Obama’s blueprint
By Max J. Castro
majcastro@gmail.com
President Barack Obama has presented his vision for the nation in the form of the 2011 budget. It has many reasons to commend it. The top immediate problem for Americans today is jobs, or rather the lack of them. Obama’s budget proposes a substantial amount of money to stimulate the economy, build infrastructure and create jobs.
In the long run, the deficit also looms as a danger to the long range of the American economy. Obama is proposing fair measures to begin to tackle this problem, starting with taxes on banks, multinational corporations, and individuals that earn more than $250,000 a year. He is also proposing a three year freeze on non-discretionary spending, exclusive of defense, homeland security, Medicare, and Medicaid. These cuts will cover non-essential items. Interestingly, even the Pentagon will tighten its belt, doing away with extremely expensive and unnecessary weapons systems.
Along with these measures, Obama is proposing assistance to students, families, and small businesses. In a word, Obama’s budget is a blueprint for an extremely moderate version of social democracy. And this is anathema to the Republicans.
One might think that the Republicans would find merit with at least some of the measures Obama is proposing, especially tax breaks for small business. Alas, no sooner had Obama unveiled his budget, the Republicans were all over it. This is further proof that they are the party of NO.
The Republicans have complained bitterly that Obama does not listen to their ideas. But do they have any? The GOP has one cure for all that ails the American economy: across the board tax cuts that benefit mainly the wealthy. This was the social policy of the George W. Bush administration, and the GOP would love to reprise it.
When it comes to health care reform, which is included in Obama’s budget, Republicans claim to be chock-full of ideas. But in the six years that they controlled the presidency and both houses of Congress, they failed to do anything about health care. So that on this issue their credibility is zero when it comes to opposing Obama’s plans, which will cut costs in the long run.
For the first time in decades, we have two clear-cut ideological visions vying for control. The Republican Party, which has moved and continues to move so far to the right that middle of the road looks far left to them and Obama’s very mild version of social democracy, which looks like Bolshevism. The next three years will determine which vision will prevail.
Although it’s clear that Obama has made some concessions to the right, the centerpiece of his agenda is still there. Unlike Clinton, he has not tacked with the prevailing winds, even if he has made some small course corrections. Now it is important for the people who propelled Obama to power on a wave of hope and excitement to begin to organize again to defeat the teabaggers and all the other formidable elements of the anti-Obama coalition.
For the Republicans to be proposing cuts in expenditures in a middle of a savage recession is the height of folly and demagoguery. Recessions are a time for governments to spend and spend. But the Republican positions are not based on economics or even logic. The point, as one GOP member of Congress confessed, is to drive a stake through the heart of Obama. If they manage to obstruct and derail a recovery, all the better for their electoral prospects in 2010 and 2012. Moreover, they would be offering an object lesson to the American people of the consequences of electing a candidate such as Barack Hussein Obama. Such an example of cynicism must not be allowed to prevail.
How much of Obama’s budget will survive the Republican long knives in Congress is uncertain. But at least one can say about Obama’s budget that, unlike George Bush’s, it lays the groundwork for a more decent, fair society.
