Skip to: Content
Skip to: Site Navigation
Skip to: Search

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2009
| Subscribe to Newser's RSS feeds RSS | Follow Newser on Twitter Twitter

OFF THE GRID
Jan 5, 09 | 9:42 AM

Stimulate Me

Share

From now until the ceremonial pens are out, the biggest and most boring news is going to be the progress of the Obama stimulus package. On this piece of legislation, which the Obama people would like Congress to have ready for the president’s signature on Jan. 20, lie both the prospects for the Obama administration and the fate of the nation.

Or at least that’s the sudden-death drumbeat of the battle.

The dirge quality of the drums and the scariness of the threat are enhanced by the likelihood that the circumstance as portrayed is accurate: We’re completely dependent on this package.

This is pretty much the last chance.

(AP Image) 

The downside to this argument is that it is the same argument that has been made all fall and that each ensuing stimulus, passed after all manner of end-of-the-world talk, has failed to stop the freefall. This is because the velocity of the onrushing crisis is too great—the linking and mutual dependence of all securities and investment instruments make for a doomsday domino scenario—or because the various stimulus concepts have been flawed.

Hence, reasonable men on the Democratic side are saying, shouldn’t we try to get this right this time and not be rushed into another half-baked scheme? And obstreperous men on the Republican side are saying we have a perfectly reasonable rational for delaying this bill and for not handing the Democrats a victory that could redound to them for generations.

The Obamateers have two strategies: The first is to demonstrate that they are also reasonable and conciliatory, hence the addition of the impressive $300 billion in tax cuts to the package; the second is to meaningfully increase the sense of panic and of doom. It is not only the economy and with it the nation that’s about to terminally self-destruct, but—in a message to the now mighty Democratic majority—the future of the party too.

This is, in other words, our shot at immortality.

So get ready to feel even more end-of-the-world than you have felt. Indeed, if the Obamateers are doing their job right, you will, over the next three weeks, feel as hopeless as you can feel. It’ll be the nadir of public consciousness (the fact that the Israelis are once again toying with Armageddon is helpful background). Darkness at noon is approaching, the abyss is opening. The whole point, the premium, will be to create fear itself. And if, by January 20, you’re shaking in your boots, ready to turn a desperate, pleading face to the man at the podium—the puffs of his hot breath in the cold air—you’ll know at least that these guys can talk the talk. And that hopefulness and recovery are just around the corner.

1 comment
VIEWING:
 
milesnyc
Jan 5, 09 1:30 PM CST
governement is mostly reactionary. One thing they don't get is the average American's emotional bankruptcy. There is little desire or ability to buy on credit. More money will not solve the problem. Time will. But what to do in the meantime? Reply
Vote up! Vote down!
0
LEAVE A
COMMENT
Comment Policy
Facebook ConnectPost this comment to Facebook?

After connecting you will have the option to post your comment on your Facebook profile.

 
RECENT POSTS
Nov 24, 09 | 10:10 AM

Murdoch and Microsoft: The Mice Are Trying to Roar

Nov 23, 09 | 8:41 AM

Books Are Bad for You

Nov 20, 09 | 8:32 AM

The Health-Care Wars Have Just Begun

Nov 19, 09 | 10:14 AM

Sarah Palin Deserves Some More Attention

Nov 18, 09 | 2:40 PM

And We Thought We Hated Mammograms

Nov 18, 09 | 8:43 AM

China and the Obese: The President Meets His Greatest Problems

Nov 17, 09 | 6:50 AM

Rupert Murdoch’s Guy Gets It

Nov 16, 09 | 12:30 PM

Obama's Secret Weapon: The Hug

Nov 16, 09 | 8:01 AM

The President Wants You to Know He’s Too Dopey to Use Twitter

Nov 13, 09 | 6:55 AM

Does Warren Buffett Know What He’s Talking About?

ABOUT

OFF THE GRID is about why the news is the news. Here are the real motivations of both media and newsmakers. Here's the backstory. This is a look at the inner workings of desperate media, the inner life of the publicity crazed, and the true meaning of the news of the day.

FeedRSS