Sen. Dick Durbin (John Gress/Reuters)
Like our own
Georgia Logothesis, Steve Benen is
dismayed to find out where Sen. Dick Durbin is getting his budget advice.
Also over the weekend, we learned that Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), the gang's only professed liberal, noted that he's heard Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) deliver "the doomsday speech"—the one in which the right-wing Oklahoman explains how the debt will destroy civilization as we know it—and was apparently worn down by it. "He has convinced me," Durbin said. "This is serious, and if we don't do something, and do it quickly, bad things can happen, in a hurry.
Perhaps now would be a good time to note that Coburn, a physician with no background in economic, fiscal, or monetary policy, doesn't really understand these issues.
Now, chances are Durbin is smart enough to not actually take the word of a non-economist political hack as gospel (we sure as hell hope so), so what is up with his flirting with disaster? Last week, Greg Sargent speculated that it was just a bit of kabuki on Durbin's part.
I wasn’t crazy about Durbin’s recent claim that the “Gang of Six” should seek middle ground between Obama’s and Ryan’s proposals. But I wonder if there is something a bit more complex going on from Durbin than first meets the eye.
My understanding of the dynamic here is that Dems like Durbin believe that the only conceivable way to keep Republicans at the table discussing increased revenues from the wealthy is to keep unspecified “changes” to Social Security on the table, too. Dems believe that if they rule out any changes at all to Social Security, it gives Republicans on the “Gang of Six” an easy opening to walk away from high end tax hikes. I’m not agreeing with that assessment, just reporting it.
The bottom line is we don’t yet know what Durbin will agree to on Social Security.
Except that Coburn has made no bones about the fact, as far as he's concerned raising taxes is absolutely not on the table. So if Durbin is just trying to puff Coburn up in order to keep those negotiations going and has absolutely no intention of really negotiating on Social Security, it doesn't seem to be working.