Obama can win 2012 re-election right now.
I admit flat out: I love Rush Limbaugh. He’s the only conservative that plays the media like a fiddle these days, and one of the better natural, instinctual conservatives in the world at the moment. He doesn’t need literary references to tell you why something is conservative. The man’s intellect is already shaped in that fashion, and his ability to deliver his opinions full force each day is why he is loved/hated everywhere. Charisma does that for people, and Rush has it in spades.
Now that we’re past the disclaimer, Rush has a pretty nice idea here, and its even getting play at a bunch of media outlets that I normally would not expect.
Split the proceeds of the stimulus according to party vote, and find out once and for all what leads to more jobs. Is Lord Keynes or Hayek in the right? I have my bias already, but following the money and seeing what happens could actually remove politics from government for a bit, something I think we can all smile about.
This is also a big opportunity for Obama to really put a huge stamp on his post-partisan rhetoric. Barack, this is your moment, should you choose to live up to your lofty speeches. It would nearly guarantee reelection, no matter what happens for the next 3 years. Teaming up with Rush to save the country without partisan in-fighting? Holy crap, that would impress the crap out of even the hardest-hearted conservative pragmatics. It would also free him to do whatever he wanted right after that, regardless of political stripe.
I have huge problems with two things in the current Jobs Bailout (my new word for it).
1) Most of it is just a pork bill for Democrat talking points. Contraception, Arts, Amtrak, STD prevention, Medicaid, and welfare to name a few. Not a whole lot of jobs in that morass.
2) Obama talks bipartisanship, but then drops all facades when turning down Republicans in meetings, and he hasn’t tried to force the Dems to meet with GOPers even once. Its just not very honest. He’s in a strong position to force cooperation at the moment, but nothing has happened on that front yet.
The Obama-Limbaugh Plan could really be something interesting if given a chance. It would be the first shot across the bow that Obama really is something different than we’ve ever seen before in American politics. Color me doubtful, but hopeful.
