Washington and Lewis Carroll

The Hill, which is a major news source on Capitol Hill quotes Michigan congressman Bart Stupak as saying “We’ve got to see an uptick by August or the Democratic majority is in jeopardy.” Indeed, with the Howard Fineman article in Newsweek and a number of other rumbles the President has had a fairly rough month. But when I read representative Stupak's comments I thought a lot about the rabbit in Alice in Wonderland, at least Disney's version of it. At one point the rabbit sings "I run and then I hop, hop, hop,I wish that I could fly,There's danger if I dare to stop,And here's the reason why,You see, I'm overdue, I'm in a rabbit stew,
Can't even say "Goodbye", "Hello" ,I'm late, I'm late, I'm late."

But even though I think a lot of the Administration's policies will come to naught (of even less), I think it is a bit too early to believe as representative Stupak seems to. There are a couple of reasons for that. #1 - The economy may recover, in spite of the Administration's spending plans. I am quite concerned about the level and direction of the stimulus policies that have been enacted thus far and a planned. In the long term they are likely to actually dampen economic growth. The WSJ economist panel gives the Administration an F on their economic efforts so far, and from my perspective that is about right - too much spending of borrowed money. But long-term is not 2010. #2 - Michigan may be a special case. Michigan has labored under special circumstances for some time. The combined weight of the brilliance of the auto industry as a base and the current socialist ingenue as Governor (Jennifer Granholm) would help to produce an almost 12% unemployment rate almost anywhere. Stupak's district is in an area that is outside the economic mainstream, the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, so he may be either a leading indicator or an outlier. #3 - The Republicans could screw it up. Based on the performance of the Administration so far, I would give them a B+ for lofty rhetoric and a C- for execution. It is pretty clear that the GOP has not lived up to either standard. An essential rule of politics (probably not true either at the end of Carter or Bush II's years) is that in politics you always have to run against someone. Let's see which side gets their game together. I am far from a cheerleader for this administration, but I think it is a bit early to throw in the towel.