The Hill that the release of Senator Clinton and Senator Obama’s economic stimulus package has put them at odds with their Congressional counterparts. When the Democrats took control of Congress last year they adopted a “pay-as-you-go” system.
Now Congressional democrats are left with either the choice of going against their parties potential nominees or continuing their new tradition of observing fiscal responsibility, which was an issue that helped them take control in the first place.
Both Clinton and Obama’s proposals would cost taxpayers, Clinton’s is estimated at $110 billion, Obama’s at $120 billion. Both argue, as some economists do, that offsetting economic stimulus with tax increases would offset the objective of the stimulus. Put simply, in order to stimulate the economy one must put the budget into a deficit to pay for it.
Obama and Clinton hope, with varying ways, to achieve the same objective. Put money into the hands of those that need assistance in order to have them spend it and flush the overall economy with new money.
Republicans too are releasing economic stimulus packages including one by Rudy Giuliani which seeks to achieve the same objective through tax cuts. Mike Huckabee released a plan this morning. Because Republicans are achieving the objective through tax cutting though they may not face the same internal backlash from their party as Democrats now face.
Without mounting signs that the economy is headed for recession and polling showing the issue is top in Americans mind, the debate undoubtedly has just begun.
A large area of discussion in the Republican debate last night centered around Pakistani president Musharraf’s unwillingness to hunt al Qaeda with his forces despite hundreds of millions of dollars of aid to the country. Also up for discussion was the leaders unwillingness to allow the United States itself to go in and fight terrorists along its border with Afghanistan. Many of the candidates spoke of the need for Musharraf to either get tuff and use the aid to accomplish the task or face pressure from their potential administration to let America in.
Today Musharraf warned the United States that it would be regarded as “invaders” if any attempt was made to cross the border into Pakistan to hunt al Qaeda. From the Associated Press report:
The New York Times newspaper reported last week Washington is considering expanding the authority of the Central Intelligence Agency and the military to pursue aggressive covert operations within the tribal regions.
Mr. Musharraf told the Straits Times that U.S. troops would “certainly†be considered invaders if they set foot in the tribal regions.
“If they come without our permission, that’s against the sovereignty of Pakistan. I challenge anybody coming into our mountains,†he said in the interview in the garrison city Rawalpindi.
As we move closer to the primaries and the general election a new CNN/Opinion Research poll finds American’s number one issue is the economy. With a mortgage crisis, a weakened dollar, the loss of jobs from trade, endless recalls of food, toys and household goods from lead and disease, Americans seem to be moving away from fears on Iraq & terrorism to their wallets and pocketbooks. Read the rest of this entry »
I haven’t put anything up about Hillary Clinton’s Universal Healthcare plan because I am still reading all available information. I will have more asap. Until then though I found a very interesting article in the USA Today that says the following:
Clinton unveiled her plan as Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt said President Bush wants to achieve universal health care before he leaves office.
Leavitt told the USA TODAY editorial board that Bush will veto a Democratic plan emerging from Congress that would add $35 billion in taxpayer subsidies to the Children’s Health Insurance Program over five years. In doing so, Leavitt said, Bush will urge Congress to join him in seeking coverage for all Americans.
“He’d like to see the larger debate begin,” Leavitt said. “The very best opportunity we have may well be in the next 15 months.”
Only John McCain had agreed to take part in a spanish language debate similar to one Democrats recently participated in and so it has been cancelled. With that said, I am not surprised.
The top four Republican candidates have a hard enough time convincing conservative voters they will share their values, especially on immigration. McCain seems to be resigned that his stance didn’t help but the damage is done. Appearing on a spanish language channel isn’t going to help the rest.
With that said 40% of hispanics went for President Bush in 2004. It is an increasingly important voting block that Bush, a Texan who understood the importance of the border and the people from the other side of it, was able to court them in a way that his increasingly anti-illegal-immigration party won’t be able to.
The Associated Press is reporting there may be a second video of Osama bin Laden on its way, this time reading one of the last will and testaments of a 9/11 hijacker. This is not new as others in al Qaeda have marked the anniversary of those attacks by reading similar statements.
But with Osama specifically mentioning the 2006 elections, democratic politics, taxes and other issues, leftist writer Noam Chomsky and other election results around the world it is hard to imagine he is not attempting to have an influence on events in United States politics. In 2004 a video released helped influence the perception of voters right before the election. What will be in store in 2008? Could there also be an impending attack on American interests either at home or abroad?
Now that we know he is alive I doubt this will be the last we hear from bin Laden.
News out of Iowa where a district court has ruled in favor of same sex marriage and struck down a provision to declare marriage as only between a man and a woman. All eyes are on Iowa ahead of the caucuses this year and Republicans are looking for issues to keep their conservative base.
This can only bode well for Mitt Romney who won the Iowa straw poll and who is attempting to pull himself up as a true conservative on social issues. I would expect the Romney campaign to jump all over this story tomorrow and to start positioning the candidate as someone who will be aggressive in fighting decisions like this with a federal amendment to the constitution.
Will the issue work? This weeks problems with an Idaho Senator and the last near decade of no movement on a constitutional amendment by a Republican House, Senate & Presidency aren’t going to help the party keep voters. With that said Democrats won’t win them over either and at the very least they can run as candidates who will uphold the status quo in vetoing any attempt to change the law in favor of gay marriage and who will work hard to turn states and eventually the federal government against it.
It’s amazing how this issue came up in the states in 2004 at just the right time and I am starting to wonder if it won’t be the same again for 2008. As I keep saying Democrats who think they are simply going to waltz into the White House without a fight and with 70% majorities could well be in for a shock come November of next year.
Seriously I don’t know why people keep asking this, the answer is simple, not any time soon. The more likely outcome of the continued revelations that high-ranking GOP officials are corrupt and the antithesis of everything they told voters they were is probably the one we saw in 2006, values voters will stay home or go to the polls and vote for the few candidates they trust and leave the rest blank. The idea, which as I mentioned yesterday seems to be Barack Obama’s strategy, that conservative-right-wing-republicans will flee the GOP as a whole anytime soon is asinine. Where would they possibly go?
“I have long believed that Alberto Gonzales subverted justice to promote a political agenda, and so I am pleased that he has finally resigned today. The President needs to nominate an Attorney General who will be the people’s lawyer, not the President’s lawyer, and in an Obama Administration that person will first and foremost defend and promote the rights and liberties enshrined in our Constitution.” - Barack Obama
“Better late than never.” - John Edwards
“Long overdue. The president must nominate an attorney general who is a lawyer for the American people, not a political arm of the White House.”  New Mexico governor Bill Richardson.
