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Eli Melrod

The Elephant in the Room - 5 views

campaignstops.blogs.nytimes.com/...uthat-the-elephant-in-the-room

romney campaign

shared by Eli Melrod on 12 Sep 12 - No Cached
  • Eli Melrod on 12 Sep 12
     
    This article stood out to me, because it is exactly why I see Romney's plans as a completely the opposite of what American needs: they aren't any different than George W. Bush's. Americans saw what happened under George W. Bush, and nobody wants to go back to that. This line in the piece really summed up why Romney is doing so poorly, "To win the kind of victory that conservatives seem to think they should be winning, the Republican Party needs two things: A domestic agenda that offers more to hard-pressed families than just generic conservative rhetoric about the genius of capitalism, and a foreign policy program that reflects the hard lessons learned in Iraq and Afghanistan." As a liberal, I would never vote for Mitt Romney, but I do understand that the economy is not where a lot of people wanted it to be after Obama's first term. The question is: can Romney do a better job? I see a lot of similarities between Romney's policies and George W. Bush's policies, so I think that the economy would do worse. If other Americans, like the author of this article, see the same similarities, I don't see how Romney can win in November.
  • ...2 more comments...
  • John West on 16 Sep 12
     
    I think learning from Bush-era policies, like you said, is the best way to figure out what to do (or not do). When we talked in class about how complicated and unrelatable fiscal policy is, I kept wondering what ideology *actually* works and how we can be certain. Looking back on past failures seems like the only way to relly know. If we implement the policies you're talking about, which arguably led to the recession, why should we expect something different? I don't know that much about economics, but I agree with you. If Bush's fiscal policy is what really did set the stage for the economy to tank, I can't discern big enough differences in Romney's platform - "generic conservative rhetoric" - to expect something better. If anything, the article describes Romney's plan as a watered-down version of Bush's, which raises different concerns for me.
  • Anna Schutte on 17 Sep 12
     
    It is always interesting to hear about Republican positions like the idea that Romney is not doing well because "left controlled education shaped the Millennials." There is probably something to this. Also, I agree with Eli as far as the specifics that Romney and Ryan have offered so far. They sound just like George W. Bush and it is pretty clear that politically he needs to separate himself from Bush. I just read and posted an article on the effect of tax cuts on economic growth. It is pretty clear that historically tax cuts have not done much to improve growth. However, this article says that the Republicans acknowledge the failings of the Bush plan and promise more responsibility. Maybe they do know they need to offer more and will hear about tax reform and other things in the debates. It is pretty clear from Romney's behavior this week that he is not taking a more nuanced position on foreign policy.
  • Cameron G on 17 Sep 12
     
    I think it is interesting, and absurd, how the Republican Party has looked for things to blame on some of their failings on. That being said, I also think it is unfair that past President's records affect prospective candidates chances, on either side of the political spectrum. Just because Romney is in the same political party as Bush dos not mean he will do similar things(even though he probably will do some). I agree with Anna that Romney and Ryan need to separate from Bush to establish that they are not the same and will not have the same results. Regardless of their policies I believe that candidates should be evaluated on their merits, and while the past should be considered, and their merits alone. To me, that is what this article is really saying.
  • cody s on 19 Sep 12
     
    Cameron, I agree with your idea - that parties can shift, and individual candidates shouldn't be bound into the economic principles of their party - but until Romney provides substantive plans for the economy, all anyone is going to hear from his campaign is the same conservative "free market" rhetoric that they heard from the Bush campaign. What he needs to do is lay out a specific plan and note what he's learned from the economic failure under Bush and how that has shaped his plan.
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