Democrats to adjourn again?

posted at 10:02 am on September 18, 2008 by Ed Morrissey
Share on Facebook | regular view

You have to hand it to Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid.  Once they decide on a strategy, they stick with it.  Bloomberg reports that the Democratic Congress will take action in the face of this economic crisis — by beating a hasty retreat:

The Democratic-controlled Congress, acknowledging that it isn’t equipped to lead the way to a solution for the financial crisis and can’t agree on a path to follow, is likely to just get out of the way.

Lawmakers say they are unlikely to take action before, or to delay, their planned adjournments — Sept. 26 for the House of Representatives, a week later for the Senate. While they haven’t ruled out returning after the Nov. 4 elections, they would rather wait until next year unless Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke, who are leading efforts to contain the crisis, call for help.

One reason, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said yesterday, is that “no one knows what to do” at the moment.

The stench from this hypocrisy is overwhelming.  Reid, Pelosi, Barack Obama, and every Democrat who could bitterly cling to a microphone over the last four days has spewed invective at the Bush administration, blaming the credit-market meltdown on Bush’s policies.  Now, at the height of the crisis, not only do the Democrats admit they haven’t a clue as to how to address it, to whom do they turn to solve it?

The Bush administration! After all, Henry Paulson serves on the Bush administration Cabinet, and has been Bush’s Treasury Secretary for over two years.  In fact, Paulson was one of the CEOs that Democrats love to demonize, having run Goldman Sachs for years at salaries over $15 million a year for the two years prior to his appointment.  Joe Biden just got done blaming the meltdown on people like Paulson.  Now Democrats want him to rescue America.

First Pelosi adjourns the House in the middle of an energy supply crisis that hammered the working class with sharp hikes in fuel and food costs.  Now both Pelosi and Reid want to adjourn both chambers of Congress rather than deal with the credit crisis that Washington created with its heavy-handed mandates to issue credit to marginally qualified borrowers and lack of oversight over government-guaranteed entities.  Given their ineptitude, we probably should be grateful — as Bloomberg notes.  But considering their rhetoric over the last few days, their retreat may be one of the most cowardly acts in domestic policy seen in a very long time.

I hearby dub this … the Brave Sir Robin Congress.

Blowback

You must be logged in to post a comment.