In his Times opinion column this morning, David Brooks urged Republicans to adopt a singular focus on the financial crisis as a way of countering President Obama’s agenda. As Brooks wrote:
Republicans could admit that they don’t know what the future holds, and they’re not going to try to make long-range plans based on assumptions that will be obsolete by summer. Unlike the Democrats, they’re not for making trillions of dollars in long-term spending commitments until they know where things stand.
…
Do I expect them to shift course in this manner? Not really.
But Brooks appears to have underestimated his own influence. Senior Republicans came out in force today to contend that the financial crisis was getting short shrift from the White House, expanding on the “Obama is distracted” meme that Matt has blogged about this week to accuse the president of not tackling the economy as intensely as he should.
House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) relayed the new message loud and clear, as The Hill reports:
Following the GOP’s weekly conference meeting, the second-ranking House Republican told reporters that President Obama should be focusing on the “economic crisis,” as opposed to holding four-hour meetings on healthcare, as the president did last week. The efforts may be laudable, Cantor said, but the White House should be devoting all resources to fixing the economy and not to “impose these cap-and-trade schemes.”
And Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-AZ) echoed the assertion that Obama’s team needs to do more intense work on the economy. “I wish Secretary Geithner and the president would actually begin to solve the problem that’s Number One, the credit crisis,” he told me today, urging the president to “attend to the problems of the most importance to our country first.”
The GOP also seems to be moving forward on Brooks’ other recommendation this morning: the introduction of a coherent conservative alternative to the Obama administration’s financial policies. Ideas under consideration include a tax credit to homebuyers who make a 5% down payment, tax benefits for those who sell investment properties … and likely more breaks in the tax code.
