. . . but not big enough

Clinton's former Secretary of Labor, who has been critical of Obama for not "going big enough," in the past rated this speech as "Two Cheers and One Jeer."

Two cheers for: (1) presenting it to a joint session of Congress to signal its importance and sounding more passionate and determined than ever before since the 2008 campaign speeches; and (2) for correctly identifying the problem.

But one jeer because "it's not big enough." That's of course what Reich said about the $800 billion stimulus -- and has been saying every since. It's not just that he's a scold. He's right. It's not big enough and it didn't do what was needed.

Reich is not without understanding the problem Obama faces. What he has done makes sence: he limits the total and puts the largest chunk of it into tax cuts in order to get Republican votes. Otherwise, it won't pass. The cuts are for payroll for the working class and tax credits for small businesses, not for the wealthy and big corporations.

The problem is that tax cuts by themselves don't really do much long range, because they are temporary. So we pass an inadequate bill as the only thing that will pass, and then it doesn't do much. So it makes it that much harder to do it again or to make it larger.

And then Repubs use it to proclaim "the death of Keynesian economics," as Perry did in the debate this week. That meme must be in the Repub catechism: if you can't stop a program you dislike, cut its budget down so it's not effective, then claim it doesn't work. Happens all across the board, time and again.

I keep trying to understand what it is in their core beliefs that makes them so absolutely certain they're right, so blind to evidence to the contrary, and so implacable in negotiations. How can you continue to believe in that myth that privilege for the few, whether it's profits or tax cuts, will trickle down to the poor people? And then there's that meme's twin: a rising tide floats all boats.

Bah humbug. Ask all the people out of work, losing their homes, having to live on handouts and family members, while the salaries of fat cats and CEOs and the corporate profits are at record highs. When are the little boats going to start floating?

Not until after Obama has been defeated in 2012, if the Repubs can pull it off. Their strategy, whether admitted out loud or not, is to make him look like a failure at the expense of the country and the ruin of the middle class -- so they can then take over the government.

Ralph