How come it was bad when Bush did it?

The Wall Street Journal’s Washington WIre encapsulates Obama’s recovery plan for the economy that he reassured governors with today;

President-elect Barack Obama, in Philadelphia to meet with the nation’s governors, pledged quick work on an economic-recovery plan to include tax cuts and increased federal spending once he takes office.

From Obama’s remarks;

To solve this crisis and to ease the burden on our states, we need action – and action now. That means passing an economic recovery plan for both Wall Street and Main Street that jumpstarts our economy, helps save or create two and a half million jobs, puts tax cuts into the pockets of hard-pressed middle class families, and makes a down payment on the investments we need to build a strong economy for years to come.

Isn’t that what president Bush was demonized for in 2001? Remember Tom Daschle criticizing the tax cuts because it wasn’t going to be enough to buy a muffler for our cars? But now, tax cuts will save us. And the spending? Well, Bush had to increase military spending because defense payrolls and stockpiles had dwindled under Clinton. Obama wants to do the business states are supposed to have done already – like repair bridges and roads. Every bridge and road isn’t a federal responsibility, you know.

Over the next few hours, I look forward to hearing about the problems you’re facing, learning about the work you’re doing, and discussing some of the ways we can work together to reduce health care costs, rebuild our crumbling roads, bridges, and schools, and ensure that more families can stay in their homes.

Yeah, 50 (or 57 – however many states Obama thinks we have today) whiners begging for handouts – I’d look forward to that, too. When someone from the federal government asks for solutions, you know the states are going to claim the answer is more federal money to the states. Why bother asking them?

Category: Politics