by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700

Copyright June 9, 2009
All Rights Reserved.

         Looking to rise from the ashes after eight years of former President George W. Bush, the Republican Party scrambles for a new leader, looking backward to former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Georgia).  Recent battles between Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele and conservative radio icon Rush Limbaugh underscored the civil war within the GOP.  Putting former Vice President Dick Cheney in front of the microphones backfired, causing more doubt about GOP leadership.  Responding to the SOS, Gingrich, whose high-pitched voice and well-publicized infidelities, attacked President Barack Obama’s economic recovery plan as “already failed.”  Speaking to the Republican House and Senate Campaign Committees, the former House Speaker blasted Barack’s stimulus program.  Gingrich pinch hits for Bush, now viewed by the GOP as radioactive.

            Gingrich, a regular contributor and analyst on Fox News, couldn’t launch a presidential campaign because of low interest and poor fundraising.  His keynote address, less than a year-and-a-half before the 2010 midterm elections, signals his intent to keep himself under consideration for the next go-around.  Gingrich was especially critical of Barack’s takeover and bailout of General Motors, calling the president’s economic stimulus and recovery plan a failure.  “Bureaucrats managing companies does not work, politicians dominating the economy does not work,” Gingrich told 2,000 Republicans looking for some red meat.  Newt found it difficult to criticize Bush for doing the exact same thing on the advice of former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson and Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben S. Bernanke.  Now that economic recovery is in Barack’s hands, it’s a whole new ballgame. 

            Newt pushed hard for Bush’s $750 billion toxic asset bailout plan called TARP, attempting to provide liquidity to the nation’s cash-strapped financial institutions, including J.P. Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo.  He didn’t object to bailout of GM, Chrysler, American International Group [AIG], Bear Stearns, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and a host of other insolvent institutions under Bush.  Now that the burden of fixing, what former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan called “a once in a century economy event,” falls on Obama, Gingrich has nothing good to say.  With Steele and Rush defaulting, the GOP hopes that Gingrich, the once vaunted nemesis of former President Bill Clinton and leader of the so-called 1994 “Republican Revolution,” steps in.  You don’t see Alaska Gov. and former GOP VP candidate Sarah Palin picking up the slack.  Her notoriety hurts the GOP.

            Gingrich and other congressional Republicans, especially Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio), like to pin the nation’s economic woes on Obama.  They hasten to point out how Barack’s economic recovery plan hasn’t worked.  They offer no explanation for their unconditional support of Bush’s comparable bailout program.  Gingrich ignores the 30% rise in the U.S. stock market since Obama took office in mid-January.  Nor does Newt admit improvement in U.S. credit markets, with several TARP-recipient banks asking to pay back the government sooner than expected.  Newt criticizes Barack’s continued bailout of GM and AIG but offers no alternative plan, other than letting the free market place take care of itself.  Gingrich knows that Bush and Obama followed the exact same advice from the nation’s leading economists.

            :Looking for traction in an otherwise sinking Party,  McConnell called Obama’s recovery plan a “radical agenda,” drumming up the socialist label.  No such labels were attached to Bush when he and Paulson spent billions bailing out the nation’s destitute financial institutions.  Republicans have “watched them [Democrats] take over banks, insurance companies, auto companies,” said McConnell, blowing more smoke than a Kentucky barbeque.  “And now they want to take over your health care,” taking a swipe at Obama’s health care agenda.  McConnell and Gingrich know that Bush did exactly the same thing, including passing the biggest increase in Medicare spending ever, launching the Part D, prescription drug plan.  Republicans want to blame the nation’s economic and foreign policy ills on Obama but he hasn’t rolled out more than 6% of his economic stimulus and recovery plan.

            Looking to resuscitate a moribund Party, Gingrich fed the GOP red meat, blaming Obama for everything but the kitchen sink.  Keynote speaker actor John Voight called Barack a “false prophet,” insisting, “we are a weak nation,” disowning the eight-year slide under Bush into oblivion, leaving the nation in a foreign policy and economic mess   Gingrich touts himself as having answers but has no idea other than free market capitalism to fix the nation’s economic woes.  Last week Gingrich called Barack’s Supreme Court pick, 5th Circuit Court Judge Sonia Sotomayor, a “racist” for facetious remarks to law students in 2001 about how she, as a Latina, makes better decisions than her white male counterparts.  Gingrich needs to explain why he had no problem watching Bush bailout various financial institutions but, suddenly, when it’s a Democrat doing the same thing, he’s so alarmed.

About the Author

John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He's editor OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.

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