1568 - Win by losing

I've mentioned before that the main reason I get the newspaper is for the editorials. (They're just like blogging. No really!!) And every once in awhile a really good one hits the pages. And if I'm really lucky it's from a friend of mine that I used to bowl with named John......



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Win by losing

After reading "Obama plunges into high-stakes debt limit talks" (June 25), the Republican Party's 2012 election strategy becomes crystal clear. Republicans cannot succeed unless President Barack Obama fails, and the easy way to make sure that it appears that the president is failing is to make sure that the country and most Americans are hurting as much as possible leading up to the 2012 elections.

If anyone disagrees, he only need to remember what Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said after the Republican gains in 2010: "The single most important thing we want to accomplish is to make President Obama a one-term president."

Most mainstream economists acknowledge that now is not the time to reduce government expenditures drastically. With individual and business spending low, only government spending is keeping the economy from reverting to recession. Many economists argue that government spending should be increased. An infrastructure program that begins to rebuild bridges, highways and schools would put people back to work, giving them money to spend and, more important, income on which to pay taxes.

Businesses don't need more tax cuts; they need customers with money to spend.

There is no question that the long-term deficit must be reduced, but not today while millions of Americans still are struggling.

To address the deficit and the debt limit increase, Republicans are determined to cut government spending for the middle class, the poor, seniors, the unemployed, the uninsured, students and teachers. They will not even discuss asking the most fortunate Americans, corporations, oil and insurance companies, the Pentagon and Wall Street to sacrifice along with the middle class and the poor. If tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy lead to more jobs, why have eight years of Bush-era tax cuts not led to millions of jobs?

It's clear that Republicans are willing to let most Americans suffer continued unemployment and economic distress so that they can argue that Mr. Obama has failed. They are more than willing to let the middle class and the poor endure continued suffering. Big business and the most well-off Americans will be asked only to endure continued tax cuts.

John ...........