Republicans React to Obama’s Jobs Plan

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


For what it’s worth, here’s an email I got last night from a friend who watches a lot of Fox News:

Don’t know whether it means anything at all, but I was pretty shocked by the relatively mild reaction on my ferociously anti-Obama Fox Business shows and Greta Van Susteren’s show on FNC. Aside from Greta, all the rest of them, Fox hosts, GOP pols, business owners and financial types were quite lacking in their usual shrieking hostility.

Since they usually screen these people’s opinions really precisely before booking them, I have to conclude that some sort of word has gone out through Fox channels to go easy for some reason. Fox Business host David Asman tried to rile up the business and financial types, and failed, but it was pretty half-hearted and he didn’t pursue it.

I’m not saying these people raved about the speech, but there was a marked lack of the routinely super-hostile reaction to anything Obama says or does. Even Michele Bachmann was not her normal fire-breathing self on Greta.

As I say, I don’t know if it means anything, but it was quite striking to me. Something’s afoot here that’s a little different than what we’ve become so used to, it does seem.

I don’t know if it means anything either. But the GOP leadership also reacted mildly, and I do think that this is basically the smart play for Republicans. Obama’s goal is to persuade voters that he’s the last reasonable man in Washington and that Republicans are a bunch of slavering ideologues. How do you defang that? Easy as 1-2-3. First, make sure your reaction to his plan is muted and sober. Second, agree to consider his entire plan and give it a fair hearing. Third, pass one or two pieces of it. This wouldn’t have enough impact on the economy to really affect the election, but it would simultaneously make Republicans look sober and judicious (we passed a couple of items!) and also fiscally responsible (we tossed out all the goodies for special interest groups!).

We’ll see. Keeping everyone reined in won’t be easy. But this would unquestionably be the smartest possible way for Republicans to handle Obama’s proposal.

WE'LL BE BLUNT:

We need to start raising significantly more in donations from our online community of readers, especially from those who read Mother Jones regularly but have never decided to pitch in because you figured others always will. We also need long-time and new donors, everyone, to keep showing up for us.

In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't find elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

payment methods

WE'LL BE BLUNT

We need to start raising significantly more in donations from our online community of readers, especially from those who read Mother Jones regularly but have never decided to pitch in because you figured others always will. We also need long-time and new donors, everyone, to keep showing up for us.

In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't find elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate