That's right. There are only three important things about this deal.
1) We won't default this week.
2) We won't have to go through this again with this Congress.
3) The spending cuts agreed to for the 2012 budget, which are minimal
All those 10 year projections of cuts to this, and cuts to that, and cuts to the other? Commissions to recommend this, that, and the other, with triggers?
UNIMPORTANT
Because they are not Constitutional amendments, not only can they be changed by the 113th Congress, they absolutely will be changed by the 113th, and 114th, and 115th, forever and ever amen, Congresses.
So if you think this deal is horrible, and Obama's a sellout, and sacred cows A, B, C are being sacrificed?
Use your anger for good
Being angry with Obama for caving is justified. But remember who he caved to. Did this happen when Nancy was Speaker? Anger is justified for negotiating with hostage takers, yes - but implicit in that metaphor are that hostages have been taken.
If the Judean People's Front seizes hostages, and the People's Front of Judea does a lousy job of negotiating with the JPF - well, it seems to me that being angry with the PFJ is justified, but still more anger should be aimed at the JPF.
Some of you are coming away from this debacle with the idea that we can't support the Democrats. I've watched this debacle play out, and come away with the idea that we must prevent Republicans from holding even the slightest discernible iota of power.
If the zombie demons from DOOM invade my home and start threatening my family, I'm going to fight them with whatever weapons I have. If my best weapon is a butter knife, I use the butter knife. Screaming at the butter knife "DAMN YOU WHY AREN'T YOU A CHAINSAW? OR A BFG 9000?" doesn't save my family.
So the Democratic Party is a butter knife. It's the best weapon we've got to fight the zombie demons of the GOP. Don't tell me your principles require you to wait for a better weapon. That smacks of both defeatism and arrogance - an unpleasant combination.
7:46 AM PT: Daily Kos needs a new motto. "More and better Democrats" is so 2003. What we need now is: "NO REPUBLICANS IN POWER - AT ALL"
8:48 AM PT: Just to be clear, I'm not asking you to support Obama. I'm asking you to hate the Republicans with a searing white hot hatred.
9:21 AM PT: BTW, I've got a suggestion for how to help take back the House in 2012:
Call your Congress people and try to defeat this bill. Make people realize that Congress matters, and that we can't just sit back and wait for the President to solve everything (or anything).