OLBERMANN: For more on the politics, in particularly the economic
fallout from this latest White House cave, I am joined by Jeff Madrick,
a senior fellow at the Roosevelt Institute. Thanks for coming in,
Jeff.
JEFF MADRICK: Nice to see you.
OLBERMANN: And we're also plugging the fact, again, that you're
author of the excellent book "The Age of Greed," but you already knew
that. All right, setting aside the optics and the substance behind the
optics, whether Congressional Republicans can hear it or not, whether
that deadbeat dad, Representative Joe Walsh, is not going do show up or
not, what is the president now need to say, and is it -- does it have to
be stronger than it would have been yesterday before this scheduling
fiasco?
MADRICK: I think he has to be bold.
OLBERMANN: Yeah.
MADRICK: I know it's hard to be bold. I know his advisors are
talking about all the obstacles. I know keeps talking about going after
those independents we just talked about, but the country is in a mess.
The American job machine is broken. He can say we didn't know, even a
year ago, what we know today.
The economy has stalled in the last six to nine months. Tomorrow
morning, we get some jobs numbers. If they're bad, that should give him
some ammunition to come out fighting. Whether he will come out
fighting, I don't know. He can say the facts change, and as John
Maynard Keynes once said, as you know, "When the facts change, I change
my mind. What do you do, sir?"
OLBERMANN: Yeah. All right, so the role model here is the -- it
was quoted 400 times today, the F.D.R. speech about Republicans in the
mid '30s, or is it thinking bolder, think John F. Kennedy announcing we
are going to put a man on the moon by the end of the decade and instead
saying, by the end of 2015 we're going to have added 1.5 million, 2
million jobs to this economy, whether the Republicans like it or not.
MADRICK: I think we have to do something like that, and I think
it can be done. It can be done through investment programs. We talk a
lot about it. We have to get serious, better infrastructure, energy.
It can be done through an F.D.R. Washington hiring program. There is a
lot to be done in America.
OLBERMANN: Right.
MADRICK: There's a lot to be done by lawyers for poor people.
We've been reading about that. There's a lot to be done by young people.
The old and the young need jobs. There are many ways to go about
this, but it will take spending money.
OLBERMANN: Mm-hmm.
MADRICK: I think what he can tell the American people is, do you
want a dumb deficit, or do you want a smart deficit? If we don't do
something bold, we're going to get a dumb deficit and lots of people out
of work and malaise. We can do a smart deficit, and get us working
again.
OLBERMANN: Is his goal to make an immediate impact and say,
"Okay, in six months, we're going to be here; in 12 months, we're going
to be here," when it's clear the Republicans would further tank the
economy that they have already tanked, one could argue, well back into
2007, certainly into 2008, or does he say, "I got 14 months until the
election. In 14 months, you will get to vote on whether or not you want
people in here who are actively trying, against all odds and all
political opposition, to create these jobs for you or these schmucks
over here who are supporting the corporations and the moneyed interests
that wants to keep every dollar bill so they can have something to use
after they go to the bathroom rather than spending on giving you a job"?
Does it become a campaign speech, or is there something practically he
can do in the next 14 months?
MADRICK: He has to get Republicans to vote for his plans.
OLBERMANN: Well, there it is.
MADRICK: There are probably some executive actions he could
take, if he were bold enough. He hasn't shown much of that. He can
probably do some things without congressional support, but I've long
maintained he can put the onus on the Republicans. If you don't do
this, Americans won't have jobs, and he can tell the American people
over and over again that story, and I believe it will sink in, and I
hope he and those people around him believe it will sink in.
OLBERMANN: The easiest practical way is infrastructure. Is it
something as simple as saying, look at the east coast, at all of the
power that is out a week after a hurricane. Why, in many communities
that could support the economics of the process, why do we still have
overhead power lines? Let's dig up every street in America and put the
power lines in the ground.
MADRICK: Very good point.
OLBERMANN: How many jobs would that be by itself?
MADRICK: Lots of jobs. It is infrastructure, but it is direct
job creation. It's getting some money to state and local governments
because they are firing people.
OLBERMANN: Yeah.
MADRICK: Let's get them to stop firing firemen,
policemen and teachers. Let's plug that hole. There's a lot to do. I
like infrastructure, energy investment. Get the feel that America is
working again, and I think Americans are finally, getting, even those
who don't travel, are getting the fact we have a pretty primitive
infrastructure system, and I love it when I hear Republican governors
asking for help from FEMA.
OLBERMANN: Yeah.
MADRICK: We've got one nearby in New Jersey.
OLBERMANN: Yes, he was praising the president for his personal
involvement in New Jersey, and you sit there and go, "Then promise New
Jersey 250,000 jobs that are related to infrastructure," or say, "And
we're going to add 200,000 teachers to the American economy in the next
four years. And predicated on, and I need the Republicans to vote this,
and I need them to vote that, and if they don't do it, you know who to
blame."
MADRICK: Exactly.
OLBERMANN: But if it's coming out with another one of these we
need to work together and people get past the bickering in Washington,
it's just going to go right through people.
MADRICK: If he goes that direction, I think he'll be in serious trouble. People have had it with this compromising soft talk.
OLBERMANN: I think you're exactly right.
MADRICK: And it's just not going to gain any respect from anybody, right or left or center, which he seems to be most interested in.
OLBERMANN: Yeah.
MADRICK: This is a perfect Roosevelt moment.
OLBERMANN: Exactly.
MADRICK: This is the time to pull the guns out of the holster.
OLBERMANN: Figuratively speaking, of course. Jeff Madrick, Roosevelt Institute Senior Fellow, as always, thanks for coming in.
MADRICK: Good to see you.
OLBERMANN: On the other hand, there is the Republican
presidential field, one of them sees oil deposits under the Everglades
that geologists can't see, another of whom is trying to sell himself as a
man of the people because he flies Southwest and eats at Subway and
then tweets pictures of himself doing so, and a third of whom suddenly
has a Mitt Romney-like problem. Turns out, he not only supported
government health insurance, in the last 10 years he supported
international government health insurance. Rick Perry, adios.
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