I'm not going to win an originality award for talking about this, but I have to say that no one has commented the blatant lies that Krauthammer perpetuates as he warns republicans not to underestimate President Obama. The fact that this op-ed piece is getting so much attention means that these lies must be refuted even more loudly.
There is one singular glaring lie, surrounded by many supporting lies and misrepresentations. It's the "Obama is responsible for the deficit" lie.
But Obama's most far-reaching accomplishment is his structural alteration of the U.S. budget. The stimulus, the vast expansion of domestic spending, the creation of ruinous deficits as far as the eye can see are not easily reversed.
(Follow me...)
What "structural alteration" of the budget is K talking about? An imaginary one. Who created these ruinous deficits? Not our guy.
Let's break this down easy.
The stimulus was a one time expenditure of less than $1t. There is nothing recurring about it, which is why states are preparing to lay off hundreds of thousands of teachers and other public employees. The stimulus package was not a structural change.
Note, also, that credible economists who actually predicted the housing bubble said that this stimulus was utterly inadequate. For a depressing look on how meager the stimulus was check out this Interview with David Obey. China's stimulus package is $586bn, and their economy is less than 1/4th the size of ours. China now has a labor shortage while we have the worst labor market in at least the last 25 years. Just sayin'.
K then blames President Obama's health care bill for the structural deficits, even though the nonpartisan CBO says that the HCR bill is revenue positive this decade and next. Since K doesn't feel compelled to make sense or adhere to facts, he then follows up with this pile of BS:
These are not mere temporary countercyclical measures. They are structural deficits because, as everyone from Obama on down admits, the real money is in entitlements, most specifically Medicare and Medicaid. But Obamacare freezes these out as a source of debt reduction. Obamacare's $500 billion in Medicare cuts and $600 billion in tax increases are siphoned away for a new entitlement -- and no longer available for deficit reduction.
So what you're saying is that Obama DID take a big swipe at structural deficits. He cut Medicare (which Republicans killed him for). He raised taxes.
He expended political capital to make a health care bill that is revenue positive in the first decade and makes a real dent in structural deficits in the next decade. It also, finally, gives Americans the autonomy to leave their job to try to start a small business, without having to worry about health care costs bankrupting them. That's freedom.
But K is one of those conservatives who is haunted by the thought that somewhere someone will be getting social insurance. He apparently thinks Obama should have cut Medicare and hiked taxes without any offsetting benefits. Try getting that through congress. Also, try finding ANY Republican with the guts and decency to push through something as tough as Medicare cuts.
What else?
The Financial Reform bill has no effect on future deficits, except it does make a future market failure/bailout scenario less likely.
OBAMA DID NOT CAUSE THE STRUCTURAL DEFICITS. They are primarily the result of the lost revenue that occurred when the market collapsed under the Bush administration. Three cheers for de-regulation!
Oh, and GWB? He added an unfunded long term entitlement during his first term. Plus massive tax cuts, plus an unfunded war of choice.
This is an insidious lie and it is aimed at the heart of Obama's presidency. Deficit hawks are provoking hysteria and using that energy to attack the president.
This may not be news to any one, but Charles Krauthammer is a dangerous moron.