Barack Obama is strong in the polls and is enjoying his
second honeymoon in Washington. Once again, he’s Time Magazine’s “Person of the Year”.
However, this lovely year is dying and, as in 2008, the year
approaching is killing the holiday spirit. Rather than boast about the last
campaign or act as though it holds all the cards, Obama’s White House keeps
trying to compromise with Republicans.
Rather than only exempting income under $250,000 from higher
tax rates, he now proposes to exempt income under $400,000. Furthermore, he’s
agreed to constrain the growth of Social Security payments. Overall, he’s
offered a plan that is less liberal than many Democrats would like, but
sufficiently conservative to rally the support of business and moderates.
Overwhelmingly, they see their interests best served by incremental restraint,
incremental deficit reduction, and incremental revenue enhancing tax changes—whatever
a majority of legislators and the President agree is necessary to sustain the
recovery and avoid another crisis that would make America look stupid.
Obama doesn’t talk about bi-partisanship anymore; he just
scorns extremists and those who avoiding making a deal. Also, he says he’s
prepared to keep negotiating. This is making some influential liberals very
uncomfortable. Are Democrats reverting to
Wimps? Timothy Noah asks in today’s post for The New Republic.
Calling a politician a “wimp” can be dangerous. Remember
George Bush’s first term? However, this isn’t Obama’s first crisis, nor is it
his first term. Politically and legislatively, he’s done quite well settling
for what often appeared at the time as less than half a loaf.
Daredevil liberals presume that Obama finally has sufficient
political capital to intimidate the more pragmatic Republicans and shouldn’t be
compromising anymore. If those blockhead Republicans don’t give in voluntarily they
can be bullied into after Washington, Wall Street and American self-confidence
goes over the “Fiscal Cliff”. Whoopee!
If only politics was only theatre and its artists
controlled the scripts. Winning on fiscal policy, however, isn’t ever clear-cut
or permanent. New Deal Democrats didn’t get through their agenda before they
were thrown out. Reagan and Thatcher conservatives didn’t undo big government
or even change the public’s habit of turning to the state for help and
solutions.
Before risking another recession that—in advance—looks
manageable, liberals should recall why they feel like winners, and why that
feeling could be fleeting.
They won, in large part, because millions of Americans
decided that Obama offered a more careful
Presidency than the alternative. And they want a careful President because the
economy and America’s stature are recovering.
Maybe there is no honorable deal to be had over the next ten
days. However, insisting Obama win big in this lame duck Congress carries immeasurable risk. Historically, economic prosperity has been good for liberal
incumbents. And retrenchment has been very tough.
Avoiding another recession and the scorn of the world are
not only the responsibility of wimps. Obama’s extraordinarily liberal
agenda—immigration reform, now gun control, implementing universal healthcare,
advancing gay rights, and possibly, securing election finance reform—needs the
climate of generosity and confidence that economic prosperity inspires.
Going over the “Fiscal Cliff” could destroy John Boehner.
However, returning to mean times could save the Tea Party in 2014.
No comments:
Post a Comment