Tuesday, September 20, 2011
David Brooks has an admission to make
Every liberal's favorite moderate Republican, David Brooks, has a confession to make:
I’m a sap, a specific kind of sap. I’m an Obama Sap.
Much as I like Brooks, this bit of reflection is not news to the conservative blogosphere. But wait, there's more:
When the president said the unemployed couldn’t wait 14 more months for help and we had to do something right away, I believed him. When administration officials called around saying that the possibility of a double-dip recession was horrifyingly real and that it would be irresponsible not to come up with a package that could pass right away, I believed them.
I liked Obama’s payroll tax cut ideas and urged Republicans to play along. But of course I’m a sap. When the president unveiled the second half of his stimulus it became clear that this package has nothing to do with helping people right away or averting a double dip. This is a campaign marker, not a jobs bill.
It recycles ideas that couldn’t get passed even when Democrats controlled Congress. In his remarks Monday the president didn’t try to win Republicans to even some parts of his measures. He repeated the populist cries that fire up liberals but are designed to enrage moderates and conservatives.
He claimed we can afford future Medicare costs if we raise taxes on the rich. He repeated the old half-truth about millionaires not paying as much in taxes as their secretaries. (In reality, the top 10 percent of earners pay nearly 70 percent of all income taxes, according to the I.R.S. People in the richest 1 percent pay 31 percent of their income to the federal government while the average worker pays less than 14 percent, according to the Congressional Budget Office.)
This wasn’t a speech to get something done. This was the sort of speech that sounded better when Ted Kennedy was delivering it. The result is that we will get neither short-term stimulus nor long-term debt reduction anytime soon, and I’m a sap for thinking it was possible.
RTWT.
10 Comments:
By 
, at
Tue Sep 20, 03:33:00 PM:
David Brooks is not a moderate Republican, but he is a sap.He is a wishy washy Republican, which is exactly what we don't need now in America. I am now a Conservative with hopes of smaller government, a return to the Constitution, individual rights, states rights and end to government spending. Milktoast thinking won't get us there.
By , at
Tue Sep 20, 04:43:00 PM:
I appreciate the honesty. The press abrogated it's responsibilities to vet candidate Obama and, while Brooks didnt specifically admit his personal failure, this is as close as I would expect a New York Times columnist to ever get to an admission, much less an apology.
Contrast this with the ignorant invective from Bill Keller the other day!
By , at
Tue Sep 20, 05:05:00 PM:
Brooks also notes that Republicans have been "rigid and extreme" in their opposition to Obama's policy efforts.
To repeat a comment I just made at Maggies Farm:
When your teen's behavior involves explosives, corrosives, or toxic substances, it is best to say no. So far, the Democrats have exploded our national debt, corroded our standing in the world, and poured toxic rhetoric into our national debate. Perhaps being rigid and extreme in saying NO is exactly the right response.
I still find it incredulous that the "smartest people in the country" were so blind to the facade that was Obama. Millions of us out here in the heartland saw right through it.
By , at
Tue Sep 20, 06:51:00 PM:
By the way, can you imagine the outcry if Bush had refused to put his investments into a blind trust, as Obama has refused, and then sought to influence Congressional testimony after the President had invested in the target company, Lightsquared, as the Obama administration has done on two recent occasions?
There would be New York Times articles by the score! Whole issues of the paper would cover nothing else!
Admissions like this one from Brooks may be a good start but journalists and the industry (especially the New York Times), still has a long way to go before recovering their self-respect and value to the country.
By 
Assistant Village Idiot, at
Tue Sep 20, 06:58:00 PM:
"Here's some legislation I like. I'm calling it a jobs bill to try and embarrass you."
Well, two years ago, that strategy worked. Hopefully, no more.
By , at
Tue Sep 20, 07:40:00 PM:
Matt Taibbi's not-so-nice words for David Brooks' piece. Worth the read:
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/taibblog/why-david-brooks-really-is-a-sap-20110920
By Gary Rosen, at
Wed Sep 21, 02:23:00 AM:
Honestly, does anyone really give a flying f*ck what Brooks says anymore, if they ever did?
By Simon Kenton, at
Wed Sep 21, 01:18:00 PM:
"Much as I like Brooks...." TH, I've almost come to enjoy these moments when you try to get in touch with your inner RINO.
"Much as I like Brooks...."
"I'd be happy to pay higher taxes and so would all us other rich guys if Obama would just ask us real nice...."
Brooks, like Noonan, is a tergiversator. Now they are trying to recover credibility by coyly revealing their Rubery and hinting at faint regrets. You've skated pretty near the edge of the ice yourself.
By , at
Thu Sep 22, 06:45:00 PM:
He's just another elitist who's full of himself. I really couldn't care less what he has to say. He and Christopher Buckley (another elitist) were totally enthralled by our brilliant President. There are many "saps" who can line up behind Brooks.
By Gary Rosen, at
Fri Sep 23, 02:04:00 AM:
"He's just another elitist who's full of himself."
You got that *almost* right, Rose!
