Fosters Daily Democrat - McCotter Focused on Voicing a Strategy for Turning the Economy Around

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By Jennifer Keefe

There's a couple things about Thaddeus McCotter that he points to when explaining why he's had difficulty getting his message out to the American people.

The guitar playing, Detroit-born Republican, who in his campaign for president has railed against the Wall Street bailouts and advocates for the U.S. to "deal with communist China the way they deal with us," says he cannot be pigeon-holed.

"People say, 'Is he a Ron Paul libertarian? Is he a Rick Perry/George Bush Texas conservative? Is he a Mitt Romney kind of Wall Street business guy? Is he a Tea Party guy?' My answer is I'm a Republican. I'm Generation X. I was a Republican because of (former President Ronald) Reagan. I liked the foreign policy; I saw what worked and what didn't. I think that's the problem."

Poised and matter-of-fact, McCotter laid out his thoughts during a meeting with the Foster's editorial board Friday on the steps the nation needs to take to turn itself around.

In the wake of Wednesday's GOP debate that saw presidential hopefuls Mitt Romney and Rick Perry at the front of the pack, and President Barack Obama's jobs speech Thursday, McCotter had plenty to say about what the next president needs to do.

"We're missing an opportunity to deal with a fundamental problem in our economy," he said, noting the housing crisis and failed Wall Street bailout. "Unless we can go in and fix the failed Wall Street bailout banks, you're not going to have the central problem addressed and the economy will remain stagnant."

He suggests a more free-market approach to banks handling foreclosed-upon properties and said backing off some of the heavy government regulations would result in banks starting to get money back and the housing market would begin to stabilize.

Voters can expect to see a bill to reform Social Security McCotter will unveil today. He wouldn't go into great detail Friday about the bill's contents, but provided a "teaser."

"The goal is to reduce the long term debt of Social Security without having to raise the retirement age, without cutting the benefits, without raising the tax and without privatization," he said, adding the question now is how to find cuts in existing government general revenues to fund the plan.

McCotter said Perry's statements recently that Social Security is a "ponzi scheme" is simply an "inelegantly articulated" way of saying the system is unsustainable.

"He was pointing out that it's a broken system and it has to fixed, or it's going to collapse over time," McCotter said.

Romney, he said, is making a mistake "trying to pretend he's a Democrat" and arguing people want to get rid of the program.

Noting he hasn't heard much from his opponents about national security, McCotter stressed the U.S. needs to take a look at the long-term strategic challenge China presents.

He laid out in no uncertain terms how China should be viewed and handled. He calls the country "communist China," adding, "When they change, I'll change."

He suggests dealing with the Chinese like they deal with the U.S., looking at them for what they are and treating all of their trade violations in a "comprehensive fashion."

"We are in a trade war with communist China; the question is do we defend ourselves or not?" he said.

On foreign policy, McCotter said he wouldn't have done what Obama did in Libya, but believes congress shouldn't "cut the legs off the president" once he's committed American troops.

In the Middle East, McCotter said the best way to avoid any type of military conflict with a tyrannical regime is to help their people be free. He supports giving Iraqis and Afghans a "reasonable opportunity to be free so that they can't be killed as they try to build a Democratic government."

And a withdrawal at this juncture, he said, is bad policy.

"For the U.S. to say to the people of Iraq and Afghanistan, 'goodbye,' you're not only causing a major propaganda victory for your enemy, you're doing something more damaging -- you're breaking the word of the U.S. and abandoning them," he said. "What happens when you abandon them is something quite frankly I can't sleep with."

He calls himself a "peace through strength guy" and said the U.S. should intervene overseas when there is an immediately clear and present danger and when it's in the best interests of American security.

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