It’s easier for the rich man to get to heaven than it is to find a Republican happy with this round of quantitative easing. Lanhee Chen, speaking for the Romney campaign, set the tone early: QE3, he said, was an acknowledgment that the Obama administration’s policies had failed. Pretty hard to argue with that. No one would be running cap-in-hand to the Fed if unemployment was falling below 6 percent. In an interview with Good Morning America (airing Friday), Romney himself said the same thing.
What Bernanke’s doing is saying that what the president’s saying is wrong. The president’s saying the economy’s making progress, coming back. Bernanke’s saying, “No, it’s not. I’ve got to print more money.”
So say they all. Rep. Scott Garrett, who’s next in line to run the Budget Committee:
While the president’s poor economic performance and misguided policies have left our country with perpetually high unemployment, the Fed should not continue down its extreme and dangerous path of conjuring up risky and ineffective programs in order to get a short-term bump in the stock market. Who exactly is this helping?
Rep. Tom Price, who chairs the Republican Policy Committee:
Reckless spending by President Obama and Washington Democrats on failed stimulus packages, preferential industry bailouts and a takeover of health care have added trillions to the national debt but they have not helped get the country back on track to strong economic growth and job creation. The Federal Reserve is acknowledging as much in their decision to ignore the recommendations of investors and economists and embark on this latest, open-ended effort.
Rep. Kevin Brady, top Republican on the Joint Economic Committee:
Chairman Bernanke should look President Obama and Congress in the eye and tell them the Fed has done all it can to boost the economy—and perhaps too much.
The clearest statement I’ve seen comes from Rep. Raul Labrador, a blunt-talking freshman from Idaho (and who’s safe as milk for re-election):
It is going to sow some growth in the economy, and the Obama administration is going to claim credit.
If Bernanke was avidly concerned with Obama’s prospects, wouldn’t he have done this sooner? Doesn’t matter. This is the explanation we’re going with—Bernanke wants Obama back in there. Take it away, Drudge.
