Visual source: Newseum
NY Times editorial on what's really going on:
Six months after voters sent Republicans in large numbers to Congress and many statehouses, it is possible to see the full landscape of destruction that their policies would cause — much of which has already begun. If it was not clear before, it is obvious now that the party is fully engaged in a project to dismantle the foundations of the New Deal and the Great Society, and to liberate business and the rich from the inconveniences of oversight and taxes.
Jonathan Alter:
Republicans jumped all over President Barack Obama’s budget speech at George Washington University as political, and they are absolutely right.
It was the old Obama, the one who changed history in 2008, and he is back on his game, both thematically and tactically. The domestic debate now is much clearer and the takeaway for Republicans is out of a horror movie: Be afraid. Be very afraid...
Ever since he agreed to extend the Bush tax cuts in a deal last winter, some progressives have doubted whether Barack Obama had the intestinal fortitude to stand up for the great social contract of the 20th century — the one most Americans still support. Now we know.
Same Obama, but maybe the difference between Axlerod and Plouffe?
Boston Globe editorial on RomneyCare:
All in all, then, the role Romney played was of a governor sensitive to business concerns and worried about the state’s business climate. Now, conservatives have come to view that individual mandate as an intolerable imposition on personal liberty, rather than an insistence on personal responsibility. In no small part that’s because such a mandate also plays a central role in Obama’s health care plan. But if they weren’t hyperventilating about the national law, they might come to recognize that the role Romney played on the state level was skillful, creative, and business-friendly.
You can't run from it, Mitt, so embrace it. Conservatives won't like it? Aw, too bad.
John Sununu:
Lastly, the recent battle to settle 2011 spending levels demonstrated that there is an effective process for future negotiations. It’s nice to have this debate off the table, but even more valuable is the working relationship that has been established by Speaker John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
Set aside partisan perspectives for a moment. This was a tough, complex negotiation where Reid and Boehner represented their members’ interests with determination. Both parties gave something and, arguably, got something. Sure, it was a partisan fight; but the outcome will receive significant bipartisan support in both chambers. Each walked away with even stronger support within his own caucus, a better understanding of his counterpart, and credibility with one another.
Maybe so. Then again, politics is the art of seeing what you want to see.
EJ Dionne:
The American ruling class is failing us — and itself.
At other moments in our history, the informal networks of the wealthy and powerful who often wield at least as much influence as our elected politicians accepted that their good fortune imposed an obligation: to reform and thus preserve the system that allowed them to do so well. They advocated social decency out of self-interest (reasonably fair societies are more stable) but also from an old-fashioned sense of civic duty. “Noblesse oblige” sounds bad until it doesn’t exist anymore.
Check out the featured headlines above from WI and CA:
Super rich see big drop in taxes (Their federal income tax rate has dropped from 26 percent to 17 percent in 15 years.)
Paul Krugman:
Last week, President Obama offered a spirited defense of his party’s values — in effect, of the legacy of the New Deal and the Great Society. Immediately thereafter, as always happens when Democrats take a stand, the civility police came out in force. The president, we were told, was being too partisan; he needs to treat his opponents with respect; he should have lunch with them, and work out a consensus.
That’s a bad idea. Equally important, it’s an undemocratic idea.
Ah, a member of the reality-based community.