I used to think Daily Kos was a site for serious thoughtful progressives, it's not anymore. This site has become a place for political partisons who view politics as a sport and are fueled by anger and hatred rather then thoughtfullness and compassion. I have been reading Red State over the last few days to see their prospective on this budget compromise and I can tell you that they are a lot more serious and less hateful then the people at this site. I pray that the progressive community can put away there feelings of betrayal and anger and pour that energy into the fight that is about to come.
As I've read the diaries over the last few days, I am shocked at the loss of prospective under display here. Let's talk about the latest budget compromise. Why are people so consumed by the numbers, they were a total smokescreen. The people at Red State and the tea partiers understand this, why don't you. Our deficit this year is 1. 6 Trillion dollars not 39 billion. The 61 Billion number or the 100 billion number if you count what Obama had already cut from his budget is a totally arbitrary number the Republicans came up with to campaign on. Yet all we care about is that the Republicans got 79 percent of what they asked for. If the republicans asked for 1 dollar, would we scream if Obama gave them 79 cents, probably. To many people around here its about winning and losing, its about the perception of caving. Does anybody even know what they cut. Are there no cuts that you like. What about cuts to the military or earmarks. I have not read one Diary that makes a compassionate argument about a specific cut that hurts people, that doesn't mean there haven't been any but the majority of the diaries here focus on the numbers or the narrative.
Lets talking about the narratives of this budget compromise. First of all, all those people who say that you don't cut during a recession and that this compromise will hurt the economy are complete hypocrites if they were against the tax cut compromise. The tax cut compromise added 800 billion dollars to the economy including 120 billion in payroll tax cuts that dwarf the budget cuts. Even the tax cuts to the wealthy, while inefficient and unfair add money to the economy. And if deficits don't matter like Dick Cheney said, who cares. Plus what about a prolonged government shutdown. That would probably cost more then the budget cuts that were enacted.
The people at Red State could care less about the number in this budget, they know it was completely insignificant for their purposes, they wanted to see policy changes and most importantly they wanted to see a government shutdown, they got neither. To them Obama won because he knows that at the end of the day, despite all the theatrics and posturing, Boehner won't shut down the government, he'll take the best deal he can get the minute before the deadline. To them this was a fight over pennies and a continuation of the Status Quo. See what Red State and the tea party want is total debt reduction by the restructuring of our society, which gets me to the most important point of this diary. Red State
Our deficits and debt should be a concern to EVERYONE. The biggest threat to discretionary spending programs like education, housing, environmental programs, poverty programs and infrastructure investment are not the Republicans its medicare military intervention and revenue reduction. Medicare is in trouble, there is no two ways about it. The baby boomers are getting older and health care costs skyrocketing. The affordable care act was a good start but there needs to be more cost control reform or medicare will eventually consume our whole budget. We also know that the Bush Tax cuts and the wars devastated the federal budget and we are going to need to raise taxes, especially for the wealthiest and make cuts to the military and maybe make a law that prohibits military action without congressional approval and a way to pay for it except for an immediate and direct threat. We are not going to be able to sustain trillion dollar deficits forever I don't care what anybody says and for progressive to be against deficit and debt reduction is morally wrong and political suicidal.
The problem we have had in reducing the debt and deficit is that the politicians have not been honest with the public especially the Republicans. The reason we lose the tax argument is that republicans have always said that tax cuts can be offset by reigning in waste, cutting discretionary programs most of which aid the poor and growing the economy. The majority of the public, especially the people who vote, likes that because they get tax cuts without giving up anything.
Now for the first time since the New deal, that argument has changed. The Ryan budget explicitly states that we have to abolish medicare as we know it in order to get the deficit under control, even if our unemployment is 2.8 percent. And yes I do give Ryan credit for at least being somewhat truthful on that issue. This was what Obama waited and hoped for, a republican party so emboldened that they would tell the truth, they want to get rid of medicare and medicaid as we know it to pay for tax cuts for the wealthy. Now we can finally have an honest debate about the priorities of this country. This is the moment we have been waiting for since the Reagan Revolution.
On Wednesday, Obama will lay out his plan for debt and deficit reduction. In that proposal they say he we'll ask for medicare reforms, tax hikes for the wealthy and military cuts. He might even talk about Social Security reform. And for those who hate Obama reflexively not all social security reform is bad like raising what high income earners have to put into it.
I hope progressives will forget how much Obama has disappointed them and join this fight with a united front. I hope E.J. Dionne will stop asking Obama to fight and start fighting himself. I hope Paul Krugman and Ezra Klein stop bitching about the narrative and put out there own proposals. We must give Obama the strongest hand we can and win this fight!