Republicans are so confident that their unconditional opposition to the recently passed stimulus bill is their ticket to success that they’re already voicing opposition to the $50 billion plan to stop home foreclosures being developed by President Obama’s administration.
The GOP senses an opening to attack Obama and the Democrats on the stimulus and future legislation as spending our nation cannot afford, which is of course ironic given that the Republicans signed off on President Bush’s doubling of our national deficit.
House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) previewed this line of attack today when criticized the upcoming mortage legislation on CBS today: "At some point, I think the people of this country are beginning to understand, who is going to pay for all of this?"
Do the numbers indicate that Americans are beginning to subscribe to Cantor’s philosophy?
No.
More Americans approved of former President Bush before he left office than of Congressional Republicans’ efforts regarding the passage of the stimulus bill, according to a Gallup poll conducted a week ago.
34 percent of Americans approved of the job done by President Bush on Jan. 14, while only 31 percent of Americans approved of the GOP’s efforts on the stimulus bill on Feb. 9.
A poll conducted two days later on Jan. 11 signaled that 59 percent of Americans support the stimulus, while 33 percent disapprove. Here, more Americans approve of Bush than do disapprove of the stimulus bill.
The message such polling might signal to Republicans, if they had any sense, is to change course, shift directions, and modify their platform of saying no to any and all Democratic ideas.
Considering that the 2008 election was decided before it even started by the nation’s rampant aversion to Bush, one might conclude that, in the months after its resounding defeat at the polls, the GOP would do anything to break its addiction to the Bushian policy doctrine which states that "tax cut" is the key to political success.
But Republicans are thoroughly convinced that, if they could convince the American public to buy their snake oil before, it can happen again.
The Republican Party insists that it must get back to its "principles" in order to start winning races again. Republican ideology may have won elections in the past, but it has yet to produce positive results for the country.
The GOP was not roughed up in back-to-back election cycles because the populace is suddenly becoming more progressive or outwardly liberal.
Republicans lost favor because their ideas have failed for Americans everywhere. Since the election, our nation’s economic crisis has only gotten worse, and millions of Americans have or are in danger of losing their jobs.
Hence, it should come as no surprise that old rehashed Bush economic policy is even less popular now than when Bush left office.
Cross-posted at The New Argument.