As Republicans voted against the $789 billion stimulus package en masse again today, they were also publicly declaring that this ultimately unsuccessful strategy was actually a victory. The whole process was a blessing, they said, because they have now “found their voice,” as if that fact is supposed to send a shiver down Barack Obama’s spine. In actuality, it probably means the complete opposite.
We all remember when Hillary Clinton declared she had “found her voice” after the New Hampshire primaries. It was her come from behind victory, her springboard to the nomination. And then she promptly got beat up in South Carolina, Super Tuesday, and about ten additional primaries.
Three months later, according to her biggest supporter Gov. Ed Rendell, she “found her voice” again in Pennsylvania and Ohio. Unfortunately for her, this was also the time everyone realized it was almost mathematically impossible for her to win the nomination.
John McCain was also great at “finding his voice.” He actually found it a bunch of times. He was hoping he found it when he claimed, upon hearing about the Leyman Brothers collapse, that “The fundamentals of our economy are strong.” But most people thought his real voice-finding experience was when he finally stopped beating around the bush and started calling Barack Obama a “socialist”. Others think it was in his final days, which were marked by his obsession with Joe the Plumber. Whichever time it really was, we know it was after McCain’s own advisers knew he couldn’t win and didn’t know whether they should tell him.
So, the Republicans can claim victory in the face of reality with this stimulus bill. They can smile for the cameras and say they finally “found their voice.” But that press conference will make me smile, too, because it can only mean one thing: they can’t win and they know it.