Sweet partisan nectar from the Treasury Secretary:
In an exclusive interview with CNN chief White House correspondent Jessica Yellin, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner made his first remarks about the eurozone debt crisis since the G-20 summit in Cannes, France. During the sit down, Secretary Geithner pressed President Obama’s jobs message and took aim at Republicans who are blocking the administration’s agenda saying, “there’s no Republican plan to create jobs and economic growth.”
Haven't you heard? We can't wait to pass the President's tax-and-spend retread "jobs" plan because the GOP's got absolutely nothing to offer. Except, that is, for a substantial group of esteemed economists who say that the Republican approach to jobs creation is superior to President Obama's doomed Stimulus 2.0 push:
Republicans are taking issue with the White House’s contention that Obama’s $447 billion jobs package will have an immediate impact on job creation. Later this morning, House Speaker John Boehner will unveil a list of 132 economists from such institutions as Harvard, Stanford and the University of Chicago rejecting that idea and arguing that the GOP’s approach is better for the economy in the short and long term.
Let's engage in some deductive reasoning for a moment. In order for dozens of celebrated economists to endorse the GOP's approach to job creation, that GOP approach must actually exist. Indeed it does, and it focuses primarily on the issue a large plurality of small business owners cite as their top concern: Regulatory relief. Those plans, incidentally, shouldn't be confused with the Obama jobs agenda items they've already help implement -- like ratifying three free trade agreements, passing patent reform, and repealing a three percent withholding provision affecting government contractors. Someone inform Secretary Geithner. On second thought, strike that. He knows. He's just playing political games as the economy continues its excruciating stagnation. Why, it's almost as if Democrats are hoping nothing will pass so they can continue ladeling a "party of no" narrative to a lazy and compliant media. Leadership.