Obama Backing Away from PAYGO?
By Alan Stewart Carl | Related entries in BarackOver at TheNextRight, John Henke points out that Barack Obama’s previous support of PAYGO is evaporating. No surprise. Obama’s candidacy is all about the new spending plans. He can’t enact half of what he proposes and still live by pay-as-you-go principles. Especially not in a recession (when even the crusty of us fiscal conservatives will admit deficit spending is hard to avoid).
I’m not incensed by this. John McCain has done little more than give lip service to responsible spending, so it’s not like there’s a great alternative. But I do like the commenter at TheNextRight who says:
… a sure sign McCain’s campaign is over. Now that we’re safely in the minority we can return to being fiscal conservatives. Ah, the old suit still fits me pretty well. Count me ready to demand from Democrats the very discipline I was unwilling to politely request of my own party.
Yeah. That about sums it up.
This entry was posted on Friday, October 17th, 2008 and is filed under Barack. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
October 17th, 2008 at 9:19 am
Problem being… if as the the Dems hope and expect, they get a 60/40 filibuster proof majority in the Senate, and a 100 vote majority in the House, fiscal conservatives will not be in a position to”demand” or even ask for anything. We will be living under one party rule with Obama holding a bigger majority than GWB ever enjoyed.
Opposition will not be weakened, for all practical purposes there will be no opposition. None. Given that Obama has a 97% toe-the-party-line voting record and is the most liberal member of the Senate, there can be only one conclusion. Whatever Nancy Pelosi wants, Nancy gets. Whatever Harry Reid and Hillary Clinton want, Harry and Hillary get. Whatever Barack wants Barack gets.
Of course Barack will back off PayGo. Of course Barack will drop the 250K limit in his tax plan to raise the money they need. Listen to that litany in his acceptance speech. They have got a whole lot of spending to do.
October 17th, 2008 at 4:50 pm
paygo is about the stupidest idea during an economic recession. recessions are the times when the government is supposed to be spending in order to supplement the contracting private sector. we need to prioritize spending to infrastructure. The big problem was the profligate spending of the gop during the good times instead of paying down the debt. now we are in a situation that needs spending and people want to cut back. the government is not a household and the budgets dont operate the same way.
Second the idea that there are any real fiscal conservatives in congress anywhere is a joke. maybe ron paul because he votes no on everything. everybody else wants to spend money but the question is where to spend it. The idea that the dems have been the ones to balloon or budget and destroy the surplus is ridiculous. If you want to start cutting money you have to look at the defense department and the wars. Health care reform is essential as well.
Second, you are looking at this like congress is suddenly going to be in charge of doing things. What evidence is there to support this? Obama is the head of the party and he directs it. Congress has proven that they are unwilling to stand up for anything so Obama will be setting the priorities and the rest of the dems will follow. You treat the issue like obama will have to fight back against the dems in congress. Also, the larger a party gets the broader the coalition is as it includes people of a more “moderate” stripe. The blue dogs are only going to grow not contract in power as the dems extend into redder districts.