White House Senior Advisor David Axelrod conceded this morning on ABC News’ This Week that there wasn’t “a great appetite” on Capitol Hill for more spending to stimulate the economy, but called on Democrats and Republicans to support more tax relief for small business.
Everyone wants the administration to do something about jobs, but the mainstream political opinion among both voters, Congress and the press is that the administration should follow Rick Santelli over, say, Paul Krugman and "stop spending!" But the only way the administration and Congress can create jobs in the near term is to pass more stimulus.
There aren't enough votes, of course. So what are we left with? Tax cuts. Which won't create jobs in the near term. The president and the Democrats are now effectively sabotaged, and millions of unemployed Americans with them. I sincerely hope the administration intends to make a big stink about this, but with many Democrats supporting the idea of tax cuts over stimulus, I don't know how that will happen.