SEIU President Andy Stern says that the so-called Roadmap for America’s Future–an entitlement-slashing bill written by House Republican guru Paul Ryan (R-WI)–should be a warning sign to voters that the GOP hasn’t moved on from the Bush-era.
“It’s hard to imagine that this is a 21st century plan,” Stern told me in an interview this afternoon. “It seems like we’re going back to the future.”
“Particularly when George Bush inherited a surplus and drove it into a massive deficit, I’m not sure we should trust the Republican party’s rehashed ideas to not just bankrupt the country in the end,” Stern said.
I asked Stern whether it was fair to view the Ryan plan as a sneak peek into the governance of a potential Republican majority. Absolutely, Stern said.
“[Ryan] and Eric Cantor are the future of the post-Boehner group. For a group of people who keep saying we want to come to the table because we have all kinds of ideas, particualrly new ideas, these look like bad ideas,” Stern said.
“John McCain’s idea for health care was the same as Paul Ryan’s, and the American people rejected that,” Stern added. “Had he won the presidency, this is what the fight would be about in Congress. If Paul Ryan became the chair of the Budget Committee, and Cantor and [House Minority Leader John] Boehner were the leaders of the House, this is what the fight would be about in Washington.”
Stern says it’s incumbent upon Democrats to provide results, and use their own accomplishments to juxtapose their policies with the Republican alternative. And on that score, they’re doing rather poorly.
Voters, he said, “haven’t seen the change they wanted with this administration with Democrats in charge of everything.”
“People will always hold their nose and vote when the alternatives are bad. But it would be nice if people rushed to the polls,” like in 2008. “We can’t just rely on the hold your nose theory. We have to rely on…we really got things done.”
On a scale of one to 10, how have Democrats done on that score over the last year?
“About three or four,” Stern says.
