I thought I'd take a moment to show a little love for our embattled president. After Katrina, Bush suspended the Bacon-Davis act, which requires that government contractors pay the prevailing wage to its workers, for Katrina-related recovery. The claim was that giving substandard wages to those rebuilding the Gulf Coast would help keep costs down and allow us to build more bridges to nowhere.On Wednesday Bush reversed his decision and declared that Bacon-Davis would go back into effect Nov. 8. Sure, it would've been nice if he'd done it sooner, and it would've been nice if he'd made it retroactive, but we have to take what we can get. It's going to take a long time to fix the mess down there, and it's good to know that the folks doing the fixing will get a fair wage.
This is one of the only times I can recall Bush throwing out a hastily made, bad decision and replacing it with a good one. (He's halfway to a repeat with the Miers withdrawal . . .) I'm hoping he'll get lots of positive feedback for this move and realizes that when you change your mind FOR GOOD REASON, there's really nothing to be ashamed of.
6 comments:
I don't think he reversed himself here on the merits. The Democrats were actually making a strong stand on this in the House, and it probably would've been another defeat for Bush if he'd pushed through. Check this post at TPM Cafe for more.
But you're right -- for whatever reason, Bush backed down from a bad idea. Maybe he's not entirely dense.
Maybe.
"I'm hoping he'll get lots of positive feedback for this move and realizes that when you change your mind FOR GOOD REASON, there's really nothing to be ashamed of."
Nah, fuck him.
I'm with OM, he didn't do this for any of the right reasons, he did it because he had to for one reason or another.
In theory, I'd like to agree that Bush can learn and evolve from mistakes and be a mature, reasoned and open-minded decision maker. But we all know that isn't an option. This is happening because his 8-ball told him to do it...
This is happening because his 8-ball told him to do it...
Do you mean a Magic 8-Ball, or a container of Bolivian marching powder?
Both.
Yeah, you guys are right. (Also, it looks like the big reason "moderate" republicans wanted Davis-Bacon reinstated was because of their fear the region would be flooded by illegal immigrants. Of course, the companies that hire the illegal immigrants, such as Haliburton, are good people.)
Praising Bush is hard work. Really hard.
This was not a change of heart. This was a lack of political capital. The dems used an obscure rule to force a vote. The WH couldn't muster enough thumb screws to get the repubs to vote against working people in such an obvious fashion, so they caved.
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