Kabuki
Kabuki (歌舞伎, kabuki?) is classical Japanese dance-drama. Kabuki theatre is known for the stylization of its drama and for the elaborate make-up worn by some of its performers.
The individual kanji characters, from left to right, mean sing (歌), dance (舞), and skill (伎). Kabuki is therefore sometimes translated as "the art of singing and dancing." These are, however, ateji characters which do not reflect actual etymology. The kanji of 'skill' generally refers to a performer in kabuki theatre. Since the word kabuki is believed to derive from the verb kabuku, meaning "to lean" or "to be out of the ordinary", kabuki can be interpreted as "avant-garde" or "bizarre" theatre.[1] The expression kabukimono (歌舞伎者) referred originally to those who were bizarrely dressed and swaggered on a street.
given this definition perfectly sums up the way the controversy over the Debt ceiling has been going. It is simply a song and dance from all sides that leans heavily to the Bizarre with a large amount of swagger. On both sides.
As a caveat before the reading this... please take into consideration, I am a supporter of President Obama and will be one in 2012 and while I am disheartened by this, honestly, I can't see anyone that I would rather support. That said:
This is an incredibly frustrating thing to watch more for the lying by both sides than anything else. But as I mentioned in the introduction this is nothing more than Kabuki.
One one side you have the Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Crying) who submitted an ill thought out plan that cut $ 851 billion in "entitlements" (I HATE THAT TERMINOLOGY) while not raising a dime in revenues OR creating a single job. But why focus on your utter failure to solve this issue (Jobs) when you can play "smoke and mirrors" with other issues. But even the Boehner plan that he proposed is not enough for the "knuckledraggers" on the right who have no idea of an end goal of their policies and who simply blindly follow their neo-feudalist leaders who seem to want to create a new aristocracy. So now, that his failure of a plan (which would have died in the Senate) is dying, the man goes back and moves further to the Right. And further to a place that Democratic leaders say they refuse to go.
Of course his calculus is that the Senate and President will fold in a tight spot in order to avoid default. And what does that default portend... Just "economic calamnity" as White House spokesperson Jay Carney put it in what had to be the all time worst Press Conference I have ever heard (yesterdays briefing). By all accounts Boehner seems to know what will happen if the U.S. defaults on it's credits but politically he also knows that the Democrats are the responsible adults in the room and is counting on that to save the day. BUT for him either way, he wins politically. EVEN though the U.S. populace is firmly on the side of the President, he knows that Democrats have a way of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. And once that happens he goes down as the man that defied the nutjob wing of his party, but, stuck to his guns against the President (this is not a view I endorse - just saying this is how it gets played). Further, even if his plan fails... no one on the other side is talking about serious revenue enhancements or not touching the vital social service plans that help millions of Americans. Thus Boehner wins that battle as well.
If the U.S. does default the Republican messaging factory goes into high gear and blames the President. AND as with Healthcare, they will out message the Democrats and get people - particularly those relying on the MSM to look at President Obama as the man who presided over the country when it defaulted on its obligations and as I heard one of them put it this AM "The man who lost America it's gold plated AAA rating".
Of course we all know this is "Kabuki" because simply put Speaker Boehner has nothing else. He has no ideas for Jobs, recovering the economy, and his plans play to the worst facets of his base. He cares nothing for the economy or the people of the United States, he only cares for those people that fund and support his campaigns and office. It seems that he has put his ambition far ahead of what we as a country need and is willing to bet he can message his way out (well that or the President saves him)
ON THE OTHER SIDE... The President. In his talk to the nation the President came off as cool, calm, and collected. I watched his talk (and the Orange one's poutrage) and came away with a sense of... "Ok, I think everything will be ok. The adults are in the room and they will be handling things". On Monday Night, President Obama showed just what a leader should be. And then, I heard yesterdays Press briefing on POTUS (a Sirius XM political channel) and simply lost all hope. During this Press Briefing, Jay Carney was being savaged for his lame waffling on what exactly the President has in mind. When pressed by conservative journalists, Carney could not and would not talk about specifics involved in the President's position - rather he kept evading to (paraphrased) "Well, you know how Washington works, we don't want to tell anyone what's really up until things happen... and really wouldn't our having a position simply get in the way of negotiation". At that point I had to say "WTF", basically it sounds like there is no position just a simple "We have to get this done so really we'll do whatever it takes" which is something that I simply can't accept. But then he went further saying (again to paraphrase) "We are going to have to do things our base won't like". And we all know what that means. I mean where is the change and hope I voted for. This is just more inside baseball.
BUT.. what even got me more down was listening to my favorite Talk Show hostess Stephanie Miller. Usually, I enjoy listening to her show and it's always good for some great laughs but today she said something in passing to the progressive wing which was on the order of "Don't worry about revenue enhancements, we are going to get those because the Bush tax cuts expire next year". OH REALLY NOW??? They were supposed to expire this year, but no, the Democrats caved and they were extended. Who really thinks they won't be extended in the face of a National Election in 2012?
Anyway, this is simply ridiculous and it is all Kabuki. The Debt Ceiling is going to be extended and Medicare, Social Security and all other important social services are going to be cut, with absolutely ZERO revenue gains. The only people I can see gaining over this are the wingnut conservatives and wall street traders who are playing games with volitility and arbitrage (I worked on Wall Street prior to getting my M.B.A., this is nothing new)
But what this really shows us is that if we as a nation want to survive we need to demand accountability from all of our leaders. I do think President Obama is doing what he thinks is best - I really do believe that, but, I also think he is allowing the Republicans to potentially take the country over the edge politically. He needs to step up as the leader many of us know that he is and give the American people the cold, hard facts of this debate. Will it ruin the compromise? Maybe. Would it eventually lead to a more solid republic? Definitely. Americans need to see what is happening and need to understand this BEFORE vital social services ("entitlements") are compromised away.
Thanks for the space to rant!