I have been waiting for DKos to align with me since Obama proposed Geithner and Summers. The HRing of my recent short, angry with Obama diary led me to ask if am I a troll. So I went back to the FAQ
What is the purpose of this site?
(Condensed from this diary written by kos in late 2004)
This is a Democratic blog, a partisan blog. One that recognizes that Democrats run from left to right on the ideological spectrum, and yet we're all still in this fight together. We happily embrace centrists like NDN's Simon Rosenberg and Howard Dean, conservatives like Martin Frost and Brad Carson, and liberals like John Kerry and Barack Obama. Liberal? Yeah, we're around here and we're proud. But it's not a liberal blog. It's a Democratic blog with one goal in mind: electoral victory. And since we haven't gotten any of that from the current crew, we're one more thing: a reform blog. The battle for the party is not an ideological battle. It's one between establishment and anti-establishment factions. And as I've said a million times, the status quo is untenable
Therefore we cannot support Obama.
So re-writing the Kos statement above in logic notation:
Axiom A - DKos wants electoral victory.
Axiom B - Establishment factions do not achieve electoral victory.
Deduction - It follows from A and B that DKos cannot support establishment factions and consistently stay within the bounds of its purpose.
Definition of establishment faction - Since the only major loss of Democratic electoral votes by an establishment, in recent memory, is mid-term elections in 1994, we take the period preceding that election as a definition by example of an untenable establishment faction.
Major legislation of 1993:
- NAFTA
- Health care reform
- Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act - also called Deficit Reduction Act
* It created 36 percent and 39.6 income tax rates for individuals.
* It created a 35 percent income tax rate for corporations.
* The cap on Medicare taxes was repealed.
* Transportation fuels taxes were raised by 4.3 cents per gallon.
* The taxable portion of Social Security benefits was raised.
* The phase-out of the personal exemption and limit on itemized deductions were permanently extended.
* Part IV Section 14131: Expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit and added inflation adjustments
This is the playbook that former President Clinton followed and its the same Democratic establishment policy that President Obama now follows - in essence screw the middle class. Certainly no one in the middle class is happy with failed health care reform. NAFTA is an intense loser for the American middle class and was the start of an all out war on middle class jobs. But why was deficit reduction a loser for the middle class is a bit more subtle. Basically, ignoring the parts of 3) that are actually taxes directly on the middle class, reducing the deficit is a two way loser for the middle class. First it increases state and local taxes that would have been paid by the rich as an inflation tax. Second as the deficit reduces interest rates rise. They had been falling in 1993 but right on cue in 1994 they 30 year fixed jumped from 7.06 to 9.20. And to top it off the Earned Income Tax Credit went to the poor instead of the middle class.
Now with the Great Recession the Democratic Party cannot afford even the slightest hint of screw the middle class politics. Yes President Obama, as Clinton before him, might still get a second term but the implications for the congressional majority are dire. Establishment factions do not achieve electoral victory because the establishment has had it in for the middle class for the last 30 years. This can be seen by looking at the 1994 election by income
..................Dem Shift (82-94)
Under $15,000 -11%
$15,000-29,999 -8%
$30,000-49,000 -3%
Over $50,000 +9%
No surprise here the losses were from those under $50K and over $50K actually switched to Democrat.
President Obama's continued coddling of the upper classes and the Democratic establishment is a nightmare for the express purpose of Daily Kos. You cannot support both this President's current policies and Daily Kos. Ditch one or the other.