Old, Tired Thinking

After 9/11, Republicans repeatedly accused Democrats of having a "pre-9/11 mindset" that didn't take into account how the world had fundamentally changed as a result of September 11, 2001. I'm glad to see somebody is calling out Republicans (and more than a few Democrats) for now having a "pre-recession mindset."

What are we left with? Republicans are pushing the same tax cuts they wanted before the recession. They're making the same arguments about spending they offered before the recession. They're engaged in the same petty games they enjoyed before the recession. In the midst of "an all-hands-on-deck emergency that's as trying as war," and in "the throes of a catastrophic economic crisis," the failed minority party, ignoring the election results, public opinion, and everything we know about economics, have the same approach to the economy that they had at this point a year ago. And the year before that. And the year before that.

In fairness, the administration is not without fault. Too many Treasury Department offices are empty, in large part because of the administration's vetting process. For that matter, administration officials, as Paul Krugman explained this morning, "don't want to face up to the dire state of major financial institutions because it's very hard to rescue an essentially insolvent bank without, at least temporarily, taking it over. And temporary nationalization is still, apparently, considered unthinkable."

But at least the president and his team recognize the crisis for what it is. Perhaps, one of these days, Republicans will shake their "pre-recession mindset" and improve the government's ability to respond to the economic 9/11.

And that's true, all the way across the board. It's time for Plan N, guys.

Bite the bullet and do it.