COVERITLIVE.COM

11:56

Fred Barbash-Moderator - Good afternoon and welcome to Arena Live. The topic today comes off David Brook's column in the NYT which starts this way:

"The Democratic response to the economic crisis has its problems, but let’s face it, the current Republican response is totally misguided. The House minority leader, John Boehner, has called for a federal spending freeze for the rest of the year. In other words, after a decade of profligacy, the Republicans have decided to demand a rigid fiscal straitjacket at the one moment in the past 70 years when it is completely inappropriate. The G.O.P. leaders have adopted a posture that allows the Democrats to make all the proposals while all the Republicans can say is “no.” They’ve apparently decided that it’s easier to repeat the familiar talking points than actually think through a response to the extraordinary crisis at hand."

And has provoked a number of responses this morning in Arena, including Jeff Emanuel's,

"I think it's more than a bit rich for David Brooks, Obama Voter (and New York Times house "conservative") to be telling the GOP anything at all -- much less that actually returning to a platform based in promoting fiscal conservatism and opposing radical, unprecedented borrowing/spending and government expansion is "totally misguided."
Thankfully, GOP leaders appear to be wisely ignoring his "advice." Brooks, like David Frum, is a faux-conservative pundit who inexplicably claims that the way for the Republican party to succeed is to become a poor imitation of its Democratic opposition. Of course, Brooks -- a self-proclaimed "moderate" -- voted for that Democratic opposition this past November, despite the GOP nominating a "maverick" moderate who should have been not only palatable, but exciting, to a person like Brooks. The House GOP is finally getting back on track, as evidenced by its unanimous opposition to the $1,000,000,000,000.00 pork-laden "stimulus" bill, its fiscally-responsible counterproposals to Democrats' runaway spending plans, and its pledge to work with President Obama to reduce spending, cut waste, and improve transparency.
….Combined with the fact that he is a Democratic voter anyway, do Republicans really need to be given any more reasons why they shouldn't be listening to David Brooks?"

Which reflects the view that maybe Brooks isn't a Republican anyway or is the proverbial RINO..and therefore, perhaps, not in a position to have credibility on this topic.

What do you think? Is the GOP having trouble establishing a coherent response to the economic crisis? Does it risk becoming "the party of no" as opposed to a party with an alterntive vision. Or is Brooks wrong?

11:59

Fred Barbash-Moderator - Here's what Arena contributor Tom Mann said: "David Brooks absolutely nailed it today. Restraining spending now is idiocy. Focusing on earmarks underscores the lack of seriousness of the opposition party: it is patrolling at the margins of an economic crisis. And loose talk about letting big banks go under will only make regaining financial stability more difficult. Republicans must have something more than lower taxes and smaller government to offer a country and world on the brink of economic collapse."

12:00

Fred Barbash-Moderator - And this from contributor and GOP commentator Bradley Blakeman: "The GOP response to our economic crisis is the right one. There is a fundamental difference between the Democrats and Republicans response to what ails us and it is rooted in ideology. The Democrats believe, that now is the time to grow government to make up for the lost productivity of the private sector. The Republicans believe that we should be reducing government and its spending and gin up the private sector by decreasing taxes and providing incentives for increased productivity and ingenuity. Republicans believe in market based solutions and not government intervention and control with regard to the financial and housing crisis.
The Democrats believe in nationalization and centralized control. It is clear that the Democrats don¹t know what to do, except spend, spend, spend.

We will not spend or muddle our way back to prosperity. Our way back will be to return to the tried and true principles that have made us the greatest nation on earth. Less government, less taxes, more incentives for productivity, accountability, and less government spending is our way back to financial stability across the board. "

12:02

Fred Barbash-Moderator - And Greg Dworkin points out: "
"Over the weekend at the Arena, I noted that 58% of the public thinks Obama’s economic critics don’t have a plan of their own (Newsweek poll), so David Brooks represents majority thinking on this. This is a two sided point: are the Republicans doing the wrong thing (yes, incontrovertibly, and the public agrees by giving the Congressional GOP leaders very low marks – John Boehner, who suggested the freeze, has a 15% favorable rating and every poll has GOP trailing Democrats in Congress, sometimes badly.

And what should they offer in return (a much tougher question)? One thing that would help is acknowledgment of what got us here (including problems with the world economy, honesty about the disconnect between the Dow and the economy, dropping the revisionism about what really happened in 1932 and 1937 (FDR reduced unemployment, and government spending was the vehicle that ended the Depression), and participating in a real effort to generate solutions, not sound bytes. Some of the alternative ideas will require spending money. We’re not going anywhere with Republicans until that’s accepted. So, start by accepting Brooks’ point that there’s a crisis, and act like it."

12:06

[Comment From Jen:]
Seems to me that the Democrats are kind of winging it as well, apart from the stimulus, without a coherent strategy for example on the credit crisis. Maybe all the Republicans have to do is wait until the Democrats overreach and things blow up in their face.

12:07

[Comment From Karl]
I always turn to a "talking heads" program that has David Brooks. He is not stuck in his views as most political minds on the MSM are. Our country needs MORE creative thinking. Refreshing !

12:08

[Comment From David Walker]
I think the members of Congress are practially the same. They work for the highest bidder. Washington DC is become a place so detached from main street and the common man. We hear about issues that affect the Banks, The Auto Industry, and the Wars in Iraq. But, we Don't hear about Drugs, Affordable Housing, and how the American Worker has been ignored by either party.

12:11

Fred Barbash-Moderator - This is not such a simple challenge that Brooks' puts forward. What, indeed, is a coherent strategy for a party in opposition, assuming it generally does not share the views of the party in power. It's actually unusual in our history for a party out-of-power to formulate a thoughtful wide-ranging alternative when confronting major crises. I think maybe the clash between the Federalists and the anti-Federalists was the last time we had a high-class clash of worldview in this country.

12:13

[Comment From Karl]
The politicians worry more about getting re-elected than the voters. Money Rules in Washington. This economic Downturn is a watershed moment for our political system. One way or the other things are going to change. Prosperity or Anarchy or years of Muddle

12:15

[Comment From MichaelS]
True Fred. Our political system is designed specifically to discourage ideologically driven parties, which is what the Republicans have become. It works in Europe with their proportional representation systems to have a 'Conservative' party. Not here. If Republicans don't want us to become like Europe they've sure tried to make themselves like a European party!

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