thus defeat the inevitable Repug filibusters that will ensue at every possible moment (and also tell Holy Joe what he can do in no uncertain terms).

After Brooks ticks off all of the bailouts and stimulus packages that he envisions (for “car companies, airlines and other corporations,” BoBo? Only in your neocon dreams!), he tells us that…

…we’re in for a Keynesian renaissance. The Fed has little room to stimulate the economy, so Democrats will use government outlays to boost consumption. Nouriel Roubini of New York University argues that the economy will need a $300 billion fiscal stimulus.

Obama has already promised a clean energy/jobs program that would cost $150 billion over 10 years. He’s vowed $60 billion in infrastructure spending over the same period. He promises a range of tax credits — $4,000 a year for college tuition, up to $3,000 for child care, $7,000 for a clean car, a mortgage tax credit.

(Also), there will be tax cuts. On Monday, Obama promised new tax subsidies to small business, which could cost tens of billions. That’s on top of his promise to cut taxes for 95 percent of American households. His tax plans aren’t as irresponsible as John McCain’s, but the Tax Policy Center still says they would reduce revenues by $2.8 trillion over the next decade.

Of course, BoBo fails to acknowledge that Obama is more influenced by the school of economic thought proposed by Milton Friedman than any self-respecting former “Weekly Standard” propagandist would admit. And I thought it was a hoot to read BoBo describe this apocalyptic showdown of sorts between the liberals “(making) a full-bore push for European-style economic policies” and moderates “(stressing) that the economy still faces a ruinous insolvency crisis caused by entitlement burdens.”

That’s funny, given that two leading economic advisors to Obama are Robert Rubin (a deficit hawk if one ever existed) and Paul Volcker (who successfully lowered inflation in the early ‘80s as Fed Reserve Chairman for The Sainted Ronnie R, though Volcker also helped usher in the highest period of unemployment we had seen since the Great Depression in the process).

(Also funny is BoBo’s totally disingenuous refusal to acknowledge the fact that eight years of executive Repug “governance” helped bring us to this mess, of course.)

Will Obama have to shift gears in one way or another considering the economic “reality on the ground”? Of course he will (and he basically has said as much already, more or less here). However, we vote for a president based on that person’s judgment at least as much (more, I hope) than any kind of political or economic ideology they espouse.

And in sum, BoBo tells us (concerning the supposed face-off between the liberals and the moderates)…

What we’re going to see, in short, is the Gingrich revolution in reverse and on steroids. There will be a big increase in spending and deficits. In normal times, moderates could have restrained the zeal on the left. In an economic crisis, not a chance. The over-reach is coming. The backlash is next.

And three guesses who’ll be cheering on that “backlash” more than anyone ("Oooga Booga! Here comes BoBo's backlash!"). I’ll give you a hint – it’s the subject of this post by Eric Boehlert, concerning some claims made in private about “Governor Hottie” that a certain pundit would never put into a column (besides “Kristol Mess,” I mean).

Given the fact that BoBo has “spilled the beans” somewhat on what the for-now minority party plans to do after next January (funny particularly when you consider this; the moral is that the political ebbs and flows in this country are such that the best you can do is try to manage them – trying to predict them with total certainty is the province of fools), and also given the fact that he has invoked the name of a former House Speaker, one Baby Newton Leroy, I think the following history lesson is in order.

When the Repugs took over the U.S. Congress, BobDole BobDole BobDole became Senate Majority Leader along with Gingrich in the House. And what did they do with that power?

Well, aside from concocting the Contract on America to derail Hillary Clinton’s attempt at health insurance reform, as noted here…

Bob Dole fought against both the Kennedy-Kassebaum bill, which Clinton signed into law in mid-1996, and the minimum-wage increase, and by the end of the congressional session, Kennedy had used both issues to give Clinton 2 of his biggest successes and also to make the Senate so hostile to Dole's presidential campaign that Dole resigned his seat.

(Kennedy-Kassebaum made health insurance portable when changing jobs, by the way.)

Dole also accused Clinton of appointing “liberal” judges when (as noted here), Dole voted to approve 182 of the 185 judges Clinton named (Dole also “tried to block the creation of the Drug Czar's office in the first place, and even tried to cut the Drug Free Schools budget in half,” as James Carville tells us).

And what of Newt? Well, as noted here, he gave us the following quotes, among his other infamies…

“We must expect the Soviet system to survive for a very long time. There will be Soviet labor camps and Soviet torture chambers well into our grandchildren’s lives.”

“I will not recognize any proposal that will appropriate money for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.”

“Most people don’t realize it’s illegal to pray in school, most people somehow think that’s not true.” (lie)

“Up to 25% of the White House, when they first came in, had used drugs within the past 4 or 5 years.” (presumably concerning the Clinton Administration; can't imagine who else he'd be referring to - lie)

“Give the park police more ammo.” (Newt’s response to a reporter who asked what to do about the homeless a few days after the police shot a homeless man in front of the White House).

“I have enormous personal ambition. I want to shift the entire planet. And I’m doing it. I am now a famous person. I represent real power.”(a queasy moment of candor if I do say so myself)

“It [the Clinton administration] is guilty of the most systematic, deliberate obstruction of justice, cover-up, and effort to avoid the truth we have ever seen in American history.”(lie, or at best a highly partisan bit of squawking)

I think a rehashing like this is important because, when it comes to the Repugs, past is prologue. What we will see is Dole-Gingrich style obstruction on steroids (think "values-voters BS" 24/7 in our corporate media as a distraction; what we're experiencing with the campaign is a lull before that storm once more), since, despite BoBo’s fervent hopes, they won’t be able to mount another “revolution” for some time to come, which gives us the opportunity to undergo the immense job of fixing the mess of the Dole-Gingrich-Dubya-McBush party and then play the inevitable game of defense when the Repugs try to take credit for it and claim to be able to do better.

Update: Oh, and speaking of the markets...