During these mean-spirited political times,Republicans have no qualms about calling up such images about President BarackObama.
“That’s what Obama’s visits and support really havebeenthe kiss of death,” said Reince Priebus, chairman of the Republican Partyof Wisconsin, about Obama’s Milwaukeecampaign fund-raising appearance.
Of course, if that were the case, why were MilwaukeeMayor Tom Barrett, running for governor, and Wisconsin Sen. Russ Feingold,running for re-election, so eager to share the spotlight with the incumbentpresident?
Perhaps because this is the president who won anoverwhelming election victory in Wisconsin,achieving victory in 59 of the state’s 72 countiesrural, suburban and urbancounties.
Not only that, but Obama was arriving at a perfecttime to tout $365 million for Wisconsin to rehire laid-off teachers andmaintain health care he finally managed to get through Congress over theopposition of Republicans.
That was in addition to the recent windfall of $810million in economic stimulus funds to make Wisconsin the centerpiece of anational high-speed rail system connecting Milwaukeeand Madison to St. Louis,Chicago, Minneapolisand other major cities.
GOP Brainwashing
Still, you can’t blame Priebus and state Republicansfor deluding themselves into thinking there’s something negative about apersonally popular president showing up bearing more than a billion dollarsduring hard times to campaign for state Democrats.
Republicans and the media have been brainwashingeach other.
The media narrative for weeks has been that Obamaand the Democrats are in trouble in the November election because jobs arestill not being created fast enough as the nation struggles to recover from oneof the worst economic disasters in American history.
That’s a pretty bad story for the Democrats, allright. But sometime before November, the media is going to have to get aroundto telling the rest of the story.
It is that Republicans have consistently votedagainst every effort to improve the economy under Obama because Republicanswould prefer to have millions of Americans remain out of work rather than haveDemocrats benefit politically from an economic recovery.
To needlessly compound the injury, Republicans alsovoted against extending unemployment compensation for millions of peoplewithout jobs at a time when there are five applicants for every opening.
That’s why when you look closely at most of thepolls that say people are unhappy with Obama and the Democrats because of theeconomy, you find that the only politicians people hold in lower esteem thanthe Democrats are the Republicans.
But that’s not the part of the story that makes theheadlines. The headlines keep repeating the same tired lineMore Bad News forDemocrats: People Unhappy about Economy.
The conventional wisdom in political reporting isthat the party that wins the presidential election always loses seats inCongress in the off-year election two years later.
And when people are unhappy about the economy, theparty in power loses even more seats.
Of course, conventional wisdom also said Obama wouldnever be elected president in the first place. The economic circumstancessurrounding November’s election have never existed before. Naturally, votersare distressed about the economy. Who wouldn’t be? But here is the choice forvoters to register their unhappiness in November:
They can vote for the Democrats who have passed billafter bill to save millions of jobs and to create new jobs rebuilding roads,bridges and infrastructure andon the depressed North Side ofMilwaukeebuilding high-tech, high-speed trains for a new nationaltransportation system.
Or, if voters are really angry that all thosehard-fought Democratic efforts to pull the economy back from the brink of adepression are not creating jobs fast enough, their other choice is to vote toshut down the economic recovery.
That’s because Republicans have opposed every singlebill to save or create American jobs.
Republicans would have let the American carcompanies go out of business, devastating local manufacturers such as JohnsonControls. They would have let the banks collapse. They would have laid offhundreds of thousands of teachers. They even oppose a $30 billion loan fund toassist small businesses.
Wisconsin Republicans have joined their nationalleaders in opposing actual dollars coming into the state to create jobs andpromote economic development.
Incredibly, both Republican gubernatorial candidateshave pledged to reject the federal gift of $810 million to build the nationalhigh-speed rail system in Wisconsinand all the resulting employment and economic development.
When the economy is the primary voter concern, thecynical Republican decision to try to prevent economic recovery under Obamashould be the real political kiss of death.
