A number of commenters are wondering what I think about Republican Leader, my Congressman and a Great American -- John Boehner -- 's "YES" vote on the Big Bailout of 2008 Act since I'm not a fan of the bill. Mark has covered a significant number of my related thoughts, so I won't go over too much of that territory again...
Basically, it comes down to the fact that while I think the bailout was poorly crafted and rushed to a vote, I still view the vote as a lose/lose situation no matter how anybody voted on it.
Look, clearly even Boehner didn't think too highly of the bill. He called it a "crap sandwich" for goodness sakes. But the reason why I don't have a problem with his vote is that he believed that the bill was in the best interests of the nation. He put country before party and ideology. And the bill was drastically improved from when Secretary Paulson introduced it.
My second reason for not being too upset with Boehner has to do with the fact that I think a Bailout bill is going to get passed and it won't look half as conservative as the one that Boehner voted YES on the first time. When the time comes, let's see how many House Republicans stick to their principles then... My guess? Not many. (Oh, I've got my eyes on a few likely suspects...) T. Boone Pickens will have all the wind power he needs if he could harness the power of the spin that will be coming from the House GOP when they get to the point where politically they have to vote for the Bailout.
The failure of the House Bailout bill is on the GOP's shoulders. Perception is reality in politics and the way the bill was handled on the right side of the aisle was atrocious. Seriously, Pelosi's speech swayed votes? You've got to be kidding me. House Republicans ought to OWN that bill's failure and like it. Why? Because 70% of Americans -- at the time -- thought that bill was horrible. And while Wall Street may or may not maintain the positive gains it made in the last day or so, one can certainly make the argument that the lack of the government "doing something" for the sake of doing something didn't hurt, and may actually have helped.
It is something of an axiom that I have that I tend not to trust people who say that there is a crisis if they aren't acting like there is a crisis. Oh, sure, there were plenty of people running around pretending that their hair was on fire, but when I see ACORN funding and oil-shale bans being added to these bills, I'm not buying what the politicians are selling. If this were really the crisis that the political class says that it is, they would offer up a clean bill and have an open and honest debate on the merits of the proposed solution. What did we see this week? The same old shenanigans from the same old people. This was a failure of leadership at all levels and across the aisle.
And what the heck are the likes of Barney Frank and Chris Dodd doing as the face of these bills? These guys ought to be explaining themselves and their actions over the last few years and their relationships with businesses and organizations like Countrywide and Freddie Mac/Fannie Mae. The House Democrats were clearly gearing up to play politics during this so-called crisis. A crappy economy is good Democratic politics. Republicans should have seen all of that coming and framed the issue better.
One more point...I am -- by far -- NOT an expert in economics. I am evaluating the politics of this situation. I don't have a solution to offer. But I will know the right solution when I hear it...
