The Dick Morris Depression

Dick Morris is all over the Internet this week pleading with John McCain to attack Barack Obama on tax issues, arguing that Obama's proposed tax increases will ... cue theme from "Halloween" ... cause another Great Depression!

Scary stuff. It would be scarier if that depression hadn't already begun, but I digress. For reasons I cannot fathom, Democrats always get skittish when it comes to rebutting Republicans on economic issues. Republicans think that because they have a minute-to-minute obsession with the value of Dow Jones Industry Average, they understand economics better than we do. It would be laughable if we didn't let them get away with it.

We need to take on idiocy like Morris's aggressively. So here are 10 reasons why his current theory is harebrained:

1) Concede just for the sake of argument that Morris had a point. Obama has been remarkably adept so far at altering his plans on the fly ... he could very easily get away with an argument that he'd delay tax increases until the recession is over. In fact, in Obama's downloadable economic platform "Keeping America's Promise," there's no mention of raising anyone's personal taxes. Clearly this is something that could be delayed, with credibility.

2) In that plan I mentioned above, Obama is offering a wide range of tax cuts for non-wealthy Americans, including most recently a tax cut for energy costs. So if tax cuts are good for the economy (an argument I do not believe we should concede, but regardless, one we can counter) then Obama has an edge on McCain.

3) The argument that tax increases on the rich hamper growth has been used by Republicans for decades ... yet growth during Democratic administrations is much faster than during Republican administrations ... including during the Clinton administration, which had higher rates of taxation of the wealthy than Obama plans to enact. People do remember the 90s, Dick, even if you've somehow forgotten how good the Clinton economy was.

4) Dick Morris suggests that McCain trots out a bunch of economists to make the case for the Obama depression. This is laughable politics ... does really buy this crap? Obama could do the same thing on a range of issues, such as the gas tax holiday. It doesn't mean it's a good or effective idea.

5) At another point Morris made was that McCain shouldn't be concerned about his lack of economic knowledge. Why? Because, Morris says, "We know McCain will surround himself with capable people?" That's a laugh. Like Phil Gramm, recently booted from the campaign. Or maybe chief McCain economics advisor Douglas Holtz-Eakin who recently said "I used to say that Barack Obama raises taxes and John McCain cuts them, and I was convinced. I stand corrected." So maybe Holtz-Eakin is capable ... he just contradicts everything else Morris says.

6) Obama is basically asking for nothing more than a partial repeal of the Bush tax cuts ... cuts which McCain voted against twice.

7) Consistently in polls, Americans rate health care costs as one of if not the most significant economic issue facing their family. Obama scores very well on health care, even in the most Republican friendly (Rasmussen) polls.

8) Bush has seriously weakened the Republican brand on economic issues and McCain offers nothing substantially new.

9) Neither party has any credibility in reducing spending ... and the Republican tax advantage is dying fast as Americans begin to grow worried about running up the national credit card by borrowing the money from China. It's either tax and spend or borrow and spend. Which course costs more jobs? It's not the political slam dunk Morris thinks it is. Americans are terrified of inflation and understand that a weak dollar means higher prices.

10) Does Morris really want a Republican out on the stump warning about a depression? When's the last time that a gloomy non-incumbent won a Presidential election? Dick Morris knows American politics well enough to know that the more optimistic Presidential candidate almost always wins. Even Nixon in '68 had a sunnier message than what he's proposing for McCain.

My theory is that Morris is proposing that McCain take a stand he's highly unlikely to take, just so he can maintain a "told you so" pose throughout the campaign and maintain some street cred with conservatives for future races. After all, what Morris cares about most is making money. And you never cost yourself money in consulting standing up for the rich guys.

Views expressed on this page are those of the authors and not necessarily those of Campaign for America's Future or Institute for America's Future