President Barack Obama’s job speech before a joint session of Congress this past week seemed to augur the return of Washington’s role in helping lift America out of the frightening possibility of a double-dip recession.
The centerpiece of the administration’s new efforts to prevent further stagnation and decline within our economy comes in the form of the newly-unveiled American Jobs Act, featuring a continuation of the payroll tax cut in addition to a further reduction as well as additional spending on infrastructure and the long-term unemployed.
Well-received inside the beltway, Obama’s renewed resolve for federal action seems, at least momentarily, to have fostered genuine bipartisanship among the two polarized political parties. Forecasts from numerous financial institutions have predicted that the combined efforts of additional tax cuts and government expenditures will stimulate the economy and foster the creation of more than 1 million new jobs, while adding an additional point to the growth of our gross domestic product.
While it is laudable to commend the president for attempting to reassert his relevance in the face of an increasingly stubborn and obstructionist congress, his most recent proposal is notable in the political calculus behind its formulation. The politics of moderation are obvious when examining the American Jobs Act, given the composition of its policies. Over half of its overall cost comes from the payroll tax reductions originally clamored for by Congressional Republicans.
Furthermore, the remaining amount of federal monies contained within the bill is spent on historically uncontroversial projects, namely unemployment benefits, targeted infrastructure and food stamps; all of which, prior to the rise of the Tea Party, were bipartisan initiatives.
Contrary to the convictions of contemporary conservatives, the policies of the Obama administration have been lukewarmly moderate in their formulation and execution since the president’s tenure beginning in 2009.
Suffice it to say that, having reviewed the seeming “crowning achievements” of the Obama administration, one must fail to objectively see the socialism in his initiatives. Obama’s decision to triangulate from the onset of his presidency was the crass calculation of politicos within his administration who viewed the success of the Clinton presidency as the template for future Democratic victories.
They were wrong. The politics of the ’90s was predicated upon a thriving national economy, international victory in the Cold War and accommodating globalization. No such conditions existed in the dawn of Obama’s presidency. Our economy had collapsed, our armed forces were mired in two theaters and the emerging powers had undermined Americans’ faith in the forces of international competition.
Radically conservative economic policies augured the coming of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. Erosion of New Deal financial regulations, savaging of the Great Society social safety net and the wanton embrace of free trade gradually destroyed our nation’s middle class that had become the envy of the world during the apex of American liberalism.
Howard Zinn once proclaimed that “one cannot remain neutral on a moving train,” and recent policies from the Republican congress have made it evident that the evisceration of historic social programs and regulations is not and should not be the new middle of American politics. The recent inefficacy of the politics of moderation should remind our moderate president of the power of political excess.
It should be noted that Social Security was not moderate from its inception nor was the Civil Rights Act an act of compromise. These truly were radical agendas for the political norms of their day and there is no reason to believe that legislation of their nature cannot pass today given the moral conviction and political will.
President Obama should remember that his political opponents subscribe to the belief that “moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue,” and would do well to take their advice and mirror their passion.