Comments on: Trustee or Delegate? The Impact of Controversial Votes on Democrats in the 2010 Midterms http://sites.middlebury.edu/presidentialpower/2010/11/27/trustee-or-delegate-the-impact-of-controverisal-votes-in-the-2010-midterms/ A NonPartisan Analysis of Presidential Politics Wed, 21 Nov 2012 15:45:52 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 By: Matthew Dickinson http://sites.middlebury.edu/presidentialpower/2010/11/27/trustee-or-delegate-the-impact-of-controverisal-votes-in-the-2010-midterms/comment-page-1/#comment-18313 Matthew Dickinson Fri, 03 Dec 2010 15:31:55 +0000 http://sites.middlebury.edu/presidentialpower/?p=8711#comment-18313 Zach – You may be right regarding the relative efficacy of tax cuts versus government spending when it comes to stimulating the economy. Politically, however, the Democrats had little choice but to meet at least some of the Republicans half way – as I recall, without Snowe and Collins there’s no bill at all. Tax cuts was the price these Republicans extracted. Note that comparatively speaking, the stimulus bill passed rather quickly.

Health care was a different animal – here the long drawn out legislative process certainly cost Democrats in terms of public support for the legislation. But I’m not sure what they could have done differently, particularly after Brown’s win in Massachusetts.

]]> By: Zach Drennen http://sites.middlebury.edu/presidentialpower/2010/11/27/trustee-or-delegate-the-impact-of-controverisal-votes-in-the-2010-midterms/comment-page-1/#comment-18308 Zach Drennen Mon, 29 Nov 2010 22:58:02 +0000 http://sites.middlebury.edu/presidentialpower/?p=8711#comment-18308 With the issues of the stimulus, the cap-and-trade system, and the Health care bill, one of the major issues was the lack of a strong push by Democrats. I think that Republican delaying tactics significantly weakened the bills, as did the less-than-dramatic results. Too much of the stimulus was spent on tax cuts to try to gain non existent Republican votes; too little was spent on infrastructure spending and other items that could further help cut unemployment. Tax cuts don’t have nearly as much of a multiplier as direct spending.

]]>