Feeling Stimulated Yet?

Well, it looks like there will be a “stimulus” bill soon. Just enough Republicans crossed over in the Senate to invoke cloture. Some Republicans in Congress see their refusal to play along with the pork-filled bill as their ultimate political salvation:

After giving the package zero votes in the House, and with their counterparts in the Senate likely to provide in a crucial procedural vote today only the handful of votes needed to avoid a filibuster, Republicans are relishing the opportunity to make a big statement. Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Tex.) suggested last week that the party is learning from the disruptive tactics of the Taliban, and the GOP these days does have the bravado of an insurgent band that has pulled together after a big defeat to carry off a quick, if not particularly damaging, raid on the powers that be.

“We’re so far ahead of where we thought we’d be at this time,” said Rep. Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.), one of several younger congressmen seeking to lead the party’s renewal. “It’s not a sign that we’re back to where we need to be, but it’s a sign that we’re beginning to find our voice. We’re standing on our core principles, and the core principle that suffered the most in recent years was fiscal conservatism and economic liberty. That was the tallest pole in our tent, and we took an ax to it, but now we’re building it back.”

Maybe. I wish I had seen more substantive, constructive ideas put forth by the Republicans. Don’t get me wrong – they were absolutely right to pound on some of the more egregious leftist spending in the mess the House passed. But Offering tax breaks to people who buy houses is the biggest thing I heard from Republicans on this bill. That’s a good start, they should have pushed harder for more. Again, don’t get me wrong – they probably would have been defeated on pretty much everything.

I don’t believe the stimulus bill will stimulate much of anything, economically. Maybe its failure will give the Republicans a boost. But they are going to have to become the party of ideas again – soon – if they want that rebirth to happen.

Obama is having to use fear and dire warnings to get this bill passed. He’s weaker than a lot of people realize. Getting this bill passed isn’t all that much of a victory considering the lopsided makeup of Congress. Republicans have a lot of strengths to play up right now. Now is the time to communicate their ideas.