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NOV. 3, 2011 -- Chris Matthews on Hardball keeps complaining about Democratic members of Congress and the Cabinet not campaigning for the President; not enthused about Obama.
Elected
to the United States Senate seven times, I know about the running for
re-election on Presidents' policies. In fact, my re-election in 1998 can
be attributed in large measure to my vigorous opposition to President
Clinton's NAFTA with Mexico. Tell me the Obama policy that I can run on for re-election.
Now comes
Chris Matthews in Time (11/7/11) writing of "Five Things JFK
Could Teach Obama." JFK could teach Obama two more important things:
get the government off steroids and create an industrial policy for the
United States. We paid
for the Revolutionary War with property taxes. We paid for World War II
with payroll taxes. We have always paid for our wars until Presidents
Bush and Obama. Both cut taxes and refused to pay for wars, prescription
drugs, bailouts, and the increased cost of government. It took the United
States over 200 years to accrue a national debt of $1 trillion in 1981.
Given a balanced budget, President Bush increased the national debt $5
trillion in eight years. President Obama will have increased the national
debt $5 trillion in four years. Borrowing a trillion dollars a year, the
voters next November will be worried about getting the government off
steroids - not "growth." President Kennedy added only $22.8
billion to the debt in his four fiscal years. President Kennedy paid for
government. In March
1961, President Kennedy convened a Cabinet hearing which determined, next
to steel, textiles were most important to our national security. In May
1961, JFK enforced the Defense Production Act of 1950 to protect the textile
industry. Failing to protect steel, the Bay Bridge in San Francisco was
just rebuilt with eight miles of steel from China. Beginning with the
Tariff Act of 1789, this nation was built on manufacture and always protected
manufacture. Ronald Reagan protected steel, motor vehicles, computers,
and machine tools. Instead of begging Russia for helicopters for Afghanistan,
President Obama ought to protect those industries necessary to our national
security. Instead, the President continues to subsidize the off-shoring
of our research, technology, manufacture and jobs. The five
things Matthews listed that JFK could teach Obama: You've Got to Ask;
Create a Political Band of Brothers and Sisters; Take Responsibility;
Believe; Show the Vision, were all the result of JFK's policies. We can
develop an industrial policy for the United States by enforcing our trade
laws and taking the tax benefit to off-shore jobs and giving it to Corporate
America to on-shore jobs -- cancel the corporate income tax and replace
it with a 6% VAT. This provides billions to pay down the debt and creates
millions of jobs. It's the policy, stupid! Senator Hollings of South Carolina served 38 years in the United States Senate, and for many years was Chairman of the Commerce, Space, Science & Transportation Committee. He is the author of Making Government Work (University of South Carolina Press, 2008). © 2011, Ernest F. Hollings. All rights reserved. Contact us for republication permission. |
About Fritz Hollings Ernest F. Hollings served the public for 56 years -- 38 years in the United States Senate and as South Carolina's governor, lieutenant governor and a member of the S.C. House of Representatives. Today, Hollings continues to be influential in public affairs and offers this Web site as a compendium of current and past positions on public issues. Learn more about Fritz Hollings. Receive commentary via The Huffington Post Please visit Sen. Hollings' section of The Huffington Post where you can get an RSS of his columns, subscribe by email or use social media. The Hollings legacy Click here to learn more about Hollings' impressive and distinguished record of public service.
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The
University of South Carolina Press in 2008 published