Rep. Chris Van Hollen, member of the House of Representatives and chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, came and spoke at the School of Public Policy this afternoon. The topic: Policy Challenges Facing the 112th Congress. Ok, I know that he's a politician, but I expected that because his party just got smoked in the election, because he's a public policy grad, and because there's no way he's losing an election any time soon that he'd be a little more forthcoming about actual policy options.
After an hour of Van Hollen talking I learned only about one policy option that he supports: raising taxes on those making over 250k. Every time he got close to talking actual policy, he ended up veering off into banal generalities. When someone asked about the Debt Commission's recommendations for fixing Social Security, he said that they were all part of a package to be considered and then ridiculed the Commissions recommendations on Medicare without providing any alternatives.
So, no clearly defined policy options. But, he did provide us with a few nuggets about why the Democrats think they got shellacked in November. 1. The Republicans received a lot of secret money 2. A bad political climate 3. A high unemployment rate. That's right, nothing about a growing dissatisfaction with runaway spending and unpopular bills. I don't mind if Democrats say, "we know we got shellacked because of our policies but we think that what we did was right and we're ok with it." instead, they come with a bunch of reasons why they lost which don't really get at t basic unpopularity of their policies. Oh, Rep Van Hollen said that the major discussion that the Democratic Caucus had after the losses was about how to fix their message. Not a thoughtful discussion about policy, but how they should have spun their message. Pathetic.
Anyway, a major disappointment. It's not like the Republicans are inspiring a lot of love in me right now either. Rumor has it that their first order of business is to try and repeal the Health Care law as if that's a viable option. After that, try want to hunker down until 2012. Inspiring.
After an hour of Van Hollen talking I learned only about one policy option that he supports: raising taxes on those making over 250k. Every time he got close to talking actual policy, he ended up veering off into banal generalities. When someone asked about the Debt Commission's recommendations for fixing Social Security, he said that they were all part of a package to be considered and then ridiculed the Commissions recommendations on Medicare without providing any alternatives.
So, no clearly defined policy options. But, he did provide us with a few nuggets about why the Democrats think they got shellacked in November. 1. The Republicans received a lot of secret money 2. A bad political climate 3. A high unemployment rate. That's right, nothing about a growing dissatisfaction with runaway spending and unpopular bills. I don't mind if Democrats say, "we know we got shellacked because of our policies but we think that what we did was right and we're ok with it." instead, they come with a bunch of reasons why they lost which don't really get at t basic unpopularity of their policies. Oh, Rep Van Hollen said that the major discussion that the Democratic Caucus had after the losses was about how to fix their message. Not a thoughtful discussion about policy, but how they should have spun their message. Pathetic.
Anyway, a major disappointment. It's not like the Republicans are inspiring a lot of love in me right now either. Rumor has it that their first order of business is to try and repeal the Health Care law as if that's a viable option. After that, try want to hunker down until 2012. Inspiring.
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