There have been a lot of diaries lately more or less arguing the same thing, namely that the President is getting ready to ask progressives to eat a shit sandwich. They are right. What most are missing, however, is that the fact that Republicans will also be eating a shit sandwich. And there you have the art of compromise. Everyone walks away from the table with the taste of shit in their mouths.
Everybody knows the sacrifices that liberals are making in the proposed compromise framework that is emerging: cuts to programs liberals care about, reduced goverment spending at a time when the country needs more government spending, no new revenues. But most of you think the President and the Democrats have been out-negotiated. That's where you are wrong.
What is emerging is a deal where no one can plausibly claim victory.
Take a look at it from the Republican perspective. They are preparing to vote for the largest debt ceiling increase in U.S. history. Don't think that fact is lost on them. They are going to point to all of the concessions they wrung out of liberals to try to insulate themselves from the heat that is going to be coming at them from the tea party, but make no mistake - every Republican who votes to increase the debt ceiling is likely to face a serious primary challenge from the tea party right and they will have ads running against them that say: "Representative so-and-so voted to give President Obama the largest debt ceiling increase in U.S. history."
If you don't believe me, take a look at some of the comments that followed an op-ed piece by Douglas Holtz-Eakin over at the National Review the other day:
07/26/11 23:32
With friends like national review, who needs democrats?
MSSoCon
07/26/11 23:26
Let me narrow this article down, cut away the hyperbole, the rah-rah comments and the make-believe numbers. BOEHNER'S PLAN IS A SELL OUT!
I want to ask the Tea Party Freshmen one question - IS THIS WHAT YOU CAME TO WASHINGTON TO SUPPORT? Looks just like the same-old, same-old type of 'deal' that the GOP Leadership has petted itself on the back time and again about while they sold us out.
We have a plan in place, Mr. Speaker! It is called CAP, CUT AND BALANCE. If you can't push that plan then it is time for you to be replaced. I've asked my Congressman to push for a vote of NO CONFIDENCE in you and to also vote against your latest gimmick plan. You really are contemptible, Mr. Speaker.
Either LEAD or get the hell out of the way!
mike cassis
07/26/11 21:53
We were going to be @25 trillion in debt in 10 years. After Boehner's plan, it will be only $24 trillion ( and probably another $100 trillion in unfunded liabilities. Boehner says they can't do better because we don't have the White House. Why does the other side never have to say that because they don't have the House? Because Boehner is not a leader. And National Review is the new Weekly Standard. Pathetic.
MAFV
07/26/11 21:35
GOOD FREEKIN' GRIEF
worleyeoe
07/26/11 21:28
This is my first comment, so please be kind. I am quite fiscally conservative, despite what one my read into this comment.
What ever happened to real tax reform? 50% don't pay taxes, while corporate tax loop-holes abound. Sure real entitlement reform is the elephant in the room, but we're not going to balance the budget on spending cuts alone. In fact, that's a recipe for hastening a double dip recession.
Kirk
07/27/11 09:52
The 50% that don't pay taxes are certainly not the rich. Many of the low income actually receive tax refunds or credits. I agree on the Corporate Welfare or the ones that are aligned with the Democratic (Obama) bail outs that now pay no taxes (GE)
ProfNickD
07/26/11 21:16
"medium-term discretionary controls"
There is no such thing as a "medium-term" budget, a "long-term budget," a "ten-year budget" or anything else other than an annual budget because the legislation of one Congress is not binding on future Congresses. Future Congresses will pass their own budgets that will, inevitably, cancel out any spending reductions.
The only budget cuts that will be real are those that occur in the next fiscal year's budget. All others will be overridden.
Either Holtz-Eakin is monumentally ignorant of this basic fact, or he is lying.
Now, understand that the compromise that appears to be emerging moves the line a little bit in Democrat's direction from the Boehner Plan discussed above - a plan for which John Boehner couldn't round up enough votes to pass. The main concession Democrats will be getting relative to the original Boehner Plan is that the debt ceiling will be off the table until after next years election. And they will have gotten it in exchange for some painful cuts that can be blamed on the Republicans, but they will have gotten it without fundamentally changing the structure of our government and our safety net.
A lot of people have been unfavorably comparing President Obama's negotiating skills to Bill Clinton's, but that's just looking at history through the rose-tinted glasses of nostalgia. Do you all remember ending welfare as we know it? Nothing President Obama has put on the table comes close to so fundamentally weakening our safety net. If conservatives could impose that kind of drastic restructuring of the safety net, they could plausibly claim victory. But they can't.
Most of us would prefer to see the President come riding in on a white charger, armor gleaming in the sun and quickly and mercilessly dispatch his enemies at the end of his lance so that we could all sit down at the banquet table and celebrate his and our triumph. But that ain't going to happen. Given the make up today's Congress, that can't happen.
No. Both parties are going to push away from the table feeling completely unsatisfied and feeling more than a little sick. That is the art of compromise in a divided government.