The Democrats’ cynical gamble now looks about as smart as betting on Pittsburgh in the Super Bowl. The gamble was despite voters saying they want to reduce the deficit, when push comes to shove they will vote out the politicians who made the cuts.
Washington Post blogger Greg Sargent explained the rationale in a recent post ,
Don’t look now, but there are increasing signs that Democrats are adopting a surprisingly aggressive and unapologetic posture in the looming political battle with Republicans over government spending. Rather than running from the issue . . . they are treating this as an argument that can be turned to their advantage, if it’s framed in the right way.
A Democratic strategist familiar with ongoing discussions says Dems have been encouraged by recent polling on these questions. While polls undoubtedly show that the public supports reducing government spending in general, Gallup recently found that sizable majorities oppose cuts to education, funding for the arts and sciences, Social Security and Medicare.
Democrats’ move is cynical because it is pure election politics, completely ignoring the budgetary realities that threaten to push us towards insolvency. It is a strategy based in short term success for the Democratic Party, even if it meant long term disaster for the nation as a whole.
As it turns out, gambling against Americans is a bad idea. It is no doubt true that Americans love many of the programs government funding supports. Older voters will fiercely defend Social Security, young adults want to maintain public subsidies for higher education, and everyone in between has likes something or another funded by the government. But that doesn’t mean we as a society do not understand that our government cannot continue to live beyond its means.
The latest proof comes from who else, the king of in-your-face budget cutters, Chris Christie. A Quinnipiac University poll out today finds that 52 percent of New Jersey voters saying they approve of governor Christie. That’s up 6 points since December. Eight in ten Republicans, and more importantly, 55 percent of independents approve of the job Christie has done.
“Deep cuts in public budgets and a popular governor don’t usually go together,” said Peter Woolley , a Fairleigh Dickinson professor who has also polled New Jersey.
Woolley was right. That’s just what Democrats were gambling on. But things have changed. Our nation’s dire fiscal straits have reframed the debate. Voters understand that we cannot remain on our current spending path and that we have a choice to make – more taxes or less government. Regardless of what choice they make voters are increasingly rewarding politicians who engage in the debate rather than continue on with their head in the sand.
Democrat’s had better adjust their strategy. Any more gambles like this and they will soon find their party has gone belly up.
by Brandon Greife, Political Director of the College Republican National Committee
Moe Lane
PG DeFreese
Victoria Coates
Daniel Horowitz
Dan Spencer
No ... not because voters have changed ... it's because Christie has a rare gift
catt (Diary) Wednesday, February 9th at 3:01PM EST (link)I agree with the part about Christie confounding the Democrats. Like your quote says … it’s supposed to be impossible to have deep budget cuts and popularity at the same time.
I disagree that Christie’s popularity in spite of deep cuts is the result of dire fiscal straits reframing the debate. IMO Christie has a rare talent for telling people news they don’t want to hear … and doing it in a way that makes them listen. He explains the problem in clear and simple terms getting straight to the heart of the problem. Notice however that he’s very much an exception in this regard. Other politicians aren’t saying similar things. Why?
Voters do NOT understand that things have changed. Polls today about what government spending voters want to cut continue to show what they’ve shown for years … voters agree with the idea of budget cuts the way most people agree that a healthier diet and more exercise would be a good idea. Ask voters what exactly they’d be willing to cut … and most voters turn out to not really want to cut anything big. They want the impossible. Promising them the impossible _usually_ works.
This is why you get a House budget that only makes token spending cuts. They’re focused on what polls are telling them and avoiding spending cuts that would be unpopular … which is most everything. If voters understood that deep cuts are needed then it would be easy for the Republicans to show that they were fighting for those spending cuts and to force the Democrats to take the opposite position. The House budget tells you everything about what voters are saying they want to hear.
Christie is an exception. He has a rare talent for doing what he’s doing. I was wondering the other day why other politicians don’t notice how well Christie’s honesty is working for him and copy his style.
It’s because they can’t. Very few people have the natural ability to boil down an issue to the most essential point and present it plainly in a few sentences … something Christie does on the fly in town hall meetings. Very few have as much natural talent for speaking from the heart in clear and precise ways.
Get him to run in 2012. Imagine each of the candidates on the stage debating Obama. Some would ramble. Some would be defensive about this and that. Some would be playing verbal dodgeball trying to avoid saying anything that would irritate any of their key demographics. Some would come across as detached and professorial as Obama himself.
Now imagine a five minute mini-lecture from Obama followed by Christie cutting into it with a few razor-sharp sentences.
thank Christie but also Obama
themamabear (Diary) Friday, February 11th at 3:55AM EST (link)Christie does have a gift, there is no doubt. But Obama’s massive spending has certainly been an attention-grabber. People can see what is happening to our nation as a whole, and then when you live in one of the states that is going down the same path, it becomes even more clear and in-your-face. I’m not sure Christie would be having as much success if our country overall was doing very well.
I think Christie’s style is hard to copy but c’mon, it’s not that hard! Certainly his actions are not hard to copy. Those actions take guts and thick skin – but now that an example has been set, I would have thought that it would instill some confidence in other governors to follow suit.