House Democrats may have passed the global warming bill that promises to hamstring the economy this week, but the GOP put up a fight that may prove strong enough to help derail it in the Senate. Yes, it was a losing effort, but they darn near overcame insurmountable odds in the very Left-leaning House. In that effort, they accomplished something that may pay off incredible dividends down the line, as well – the GOP leadership finally coalesced around a singular message to push between now and 2010. The message might be painfully obvious – who isn’t in favor of job creation? – but legislators have begun to effectively tie it into several major ongoing debates.

1. First of all, they have used it to battle back against Obamacare. Knowing that the voters don’t see the public option as an evil bogeyman anymore, Republican efforts have finally shifted away from the ’93/94 playbook and into a more modern argument. They’ve begun to make the case that squeezing out private options in favor of a government-backed plan is an industry-killer, in addition to whatever benefits it might provide. Certainly, other claims are dominant in this defense (rationed care, lack of specialization in US hospitals, etc), but the debate this time has a much more varied, ‘attack on all fronts’ feel to it.

   Your first thought at mention of health insurance providers and hospital administrators isn’t usually about those poor people and how they’re going to put food on their table, but cold numbers on jobs lost hits hard in this climate. It’s a hard argument to make, but it seems to be gaining ground with people all over.

2. Legislators are weaving the jobs refrain into attacks on the stimulus, too. That seems obvious enough, but the focus has been on highlighting administration failures in understanding the principles of job creation, which can then be repeated ad nauseum in the other debates. Certain subsets of the population will always vote for handouts over job opportunities, but the realistic fear that there will soon be much less to hand out without significant job creation is an effective tool.
3. GOP officials are also pushing concerns over job creation in the cap-and-tax debate. People like the idea of stopping global warming – they don’t care as much as the environmentalist zealots would like them to, but they prefer it slightly to doing nothing. When fiscal restraint and responsible budgeting were not enough to dissuade people in this area, the data on economic costs served their purpose by causing 50 Dems who have to answer to their constituents to break ranks. Also, the economic concerns look like they may be sufficient to kill the bill in the Senate, forcing those who did not break with the Left to answer for their job-killing business tax hike in the next round of elections.

   Hard numbers related to how much we might lose in foreign direct investment because of this never even came up. Legislators didn’t even have to talk about domestic jobs that would have been created if not for this bill that are now lost. After nailing the administration on its wishy-washy stimulus jobs created/saved numbers, the GOP was able to stay away from such flimsy arguments by talking about how many current positions would be lost and what the bottom line would be for individual families.

House leadership may have lost round one of that last debate, but they went down fighting, which means that any more negative press on it (like the leaked EPA cover-up) will only serve to prove them right all along in the minds of the public as this bill fights an uncertain battle in the Senate.

These individual battles are planting seeds in the minds of voters, so that when they realize that the one-time stimulus-funded projects haven’t created any sustainable work in their communities, there is a known place to look for answers. When the fairy tale is over, and people decide to vote for jobs instead of the hope for jobs, the GOP is beginning to position themselves as the ones who will be there ready to undo all of the damage and false promises. We just have to hope that people realize its time to look for answers before its too late and the damage is done.

Last 5 posts by Gideon D'Assandro

• The Reality of Racial Politics - August 17th, 2009
• Thank God Obama's President - August 3rd, 2009
• Health Care Coverup - July 23rd, 2009
• The Suppressed EPA Report’s Effect on Healthcare - July 12th, 2009
• Social Conservatism Going Forward - July 5th, 2009