The Obama campaign should make t-shirts, bumper stickers, lawn signs, and posters with this simple slogan. Here's what the President said this morning:
"Either we have to ask the wealthy to pay their fair share, or we have to ask seniors to pay more for medicare, or gut education. This is not class warfare. It's Math."
Monday, September 19, 2011
The Texas Miracle
It seems that Rick Perry's credentials as a "job creator" just took a bit of a hit. Some of the jobs in Texas were public sector jobs and, as there are less of those, Texas's unemployment rate is reverting towards the national average.
As the President said this morning ... "it's math."
As the President said this morning ... "it's math."
Monday, September 12, 2011
Stuff That Makes You Say "Really?"
George W. Bush says the most nerve-wracking moment of his entire presidency was throwing out the first pitch in Game 3 of the 2001 World Series.
This explains a lot about his presidency actually.
I happened to be at the game and I can honestly tell you that wasn't even in the top 10 list of nerve-wracking things that day.
This explains a lot about his presidency actually.
I happened to be at the game and I can honestly tell you that wasn't even in the top 10 list of nerve-wracking things that day.
Friday, September 9, 2011
Obama's Rope-A-Dope
I have long said that Obama employs a rope-a-dope strategy with his opponents. He's done it over and over beginning with his primary campaign against Hillary Clinton in 2007 and 2008.
For months and months, he has allowed the Republicans to punch and scream and yell and generally make asses of themselves. Many on the left have been disappointed and even angry with Obama for not punching back. But Obama knew two things:
1) Punching back was not going to work. He cannot beat public opinion into submission.
2) By not punching back, he allowed the Republicans to have center stage ... which is the absolute worst thing that could happen to them. It turns out their ideas and plans are simply crazy and nihilistic.
This first phase is now over and Obama is now Ali coming out of the crouch and punching back. Like Foreman, Republicans are now unsure what to do and are caught a little bit flat-footed.
If you've missed the 2008 Obama, he's coming to a television near you soon.
For months and months, he has allowed the Republicans to punch and scream and yell and generally make asses of themselves. Many on the left have been disappointed and even angry with Obama for not punching back. But Obama knew two things:
1) Punching back was not going to work. He cannot beat public opinion into submission.
2) By not punching back, he allowed the Republicans to have center stage ... which is the absolute worst thing that could happen to them. It turns out their ideas and plans are simply crazy and nihilistic.
This first phase is now over and Obama is now Ali coming out of the crouch and punching back. Like Foreman, Republicans are now unsure what to do and are caught a little bit flat-footed.
If you've missed the 2008 Obama, he's coming to a television near you soon.
Friday, August 12, 2011
Monday, August 8, 2011
The Criticism of Obama
Maureen Dowd has a moronic op-ed out today. Drew Westen's is even dumber. I would link to them but the quota of ignorance in society has been reached. Check back tomorrow.
Regardless, Andrew Sprung and Jonathan Chait have dismembered Westen's stupidity well enough.
The important point in all of this is that liberals need to stop fantasizing about how they think the political system ought to work but never, never, ever has. Hey Krugman, you think the stimulus bill wasn't big enough and relied too much on tax cuts? Me too. When we play fantasy politics, maybe we can invent a political system run by liberal economists. In the real world, Obama got what he could get. Hey Moulistas, you think Obama sold us out on the public option? Show me the 60 votes you rounded up in the Senate in support of it.
Barack Obama is President in the real world where Republicans control the floor of the House of Representatives and have a veto over legislation on the floor of the U.S. Senate. For all his rhetorical gifts, Obama cannot move these unmovable objects. Neither could Reagan. Neither did FDR. Those are myths and fantasies.
Regardless, Andrew Sprung and Jonathan Chait have dismembered Westen's stupidity well enough.
The important point in all of this is that liberals need to stop fantasizing about how they think the political system ought to work but never, never, ever has. Hey Krugman, you think the stimulus bill wasn't big enough and relied too much on tax cuts? Me too. When we play fantasy politics, maybe we can invent a political system run by liberal economists. In the real world, Obama got what he could get. Hey Moulistas, you think Obama sold us out on the public option? Show me the 60 votes you rounded up in the Senate in support of it.
Barack Obama is President in the real world where Republicans control the floor of the House of Representatives and have a veto over legislation on the floor of the U.S. Senate. For all his rhetorical gifts, Obama cannot move these unmovable objects. Neither could Reagan. Neither did FDR. Those are myths and fantasies.
Saturday, August 6, 2011
What S&P Did Wrong
S&P downgraded US debt and argued it did so because the debt ceiling was not raised in a timely manner and because the US Congress and the administration are not working together well to resolve the long-term debt issues.
Now the blame game begins. Republicans will blame Obama and Obama will blame Republicans. That's how most Americans will see it anyway. Ezra Klein argues S&P was right to downgrade US debt, even arguing it was overdue. As a purely economic matter, S&P probably is right. But what Klein fails to point out and what the media will ignore (because of their "norm of objectivity" which is not actually objective) is this: S&P is to blame for the downgrade ... because they did not blame congressional Republicans. Had S&P and the larger Wall Street community stepped in and asked Republicans to be more reasonable and to stop playing around with the nation's debt ceiling, none of this would have happened. Because S&P tried to stay out of politics even when they knew who was right and who was wrong in this dispute, the Republicans pushed ahead with this outrageous and destructive political strategy. And worse, they now feel empowered to do it all over again and again and again. Even in the downgrade, S&P could have said that Republicans need to compromise on taxes. Instead, S&P said Republican intrangisence on taxes is equivalent to Democratic intrangisence on entitlements. That's just not true. It is untrue. It is wrong. S&P is lying ... in order to appear objective.
