Barack Obama in Young Guns, by Rep. Paul Ryan, Rep. Eric Cantor & Rep. Kevin McCarthy

On Budget & Economy: OpEd: Stimulus vote turned GOP into "party of No"

President Obama and his spokespeople would describe our opposition to the stimulus bill as our coming out as the party of "no." He accused us Republicans of making a calculated, political decision to oppose him on the stimulus bill instead of doing what was right for the country. He charged then (incorrectly), as he later would repeatedly, that we had already made the decision to oppose the stimulus bill before we even heard his proposals.

But sometimes saying "No" is what's right for this country--an all 178 Republican members said just that to President Obama, Speaker Pelosi, and Leader Reed's pork-laden stimulus package.

In a sense, President Obama had been correct when he identified the stimulus vote as a turning point--he was just wrong about what message it sent to the American people. Far from revealing us as the party of "no," our solidarity in the face of the majority party's bullying tactics revealed us to be an awakening movement of responsible leaders.

Source: Young Guns, by Reps. Ryan, Cantor & McCarthy, p. 52-56 Sep 14, 2010

On Jobs: OpEd:Believes Keynesian theory that government spurs economy

Throughout a series of meetings with Obama administration officials on the stimulus bill, it became clear that the president's team were fervent believers in the economic theories of a British economist called John Maynard Keynes, whose theories were developed in the mid-20th century. Keynesian theory says that government can create jobs and spur economic development simply by spending--even spending money it doesn't have. The idea is that government can be counted on to spend more wisely than the people. By taking more of the taxpayers' money--or borrowing or simply printing more money--and then spending it as the government sees fit, jobs will be created and the economy will grow. Or so the theory goes.

I rejected this approach. We believed then as we believe now: it is small businesses--driven to innovate, invest and grow--that will regenerate the millions of sustainable jobs we so desperately need.

Source: Young Guns, by Reps. Ryan, Cantor & McCarthy, p. 46-47 Sep 14, 2010

The above quotations are from Young Guns: A New Generation of Conservative Leaders, by Eric Cantor, Paul Ryan, and Kevin McCarthy. Click here for other excerpts from Young Guns: A New Generation of Conservative Leaders, by Eric Cantor, Paul Ryan, and Kevin McCarthy. Click here for other excerpts by Barack Obama. Click here for a profile of Barack Obama.
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