And here I was concerned yesterday’s nonsense on the House floor would go by unnoticed.
President Obama invoked God Wednesday as he criticized Congress for voting on commemorative coins and a resolution reaffirming “In God We Trust” as the national motto in all public buildings, public schools and other government institutions.
“That’s not putting people back to work,” Obama said. “I trust in God, but God wants to see us help ourselves by putting people to work.”
Obama called on Congress to approve his jobs package.
“There’s no excuse for 100 percent of Washington Republicans to say no,” Obama said. “That means Republicans in Washington are out of touch with Republican voters.”
When there’s a jobs crisis, the public is desperate for Congress to focus on job creation, and House Republicans are investing time in a resolution that says the national motto is still the national motto, yes, I think it’s safe to say Republicans in Washington are out of touch.
It’s also good to see the president pick up on a theme I’ve been pushing quite a bit recently: Republican voters are far more likely to have their act together than Republican policymakers. After all, rank-and-file GOP voters largely support Democratic jobs proposals and modest tax increases on millionaires and billionaires.
On a related note, Obama, as part of his remarks on infrastructure this morning, also included this gem:
“If you don’t want to take my word for it, take it from one of my predecessors. He said that — and I’m quoting here — ‘the bridges and highways we fail to repair today will have to be rebuilt tomorrow at many times the cost.’ He went on to say that rebuilding our infrastructure is common sense — and an investment in tomorrow that we must make today.’ That President was Ronald Reagan. Since when do we have Republicans voting against Ronald Reagan’s ideas?”
Greg Sargent tracked down the Reagan speech, and discovered that the former president proposed a tax on motorists to pay infrastructure investments, “and he explicitly justified this added tax by arguing that infrastructure spending would stimulate the economy.”
Taken together, congressional Republicans are out of touch with their own constituents and their own demigod. That ought to tell the political world something about the degree of GOP radicalism on display.
