Rahm Emanuel: "It's not enough for Democrats to oppose hasty reopening. We should offer a plan"

[brooklynite]

Washington Post

Trump wants to color this moment as one in which he is leading America forward and Democrats are dragging their feet. It is a narrative that falls nicely into his grievance-driven worldview. Each time we resist his efforts to reopen the economy, we come off as that much more effete and out of touch. He’s setting a trap for us.

And in politics, you can’t beat something with nothing. Rather than centering our agenda on resistance to the reopening he intends to trumpet, Democrats should respond by explaining how we intend to rebuild America.

To be clear, the issue here isn’t policy — or even economics. It’s culture. Democrats are so aligned with data, science and logic that we’ve lost sight of why so much of the country is skeptical of expertise. It was the elites who claimed we’d be welcomed as liberators to Iraq, where we would find weapons of mass destruction. It was the elites who talked up collateralized mortgages, and then bailed out Wall Street while Main Street suffered. In too many cases, the elites have gotten the big ones wrong and never paid any price.
AD

Partly as a result, Trump’s insistence that the country reopen resonates. Set aside that he’s substantively responsible for the carnage: This is the first national crisis that hasn’t received a national response — and the consequences are obvious to everyone. Trump is keen to pose as the lone voice sticking it to the haughty, know-it-all institutional experts, but he doesn’t have any idea how to get us out of the current economic and medical morass.

Democrats need to move beyond resistance, reluctance and mere relief. Americans are hurting today — and many fear, quite understandably, that the millions of jobs and small businesses destroyed by the pandemic may never come back, even when the lights come back on. Reopening the economy isn’t going to bring back all the jobs lost at both the big chain outlets such as J.C. Penney and at all the neighborhood retail storefronts. Maybe most pointedly, reopening the economy won’t do anything to protect the Michiganders whose lives were destroyed when obsolete dams burst, flooding huge swaths of Midland County.

[ProfessorGAC]

1. Hard To Argue Against

Sitting & waiting won't fly with an antsy populace.
I don't know what the plan looks like, but one is needed, along with a compelling sales pitch.

[Amishman]

6. yup, we need a well thought out plan, along with detailed and targeted further aid

Here is a dump of ideas that I think need to be at the front.

Extension of the enhanced unemployment benefits, though perhaps adjusted so that it can no longer go over 100% of the prior income. This needs to be tied to the next idea.

Federally paid COBRA. Continuing health insurance while unemployed is ruinously expensive.

Further small business assistance, especially targeted towards businesses that cannot operate at full capacity or at all.

incentives for bringing jobs back to the US, steal a sliver of the Pubs America! playbook. Especially if its manufacturing and the new production methods would be greener. Work improved nation of origin product / food labelling into this.

Revise the restriction structure to be federally administered through FEMA and the CDC, with congressional (preferably House only) oversight. Rework the criteria to be based on hospital capacity/utilization, go back to the Flatten the Curve concept - which was easily understood and accepted.

Coordinate and fast track vaccine trials, and provide accurate and realistic information on these. I am upset at the hype and manipulation being done around this, seemingly for stock market profiteering.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

2. Democratic Governors

ARE developing re-opening plans for their states, which are, in most cases, more responsible than what Republicans are proposing. But Republicans are wanting the doors flung wide open and "human capital stock" shipped back to work no matter how bad things still are with the virus, which won't work. Republicans are still mocking and encouraging resistance of basic measures to help prevent more spread of the virus. Plus, there are still lots of individuals whom have immune system issues whom can't just run right back out until we have better treatments or a vaccine. Once again, it's important to remember that we only have limited control over things like viruses. Rahm is entitled to his opinion but it is not particularly helpful here.

[berni_mccoy]

3. Elizabeth Warren has put forward a plan

It involves extensive testing and contact tracing and offers an economic plan that will preserve the economy.

[Freethinker65]

4. Individual States have plans. Some based on science, some based on loyalty to Trump.

[FakeNoose]

5. Rebuilding the infrastructure - that's where new jobs will be created

I think Rahm Emanuel's pointing to the fact that so many jobs just vanished into thin air. Even when the economy "recovers" or "opens up" there are a lot of jobs gone. What are the Democrats doing about creating new jobs?

After the Great Depression, FDR ushered in the New Deal for creating jobs and rebuilding infrastructure. It will need to happen again, and we all know that Chump could never do it. No Republican would ever be able - it has to be Democrats that pull this off. None of this will happen overnight of course, but plans must be formed now for years to come.

A lot of manufacturing jobs are being taken over by robotics, and it's already been happening. Now with the Covid pandemic we've seen many service sector jobs also being uprooted. Either service disappears and we learn to live without, or we accept the robotic options and make-do. Either way, these service sector jobs are being wiped out daily. Some service jobs are safe (for now) because they are beyond the ability of robots to perform correctly and economically. As an example, America's plumbers and electricians will always have employment because no robot can be built to do their jobs well.

But Rahm Emanuel's point is that far-thinking Democrats must form this plan, this NEW New Deal, because no Republican could ever conceive it. I really agree with him!