OPINION:
OP-ED:
The saga of the bailout bill provides a crisp lesson in Politics 101 — how to effectively market policy. Sometimes, public policy is pure impression. How you sell an idea, or how it sounds, is just as critical as whether or not it really works. H.R. 3997 was badly marketed, taking Senate passage of a bill with a completely unrelated title to help push it through.
The White House pitching doomsday didn’t really help. We’ve been there, done that, they grumbled under the Capitol dome, recalling, weapons of mass destruction, blah, blah, blah — the taste of political bile in their throats. So, the “it’s my way or the world is road-kill on the highway” approach didn’t work this time. How dare they spin the notion of economic Armageddon after what they put us through, legislators complained. Not to mention their “guy,” their financial-rescue package version of Colin Powell, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson. He appeared more the former day-trading guru he actually is than the macroeconomic savior he is not. He couldn’t finesse it. A 21st-century Paul Revere he was not. The Tea Party was already in full motion.
Besides, how do you support something called a “bailout?” One of America’s least popular terms, “bailout” is policy anathema - as ugly and unattractive as Terrell Owens crying on camera.
Nothing even remotely appeared to assist man and woman on the street. Why not transform all ARMs into fixed-rate mortgages? Why not put blanket forbearances on all foreclosures? Why not loan money to those behind on their mortgage payments? A little bankruptcy protection, please. Where’s my bailout? Where’s our Marshall Plan? Others screamed “socialism” and feared a somewhat despotic government takeover of the free-market system.
Some didn’t care for the visuals of regulators in black raiding big banks and assets. Whatever the take on it, everyone agreed on one thing: taxpayers would do a lookout for the cats who messed it up in the first place. Add insult to injury, Wall Street still gets the golden parachute while we´re not even left with the cord. Jane and Joe spit at that while paying for overpriced groceries, filling up cars on inflated gas and weeping over that last paycheck.
There was some flawed expectation that man and woman on the street understood what was up. Polls suggested otherwise. Rasmussen’s Consumer Index poll showed 71 percent of respondents still confident enough to buy even in the midst of a global money meltdown. In our recent Blackpolicy.org poll, even though a solid 62 percent of respondents claim they understand “the magnitude of the current financial crisis,” over half of that number said “kind of.” Could there be a “Great Disconnect” between reality and perception? That potentially leads to public revolt. This may have ultimately triggered the failure of House leadership to rally enough votes from scared members of Congress.
We present the $700 billion question of the moment: Who are the winners and losers? It´s not clear the taxpayer wins because we’re still hearing “bailout” floating about the dampened halls of Capitol Hill. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid scores a goal for looking quite collegial while gloating bipartisanship and saving his job from a potential challenge by Sen. Hillary Clinton, whom some claim is in the leadership pipeline as part of a primary severance package. Senate Republican leaders, like Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, seem as mature, disciplined and reasonable as their rambunctious siblings on the House side. And what of Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama, the presidential candidates suddenly charged to look … presidential? We see fuzzy indications of a hastily prepared compromise: pass this and both of our “boys” look good.
However, both candidates should be wary of consequences should this not work. The Senate can’t control itself, rimming the “rescue package” with strips of irrelevant pork, causing House conservatives to cringe. Fiscal discipline is out the door. Double-digit debt in the trillions is approaching fast.
This is no shining moment for House leadership as it picks at political scabs. Speaker Nancy Pelosi experienced one of her worst weeks, from a badly timed floor speech to reports of brewing scandal as reported on the pages of this publication. House Minority Leader John Boehner is besieged by rebellious rank-and-files. Both are trapped for failure to find votes.
Democrats have much to lose being in charge. Republicans continue teetering on the edge. With crisis still looming, winners are in scarce supply, leaders are in high demand.
Peter C. Groff , president of the Colorado Senate, is founding executive director of the University of Denver’s Center for African American Policy. Charles D. Ellison is senior fellow at the center and chief editor of Blackpolicy.org.
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