Then They Wonder Why They Aren't Believed
By: Mark Tapscott
Editorial Page Editor
December 11, 2008
You can learn a lot just by observing things like the juxtaposition of events as they unfold here in the nation's capital (there must be a Yogi-ism in that somewhere).
Take, for example, revelations about Joe the Plumber's talk on the campaign bus with John McCain, the looming approval of the Dulles Rail Project, and the 11,391 "infrastructure projects" the nation's mayors want Uncle Sam to fund.
Politico reports that Joe was "appalled" by answers he got from McCain about the $700 billion Wall Street bailout then being debated. McCain and other bailout supporters said it would restore confidence in the nation's banking system and get credit flowing again. It has done neither.
"When I was on the bus with him, I asked him a lot of questions about the bailout because most Americans did not want that to happen … I was angry. In fact, I wanted to get off the bus after I talked to him," Joe said. By contrast, Joe's appraisal of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is that "she is the real deal."
Joe's frustration with McCain supporting a bailout that most Americans opposed illustrates the increasingly common phenomena of Washington politicians - 97 percent of whom we routinely re-elect - passing measures despite significant public opposition.
Then there's the $2.5 billion boondoggle known as the Dulles Rail Project (DRP) that in the near future will almost certainly replace Boston's Big Dig debacle atop the list of massive federally funded public works scandals.
The DRP will extend the Metro system through Tyson's Corner through Reston to Dulles Airport. Advocates in government and their media allies claim DRP will reduce traffic congestion on Northern Virginia's horribly clogged roads when in fact it will likely make things worse.
Even so, a $900 million down payment is about to made on the project by the Transportation Department despite years of multiple reports in this newspaper and from within government detailing the flaws in the project.
The project will spend billions on a mass transit system that will mainly benefit two groups. The first group is the minority of daily mass transit commuters whose transportation will be paid for by the vast majority of people who drive to work.
The second group will be the handful of wealthy developers who own land in Tyson's Corner and along the rest of the route. The developers will become even more wealthy while taxpayers and commuters are soaked.
Finally, look at the thousands of infrastructure projects the mayors want included in the economic stimulus package soon to be approved by Congress. Supporters of the package claim it will create millions of new jobs, fix the nation's crumbling roads and bridges, and boost the national economy back to prosperity.
The mayors' list includes literally thousands of special interests projects that benefit local politicos, but have nothing to do with restoring the nation's deteriorating transportation infrastructure.
As The Reason Foundation's Robert Poole ably reported in yesterday's edition of The Wall Street Journal, the mayors' priorities include such gems as a $2.5 million Waterfront Duck Pond Park for Hercules, CA, $6.7 million to expand the Lifestyle Center in LaPorte, Texas, and a $9.5 million sports complex for Natchez, MS.
Note the common element here – politicos promise one thing, but deliver something quite different, and always with far higher costs than originally estimated for spending that too often ends up mainly benefiting the politicos and their allies.
With the credibility of the political class – as measured by public confidence in the president and Congress – at all time lows, there is an important lesson in the intensely positive chord struck by Palin with people like Joe the Plumber.
Palin appeals to them precisely because she's not an insider and can therefore be trusted. Nobody knows her future, of course, but dismissing her as an inexperienced rube from the frontier almost certainly will strengthen her standing with Middle Americans.
Mark Tapscott is editorial page editor of The Washington Examiner and proprietor of Tapscott's Copy Desk blog on dxexaminer.com.
