Republicans Will Cave On Stimulus (UPDATE)

The Wall Street Journal reported last week that despite all the talk of hope and change of the last few months, despite an election which allegedly showed that the American people want a liberal, massive spending solution to our economic problems–in the form of an economic “stimulus” package–Congressional Democrats are lowering their expectations on the size and scope of  such a package.  Hope and change, apparently, cannot wait until the next election cycle:

Democrats are facing an especially precarious version of that dilemma. In crafting a package that will sink hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars into the economy, they are apprehensive about the fallout if the economy merely continues sputtering along for several years.

And lawmakers are already mindful of how they will face voters less than two years from now. The ruling party almost always loses seats in midterm elections, and that trend could be exacerbated for the Democrats if voters think they threw billions of dollars at the economy with little to show for it.

“Elections are run in two-year cycles, and we’re in an economic cycle that we can’t turn around in two years,” said Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D., N.Y.). “It’s a political problem. But I don’t know that there is a way out of it.”

 So of course, Democrats are getting antsy.  But Democrats shouldn’t fear.  Dear Leader Obama is on his way back from his Christmas vacation and setting up shop in Washington to embark on a new campaign–the campaign for stimulus:  

President-elect Barack Obama is preparing to lead a full-scale marketing blitz to pass the massive new stimulus package that he says is needed to revive the slumping economy and put the nation on the course he laid out during his campaign.

Obama will move to Washington this weekend, checking into a hotel with his family. In the remaining weeks of the transition, and after he is sworn in, he will use the bully pulpit to make the case for passage of a stimulus package of up to $775 billion, an aide said.

 Obama, now in Hawaii on vacation, may travel outside Washington after Inauguration Day on Jan. 20, while others in the new administration scatter across the country to explain in minute detail the scope and purpose of the stimulus plan, said David Axelrod, a senior advisor to the president-elect.

“We’ll fan out, and this will be a public process,” Axelrod said in an interview. “We’ll make clear to people why we need to do what we’re doing, why it’s the size it is, what the individual component parts are, and why they are an important part of the equation in terms of short-term recovery.”

Obama, he said, “wants the American people involved in this discussion.”

When Obama says he wants the American people “involved”, note that this is code for: “I will appeal to the media who, knowing I can do no wrong, will make the case for stimulus on my behalf”. 

This is Obama’s bread and butter; he’s a master campaigner and he’s at his best on the bully pulpit.  Embarking on a three week advertising campaign for a Keynesian stimulus orgy, with a willing accomplice in the mainstream media touting the benefits of a bigger-the-better economic stimulus package, there will be enormous pressure to go along with anything the Democrats put forth.  Keep in mind that Democrats have indicated that they want a package on Obama’s desk come Inauguration Day.  Beginning late next week, economic reports from the last quarter of 2008 will begin to be released, and by mid-month we will have a steady stream of economic news  to digest, including an employment report, CPI, manufacturing results, etc., and none of these are expected to bring good news.  Worst case scenario for conservatives, this will be a perfect storm of bad economic data, constant cheerleading by Obama surrogates in the media and empty rhetoric by Obama and his mouthpieces. 

Meanwhile, looks like Republicans are getting ready to cave anyway.  Senator McConnell and Rep. John Boehner are making noises about “bi-partisanship” and more overisght over any stimulus package.  Obama has reached out to Senator Olympia Snowe, no friend of conservatives, about “working in a collaborative fashion” on a stimulus bill.  The same John Boehner who urged his party to forgo “ideological purity” for the sake of political expediency, or just because Henry Paulson told him so, doesn’t fill me with confidence going into this stimulus showdown later this month.  This group of Republicans has no backbone; as the GOP considers reaching across the aisle, Democrats are more than happy to turn the other way.  But watch for the Democrat leadership to implore the GOP be involved somehow, as they will quickly point their fingers in blame at the GOP once the stimulus fails to achieve any results.

We conservatives have no reason to believe that the Republicans in the Senate or the House will be able to withstand the pressure of giving in to new spending.  The GOP congressional leadership had no problem voting for the $700 financial bailout package, which added deficits as far as the eye can see, unprecedent government intrusion in the marketplace and expanded bureaucracy and waste; not to mention proving that government interventions are mostly inefficient and will not solve the problems they are created to correct.  Why should conservatives consider this time to be any different?

(UPDATE)

Red State’s  Robert Bluey: Democrats Get Greedy on Stimulus

(UPDATE II)

Just like I thought.  McConnell gives us another head-banging-against-the-wall moment….

(UPDATE III)

McConnell proposes more Big Goverment to fix Big Government debacle