It may be that next week the various parties will reach a deal to raise the debt ceiling. And whatever that deal is, nobody but David Brooks and David Frum and some other faux moderates and Beltway toadies will like it. The teabaggers won’t like it. Progressives won’t like it. And there will be weeping and wailing and cries to throw the bum(s) out. That much is certain.
News reports yesterday said that the President had offered cuts to Medicare and Social Security in exchange for significant revenue increases. And let’s assume this is true. This may be political theater, or it may be a genuine offer, but if it’s a genuine offer and the Republicans take it, I sincerely hope the Dems don’t. Just be sure that if the nation defaults, hang it and the consequences around the necks of the GOP.
It’s way past time to stop pretending we’re living in a normal country here, and not one taken over by lunatics.
That said, I’m less inclined to blame President Obama, or even The Crazy. I’m blaming those who allowed The Crazy to take over. That includes media, big time. I’m tired of them politely pretending that lunacy isn’t lunacy. They’re enabling craziness in the name of being nonpartisan. Well, screw that.
But the fault also lies with voters, especially progressive voters. Because they’re the ones who stayed home from the polls in 2010 and allowed the crazies to take back the House. And we (speaking figuratively; I voted) did this because so many of us were disappointed with President Obama and congressional Republicans Democrats for not being as progressive as we wanted them to be. And this is understandable.
But what is the result? It’s worse, not better.
I think it’s likely that if we had the same Congress now that we had in 2010 there would be a lot of noise about raising the debt ceiling, and many of the blue dogs would join Republicans to call for steep cuts in this or that, but the eventual deal wouldn’t have been nearly as draconian, nor would the nation have been pushed this far to the edge.
Presidents have very little power to do anything. They are only as effective as far as they can get Congress to sign off on what they want. With a Congress stacked in his favor, even a weenie like George W. Bush could look strong and push his agenda pretty far down the road. President Obama has been dealing with a Congress that resists him at every step, and this year it has been even worse. It’s even crazier than the Congress Bill Clinton had to deal with, and that was pretty crazy.
Even a president with the political skills of a Lincoln or an FDR, or a Bill Clinton, would have a hard time getting anything accomplished with this Congress, and President Obama isn’t in that league. But the solution is not to try to replace him with another Democrat — which would turn the White House over to the Republicans. The solution is to get rid of The Crazy and pack Congress with as many progressives as possible. That’s where we should focus.
My fear is that the usual nay-sayers on the Left will bellyache so much and so loudly about the evil Obama that progressive voters stay home from the polls again next year, giving The Crazy an even bigger slice of the power pie. When are we going to learn?
