House Republican Whip Eric Cantor gave President Obama a thumbs-down thus far as the newly elected commander-in-chief. "I don’t think that everyone would give him good grades," Cantor said. Cantor was appearing at a Monitor-sponsored breakfast.
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Eric Cantor on Limbaugh and on Washington overreacting to the economy
By Dave Cook | 04.02.09
House Republican Whip Eric Cantor warned Thursday that the budget House and Senate Democrats are poised to pass is a “radical departure from what most Americans think” government spending should be and risks overreacting to the nation’s economic crisis.
When word of Cantor’s comments at a Monitor-sponsored breakfast were posted on Politico.com, the Democratic Party responded immediately. “On the day we learned that jobless claims rose to their highest levels in 26 years, Eric Cantor’s charge that anyone is ‘overreacting’ to this economic crisis typifies the Republican just say ‘No’ approach,” said Democratic National Committee spokesman Hari Sevugan in a statement.
Rush’s role
Mr. Cantor, the second-ranking Republican in the House, spoke of overreacting in response to a question about Rush Limbaugh’s role in the GOP. “Rush has got ideas. He’s got following. He believes in the conservative principles that many of us believe in — of lower taxes, or making sure that we turn back towards a focus on entrepreneurialism in this country, to promoting innovation and not stamping that out by overreacting, if you will, which this town often does, to crisis,” Cantor said.
He then went on to paraphrase President Obama’s chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, as saying, “we are not going to miss the opportunity to take advantage of this crisis because we are going to do all the things we couldn’t get done before.”
Obama’s grade: incomplete
When asked to rate Mr. Obama’s job performance, Cantor replied in quite a measured way for a top political spokesman. “As a personality, he is very engaging, he is very smart. He is historic,” Cantor began. The Virginia Republican noted that the president had not yet been in office 100 days. “I don’t think that everyone would give him good grades. Obviously the selection of cabinet nominees has been very, very rocky. I think on the issue of most import — the economy — the jury is still out. Some of the moves have not been effective. I think the markets and the investing public are really sitting there wondering what is going on.”
Those who were looking to Tuesday’s congressional election in upstate New York for a sense of what the public is thinking about Obama’s policies did not get clarity. The election was for the House seat vacated when New York Gov. David Paterson appointed Kirsten Gillibrand to the Senate to succeed Hillary Rodham Clinton. Democratic political newcomer Scott Murphy, a major supporter of Obama’s policies, was locked in a tight race with longtime Republican state legislator Jim Tedisco, an Obama critic. Republicans have a 75,000 voter advantage in the district. The results were so close the race will be decided by absentee ballots.
“I think it is a tremendous showing,” Cantor said of the outcome, given “the enormous amount funding that the other side put into this race.” He claimed the results to date showed, “the middle-of-the-road folks who determine elections … are not embracing this out-of-control spending, this increased borrowing and the prescriptions coming from Washington.”
Cantor said he was “very confident” that Republicans will pick up House seats in 2010, and he did not rule out the prospect of regaining a majority.
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3. Richard Robinson | 04.02.09
Its difficult to understand how Bush got off the hook and already the Republicans are trying to blame everything on Obama. For how many years did Bush blame everything on Clinton? Bush inherited a budget surplus after the longest economic expansion in American history. He left us with the great expansion of government spending since Johnson and the worst economic situation since the great depression. To say that the democrats are overreacting is just denial. The republicans need to own that their policies failed and join in the work of correcting things.
5. msgijoe | 04.03.09
Rep. Cantor’s remarks are expected of a Republican politician. His focus is on the Republican party, not that of the country. Obama’s popularity and ability to speak to the issues facing the country is making Cantor’s job tough. The Republican party still has not grasped that is the economy that has the attention of the voters. The squandering by Bush of Clinton’s surplus and Bush’s diddling while the economic health of the country developed severe chills and fever during his eight years is not going to be easily forgotten by the voters. Republicans need to digest the lessons provided by this costly economic collapse and help forge the effective regulatory safeguards that a robust capitalistic system needs. Not every capitalist is a crook but there are enough to smear the reputations of the honest ones.
6. Wendy Horn | 04.03.09
It is not about repub or demo, it is about standing up and saying what is right and what is wrong. let your yea be yea; and your nay be nay. Wake up people. Be an individual. That doesn’t mean selfish. Do the right thing and be ok with it, don’t apologize for things you can’t control or are not a part of. I resent the fact that politicans apologize for America as a whole when it is only the politicans that need to apologize for their actions. I resent the fact a politican is going to tell me how to live my life, what water energy food etc I can have or use. I don’t want to destroy the earth and I have been frugal for the most part all my life. I don’t want some radical person(s) telling me how to live. I follow the rules of life the best I can, that is all I can do, but lately these rules coming out Washington DC are very troubling.
7. Dwight Stafford | 04.03.09
I find it interesting that the Republicans are tooting the fiscal responsibility horn when the Bush admin was anything but fiscally responsible. Sure, the Obama budget is agenda driven (whose isn’t?) but at least there is an attempt to lay aside all the tricks and gimmicks that have hid the deficits for so long.
8. AdamG | 04.03.09
So Washington tends to overreact and go into crisis mode. They then use the crisis to implement some type of agenda. It worked after 9/11, so why not now? The difference is that now the government is trying to overhaul medicare, our energy infrastructure and social programs. Previously a crisis was used to invade two countries, retract civil rights and expand the wealth gap between the rich and the poor.
9. Siam Erzuah | 04.03.09
Eric Cantor and the rest of the GOP guys behave as if they are men. However, anytime they are confronted with a question about Rush Limbaugh, they start shaking as if they are gripped by parkinson’s. They are so scared of Rush, if he were to ask them to dive into the sea and die, they will obey with grin on their faces. I marvel at how these brilliant GOP men in congress allow themselves to be TOWED around by this fat fool. Rush tells them to jump, and they ask, “how high”? How can America respect and vote for you guys when you cannot stand on your feet and say anything to this moron who has nothing but hate for our president? Mr Cantor, please, grow some balls and be your own man.
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Jimmy Orr has worked in politics for the majority of his professional career working for two U.S. Senators, two Governors and one President. Most recently, Orr served as White House Spokesman and Internet Director for President George W. Bush and Special Advisor to Governor Schwarzenegger for Internet Communications.
David Cook is Washington bureau chief of The Christian Science Monitor and host of the Monitor's newsmaker breakfasts. He was the Monitor's editor from 1994 to 2001. Cook is a graduate of Principia College, served in the U.S. Army, was a Bagehot Fellow at Columbia University, and is a member of the Gridiron Club, Washington's oldest journalistic organization.
1. janet gaines | 04.02.09
I agree that the amount of spending is over reacting and the Dems are using the financial problems as a way to push their agendas. I hope this is held in check by2010. Obama has many friends who profitted by the housing bubble and helped bring it on. When it comes to accountablity the justice department should check out the folks and fannie may and freddie mac and the congress who did not manage them well. And find out Why and who profitted and make them give back the bonuses.