Should Obama fire his economic team?
House Minority Leader John Boehner demanded mass firings in the West Wing. Would Obama be smart to listen?
House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) Monday called on President Obama to fire his entire economic team, from Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and top economic adviser Larry Summers on down. Vice President Joe Biden thanked Boehner for his "very constructive advice," then accused him and the rest of the GOP of driving the economy into the ditch in the first place. But with the economy apparently stalled again, should Team Obama take Boehner's advice seriously? (Watch a Fox discussion about Boehner's advice)
It's good advice — Obama should listen: Voters are understandably ticked off that Obama's policies have failed to produce any "real growth or jobs," says Ed Morrissey at Hot Air. And no amount of White House spin will change that. So in telling Obama to axe his economic team before voters take out their anger on his party in November, "Boehner may have given Obama the best political advice he could get."
"Boehner to Obama: Fire your economic team"
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"Cheap attacks" won't create jobs: If Boehner's "depressing blend of tired ideas, tired-er one-liners... and cheap attacks" is the best Republicans have to offer, says Ruth Marcus in The Washington Post, they're clearly more interested in "posturing" than actually governing. Calling for the heads of Geithner and Summers is "the cheapest" of his ideas, but none of his other vague prescriptions — slam the brakes on spending, in the middle of a recession — can be taken seriously, either.
"Boehner's cheap opposition strategy"
Boehner achieved his objective: "Mass firings" of Obama's advisers wouldn't "accomplish anything substantive," says Doug Mataconis in Outside the Beltway, since their replacements would "largely agree with the Geithner/Summers ideas." But that misses the point: It is "good sound bite material," and it's brought "the focus of the political debate back to the economy," which is where the GOP needs it to be for the next two months.
"Boehner to Obama: Fire your economic advisers"
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