In essence, S&P is causing the downgrade
Now the blame game begins. Republicans will blame Obama and Obama will blame Republicans. That's how most Americans will see it anyway. Ezra Klein argues S&P was right to downgrade US debt, even arguing it was overdue. As a purely economic matter, S&P probably is right. But what Klein fails to point out and what the media will ignore (because of their "norm of objectivity" which is not actually objective) is this: S&P is to blame for the downgrade ... because they did not blame congressional Republicans. Had S&P and the larger Wall Street community stepped in and asked Republicans to be more reasonable and to stop playing around with the nation's debt ceiling, none of this would have happened. Because S&P tried to stay out of politics even when they knew who was right and who was wrong in this dispute, the Republicans pushed ahead with this outrageous and destructive political strategy. And worse, they now feel empowered to do it all over again and again and again. Even in the downgrade, S&P could have said that Republicans need to compromise on taxes. Instead, S&P said Republican intrangisence on taxes is equivalent to Democratic intrangisence on entitlements. That's just not true. It is untrue. It is wrong. S&P is lying ... in order to appear objective.
In essence, S&P is causing the downgrade
Thursday, August 4, 2011
GOP Opposition to Obama's Birthday
No agreement had been reached so Obama was forced to act unilaterally.
Sunday, July 31, 2011
The Deal
The New Deal it is not.
Sad that it has come to this and surely liberals will be outraged and will scream and holler that Obama has betrayed them and given in too much.
I am disappointed in the deal to be sure. But this is the kind of "deal" you get when you are negotiating with a group of terrorists and that's what the Republican Party has become. Those who think that Obama could have done better in these negotiations really need to picture him staked out outside of a bank with group of hostage takers making demands. The "deal" you make in that situation is going to be something like this. You're going to give them some money, a car to get out of town, and someone gets released from jail. The hope is that you will still nab these criminals once they've released the hostages. That part of the game is still to be caught.
My point is liberals should watch how Obama seeks to "catch" these criminals now. What is being enacted into law now is $1 trillion in cuts over 10 years. Another set of cuts will be coming. But all these cuts are down the road. All that stuff can still be revised any time Congress decides to do so. All that is guaranteed is what happens in the short term: 1) An increase in the debt ceiling through the next election and 2) some much smaller amount of cuts that will happen immediately.
Oh, and by the way, if you're upset about taxes not being a part of this deal ... remember that Obama still is holding that "hostage" too. The Bush tax cuts expire after 2012 ... all of them. So, if nothing else happens, taxes ARE going up. Some of those will be going up in ways we liberals don't like (the earned income tax credit expansion for instance). But taxes on the wealthy ARE going up unless some other change in law happens.
What matters most now is how this gets spun politically in the context of the coming election.
Sad that it has come to this and surely liberals will be outraged and will scream and holler that Obama has betrayed them and given in too much.
I am disappointed in the deal to be sure. But this is the kind of "deal" you get when you are negotiating with a group of terrorists and that's what the Republican Party has become. Those who think that Obama could have done better in these negotiations really need to picture him staked out outside of a bank with group of hostage takers making demands. The "deal" you make in that situation is going to be something like this. You're going to give them some money, a car to get out of town, and someone gets released from jail. The hope is that you will still nab these criminals once they've released the hostages. That part of the game is still to be caught.
My point is liberals should watch how Obama seeks to "catch" these criminals now. What is being enacted into law now is $1 trillion in cuts over 10 years. Another set of cuts will be coming. But all these cuts are down the road. All that stuff can still be revised any time Congress decides to do so. All that is guaranteed is what happens in the short term: 1) An increase in the debt ceiling through the next election and 2) some much smaller amount of cuts that will happen immediately.
Oh, and by the way, if you're upset about taxes not being a part of this deal ... remember that Obama still is holding that "hostage" too. The Bush tax cuts expire after 2012 ... all of them. So, if nothing else happens, taxes ARE going up. Some of those will be going up in ways we liberals don't like (the earned income tax credit expansion for instance). But taxes on the wealthy ARE going up unless some other change in law happens.
What matters most now is how this gets spun politically in the context of the coming election.
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Not a Governing Party
I've been saying it all along here but Boehner's latest delay on a vote means he doesn't have the votes and the fact that he doesn't have the votes on something as pathetic as raising the debt ceiling for a few months to go with $915 billion in cuts is proof that the Republicans are not a party interested in governing. They just want to win elections.
Boehner now needs to:
1) Come to terms with the ideas above
2) Work with Democrats on coming up with legislation that can attract votes from members of both parties (a clean bill might do it actually or something like the Reid bill might do it)
3) Start sorting through how much of his stuff he wants to keep when he moves out of the Speaker's office
Boehner now needs to:
1) Come to terms with the ideas above
2) Work with Democrats on coming up with legislation that can attract votes from members of both parties (a clean bill might do it actually or something like the Reid bill might do it)
3) Start sorting through how much of his stuff he wants to keep when he moves out of the Speaker's office
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